Which English Variety Is The Best To Learn?

If you'd to learn English, or if you're learning English, which variety of English would you recommend/are learning? With such a diverse crowd, you surely have your favorite types.

The proper one! the King's English!

reply to post by WeAreEnslaved


I like the dialect we speak in the Pacific Northwest. It is very phonetic and neutral. I guess you'd consider it "news anchor" accent.

The one that can be understood most widely.

Just as an example, American English varies a great deal. A New England accent is much different than the Bronx which is much different from the Deep South, which is different from Alaska and Minnesota. You get someone from Boston talking to someone from the Alabama countryside and it's almost as if there are talking two different languages.

But when you get to news broadcasters, they all have a western or northwestern accent, even if they are broadcasting from Macon, Georgia. That's because a northwestern accent is easily understood by everyone. A person from Boston, who does not pronounce his "r"s at all and the person from the deep south, who elongates most vowels, can still understand the news broadcaster, though they may have a harder time understanding each other.

I am not advocating northwestern American English as THE English to learn. I'm just saying that you need to adjust to your purposes and learn the English that will wind up most useful to you. The bottom line is that you want to be understood by others. Choose accordingly.

reply to post by Frankenchrist


Is that a Mexican / Canadian hybrid????

It's hypnotic. I can't stop listening.....

~Heff

Oh, and on topic... for the most part all English is the same language. There are colloquialisms, some nations specific, others regional dialects. But, by and large, it's on the accent that changes.

Received Pronounciation will stand you in good stead.

It's what the BBC used, until the working classes got jobs there.

reply to post by Hefficide


English like that is mostly spoken in Albuquerque and the northern parts of New Mexico.

A lot of people speak like that there. I never noticed it really until I saw the video.

I couldn't stop laughing. I was like "Wow! I sound like this. My mom and dad sound like this. My wife sounds like this."

But yeah , like Canadians we use "eh" a lot.

The only way I can describe it is "English with some Spanish words using a Spanish/Canadian accent."

I'm not saying its proper English. But it's the English I grew up with.

reply to post by NorthernThird


RP was intentionally developed in the late 18th century. It is not natural. It was created as another way to set the elites apart from everyone else. As a matter of fact, part of the motivation was a way to set them apart from colonists- as there was a move to establish a new form of aristocracy (though lower than in England) in the American Colonies. Anyway, they had to actually train the elites to speak this way as it was not natural to them. This affectation was classist from its inception.

That said, I find it easy to understand and it is nice to listen to.

Source: The Cambridge History of the English Language: Volumes 5 & 6

reply to post by Frankenchrist


Hah! I love the way every soft drink is a coke. That's how it is where I grew up too.

reply to post by WeAreEnslaved

if your going to learn English then learn queens English that is the original form of the language ,,,
but after saying that if you go to england nobody speaks queens English ,,good luck

Its peas here so i wanted to stretch my scotch pegs ,headed out to the Noah;s ark for an oily rag but i forgot to bring the cuts and scratches,saw an old pot and pan lying under a linen draper.'Hey hampton wick, got an anna maria?. "He said only if you got a tea pot lid".What a cherry hog ,his Uncle Bert was covered in hit and miss and he smelt like mothers ruin."Go back to the bread and butter ,china plate or i will give you a read and write.
Well ding dong bell! the elephants trunk got on his plates of meat and raised his german bands ,then proceeded to throw an oliver twist.But the old gits filthy monkeys tails only hit my bushel and peck.
"thats it mate ,your going to the bucket and pail to face the garden gate.

Anyway i just checked the Gordon and gotch and i have to go and give the cherry hog his Jim Skinner.

This thread reminds me of a time when I was in the Navy watching a Puerto Rican and a Filipino trying to communicate with each other in English. Good times

Yoda's English, consider you should. Attention when spoken people will pay.

inverness in scotland was voted the best english speaking part of the uk a lot of call centres are up here because of that .
a lot of english people i have met over the years would not believe i am scottish even some people from the south of scotland mistake the accent of the highlands for irish or english

If only i could learn to speak Jive
My life would be complete

"S mofo butter layin' me to da' bone ! jackin me up.....tight me!
www.youtube.com...

reply to post by WeAreEnslaved


Go for Cajun.

Originally posted by geobro
inverness in scotland was voted the best english speaking part of the uk

a lot of call centres are up here because of that .
a lot of english people i have met over the years would not believe i am scottish even some people from the south of scotland mistake the accent of the highlands for irish or english

i have heard that before you wouldn't believe it would you but its true

reply to post by WeAreEnslaved


Doesn't matter what English people speak if they're freakin' stoopid!

Originally posted by WeAreEnslaved
If you'd to learn English, or if you're learning English, which variety of English would you recommend/are learning?

Actually, one of the most popular and pervasive varieties of English is Pidgin, which is used worldwide. It's sometimes seen as a corrupt version, but it's no different than any of the other localized varieties, as it takes a basic English core and adds whatever it needs to do its job.

Hey, can you all interpret my accent here on ATS?

2nd line.