【討論】I speak American or English?

[A_child_of_HJ 10]

在台灣我們學American義為美國人、美國的、美式英語

我很好奇，在美國，他們對於自己說的語言，

是說American還是English？

還是都有？

還是其實American只用在表示國籍方面？

[姓韓者 11]

有的人說是Amerenglish

[evenstar 10]

I am American and I speak English.

[MikiRei 10]

I'm Australian and I speak English

[姓韓者 11]

I'm terrestrial and I speak terrestrial language :P

[MikiRei 10]

I'm a multicellular organism and I can communicate. :p:p

[forlornha 10]

theres a little different between american and english

like some spelling (color and colour), grammar, and pronunciation (like harry potter is an english movie, they speak english differently, especially the "r" thingy)

i usually look it this way:

american english is like simplified chinese, and english is like traditional chinese =DD

[MikiRei 10]

american english is like simplified chinese, and english is like traditional chinese =DD

You know what? That's exactly how I perceive it as well. I find American English a slight dumbed down version of proper English. First the spelling (they took out some of the exception cases and unified it to one case -can't think of an example right now) and then the grammar. I remember the other day my cousin came and ask what is the meaning of "futureless" and I just stared incredulously at her because the reaction I had was, "That's really bad grammar....". Ask other friends and we're all puzzled as well. I told her there's no such word and then she runs to me with a dictionary that has it. So I pick up my Oxford dictionary - and it's not in there. Hmmmmmm - indeed. American English is quite peculiar to me.

pronunciation (like harry potter is an english movie, they speak english differently, especially the "r" thingy)

It's called accent. American English tend to sound nasal and yes, they emphasise the "r" more.

Harry Potter, funnily enough, is NOT a British film. It's an American film. They just managed to cast British actors which saves them the money to teach people to do the accent. Have you watched Harry Potter 4? Cho Chang has an incredibly thick Scottish accent.

A little bit more on accents, the difference really is in how they pronounce the "a" and "o". I'm not sure how to say it but take the following examples:

Project:

Now, in the States (prboably also in Canada - *shrug* - not sure), it tends to be pronournced as:

Praaaa-ject (maybe exaggerating here) whereby the mouth is opened widely

whereas in English, it's pronounced as

prooooo-ject whereby the mouth is formed as a small "o" shape

Awesome:

Oh my - this one I just can't forget. When I went to the States to visit some relatives, I keep getting, "You're accent is so awesome." = =|||

It REALLY got annoying by the end. Thank you, my dear distant relatives. I appreciate that you find my accent exciting but there's no need to kick such a fuss and scare a poor, 11-year old girl. = =

To me, in the States it sounds like:

aaaaaaaaaaw-some

whereas in Australia it sounds like

awwwwwwww-some

I don't know - just that the emphasis is more on the a I guess.

Probably the easiest difference is the way the word "can't" is pronounced.

In the states, it's basically the word "can" with an extra "t" at the end.

For everywhere else, it's "cahnt" - like, the "a" is pronounced as if you're saying "Ahhhhh......."

Anyways, that's just my take on accents. :p

[訪客 purpledreamland]

I use to speak American

then my teachers were all like :@ AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH you're not suppose to say tomaaaaaaaatooo it's tomuuuuuuuto

and things like that, so now i think i speak English.

[berry 10]

amrican speak english

while those english from england realllly hate to hear

"british speak british english"

but

"english speal english"

that's why they dont realllly like american.

high race-esteen

speak*

Oooops

[kentboy 10]

I am Alien but speak English

[evenstar 10]

重點是

沒有人把英文叫做 American 啦

沒有人會說 I speak American 這種句子.

[MikiRei 10]

Well, considering America is technically the CONTINENT and NOT the country itself, "American" couldn't possibly be a language. In fact, the term "American" is incorrect as well - geographically anyways.

[chocdumpling 10]

Most people in taiwan learn American, you can hear it from their accent and also the way they spell things.

[MikiRei 10]

Most people in taiwan learn American

They learn American English. American isn't a language as previously stated. And yes, Taiwan learns American English - as do most Asian countries. = =|||

[chocdumpling 10]

:p yes, by that i mean american english..........

[坤斯 10]

well i used to speak american as in "super american"

but now im speaking english, i think speaking american is cool

but speaking english is more gentle

haha!! so therefore i speak "can't" which sounds like "cuntt"

[Uskglass 10]

wel, some ppl do say "i speak American." but very rarely though

no, in British English we stil say "i cant." it's in AM English that u say "i kent."

then my teachers were all like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH you're not suppose to say tomaaaaaaaatooo it's tomuuuuuuuto

lol. reminds me of an old jazz tune, let's call the whole think off.

BTW, does anyone out there think Scottish accent is sexy? (wel, i heard ppl say that. imo, kinda.)

[MikiRei 10]

Haha - sexy? To a point. I reckon Craig Ferguson sounds pretty sexy but have you heard EXTREMELY thick Scottish accent? Try Billy Elliot. Took me at least 5 minutes to understand them. Ain't THAT cool

Irish accent's cool too I reckon. Welsh accent (Anthony Hopkins) sounds pretty swell too for that matter.

[冬風 軒 10]

I think I speak American Eng with Taiwan accent and mow I'm trying to fix it into British Eng.

I prefer British Eng, to be honest.

btw, I'm living in London now.