Differences between English and American English: Most people in China confuse American English with British English, but there are still great differences between them, such as spelling, idioms, numerical expression, practical writing and so on. Even the same word will mean different concepts in English and American, or the same concept will be expressed in different words in English and American. For example, the word "Subway" is represented by Underground in Britain and subway in the United States. There are many similar words, such as Football in Britain and rugby in America. Americans usually use soccer to represent football. Traditional English education in China generally adopts British English textbooks to teach British English habits from spelling and phonetic pronunciation. However, it is undeniable that American English has exerted a far more subtle influence in China than British English. With the spread of American culture around the world, American English has become popular. At the same time, American English is more easily accepted by young people in China because of its strong sense of modernity, grammatical requirements and flexible oral language thinking habits in vocabulary use, and is called a dynamic language by linguists.
Vowel:
One of the biggest differences between British pronunciation and American pronunciation lies in the treatment of vowels (schwa, inverted e, in phonetic symbols). In English, voiced vowels often appear in some monosyllabic unstressed short sounds A (such as about) and er (such as computer). Er in American English is rarely voiced, and sometimes voiced vowels are used for short sounds I (such as sentimental and realistic) and U (such as wuss), and even short sounds oo (such as hooker).
The most representative difference between English and American English is the pronunciation of er. In English, the short voiced er is the voiced vowel mentioned above, while the long voiced er is just an elongated voiced vowel, which sounds like an exaggeration between "Russian" and "ah". In American English, er sounds like "er" (except for vowels in some common sayings).
Ar: Except for short sounds (such as singular) and vowels followed by vowels (such as clarity), All English Ars are unified long sounds [a:], while in American it is "al". In fact, whenever there is an R at the end of a syllable, American and British pronunciations are usually different, such as tour (English: spit, beauty: spit), tear (English: kick, beauty: kick) and pair (English: pe, beauty: pe). Even in the clarity just mentioned, English ['kleriti] and America [' kler(er)ti].
There is another important difference in the pronunciation of vowels. First, [O] sound: The short sound of O (such as oft) is pronounced as the shortened long sound of O (such as or) in English, while the short sound of American O sounds very similar to the short sound of English [/\]. At the same time, if the long sound of o is followed by r, it is usually children's as mentioned in the previous paragraph, and if it is not (such as plain, apply), it will automatically become.
In addition, the vowelization of vowel combinations such as U and I has been mentioned before, and the rest depends on your understanding.
Consonants:
English consonants are basically the same as American consonants, but there are some differences in usage habits. Only the following two are more important:
R: The letter R represents almost all the differences between Britain and America. It's everywhere. When pronouncing consonants, the difference is that when R is at the end of the first word and the second word begins with a vowel, English takes R as a vowel, while American takes R as the consonant of the initial vowel of the next word. For example, the phrase "clear animation" is pronounced as "clear animation" in English and "clear animation" in America.
Another obvious difference is D and T. In some unstressed syllables (such as paddle, rattle and realistic), English will clearly pronounce these two letters, but in American English, D and T are often blurred into an inexplicable sound. Compared with other languages, if you know Spanish or Italian, it is very close to the short r; If you know Japanese, the consonants of らりるれろ are very similar. If you don't know, the closest explanation is the side tone L, but it depends on whether you understand it or not.
One more thing, you may find that the pronunciation of O (a voiced vowel) is in brackets in many phonetic symbols. In Britain, influenced by classical Chinese, English likes to omit this O, while in America, this O is often pronounced. If you are interested in classical Chinese or poetry, you will find that many letters of voiced vowels are expressed in single quotation marks, that is, omitted.
Spelling:
There are only the following differences between English and American spelling:
-re and -er: some words ending in re in American English end in er, such as:
Meter/meter, centimeter/centimeter, theater/theater, center/center, etc.
Background: All these words come from French (mè tre, centimè tre, thé a tre, centre). Most other re words are, such as genre, ma -d 'oeuvre and so on. But the spelling of these words hasn't changed.
Our and or: The English part of our is spelled as or in American English, for example:
Color/color, favorite/favorite, etc.
Background: Most of these words also come from French, but they are not so obvious, and many of them have changed because of time. For example, colors are colored, and favorites are favorites.
-ise and ize: English verb -ise is spelled -ize in America, such as:
Organization/organization, realization/realization, realization/realization
The sources of these words are also different:
Organization/institution
Background: These words still come from French, that is, organiser, actualiserr and réaliser (but due to the evolution of language, the meanings of these words in French are not exactly the same as those in English. For example, actualise now means "realize" and implementer means "upgrade and make it obsolete"; Realize now means "realize", while réalizer becomes "realize").
There are other special changes. I can't think of all the conventional reforms at once. If there are any omissions, please add them.
Words:
Some common meanings of the same words in English and American English are different, or the same thing is said in different words, which are mostly related to cultural customs, but have no substantive influence on communication. For example, the word jumper can refer to sweaters in Britain, but Americans rarely use this word to make clothes (it is an outdated word), but use sweater to make sweaters. Another example is jerseys, casual pants, trousers and so on. There are many examples that I can't remember at the moment. Welcome to add.
Tone:
The English speak in a cadence and a high tone, which is quite similar to French (but they will not admit it). The British laugh at the Americans for their weakness, looseness and lack of rhythm.
Americans speak in a steady and low voice, and sentences are usually in a falling tone, and their speech speed is slow. On the other hand, Americans like to laugh at the hysterical and feminine tone of the British.