加载中…【BBC】Identifying American Accents 辨别美语口音
(2010-10-28 17:43:34)
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分类： English_Pronunciation |
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Q & A of the Week: Identifying American Accents 辨别美语口音
Jo: On today’s BBC Learning English Question and Answer of the Week
programme, Jean and I will be looking to answer this question from Qimley
in Shantou.
Insert
How can I identify American accents from British ones? And how can I learn pure British
accents?
Jean: Qimley 想知道她怎么样能够辨认出英音和美音的不同。鉴别、辨认identify, 口音
accent. 而且她也想知道她怎么才能够说一口纯正的英音口语。纯正的pure.
Jo: Well, this is of course quite difficult to answer as there isn’t one American
accent and one British accent.
Jean: 是的，即使在英国和美国当地也是存在着不同的地方口音的。为了帮助大家更好的理解
和辨别，我们请加拿大人Dana 以她的角度给我们谈了她在这方面体会。作为加拿大
人Dana 的口音是北美口音，不过她已经在英国生活居住了十年。
Insert
For me what really stands out is the different vocabulary we use. For example, a North
American would use the word apartment whereas a Brit would say flat. Another example
is rubbish, that’s the British word and the North American equivalent would be garbage.
Jo: So for Dana what really stands out is the different vocabulary British and
North American accents use.
Jean: To stand out 就是“比较突出的、明显的”。对于Dana 来说，英美英语里最突出
的不同就是在他们使用的词汇上vocabulary.
Jo: So a North American would use the word apartment whereas a Brit would
say flat.
Jean: Dana 把英国人成为Brits – 这是英语里比较普遍和口语化的“英国人”的简称。她
谈到了英美两国使用词汇的不同，比如说“公寓”这个词在美语里是apartment，而
英国人会说flat. Whereas 是英语里的转折词“而、却”的意思。
Jo: Another example she gave is rubbish.
Jean: 垃圾这个词，在北美同样的意思他们用的词是garbage. 相等的、等同的在英语里就
是equivalent.
Jo: The North American equivalent. There are lots of similar examples that you
can find on the internet. Here’s Dana with more differences.
Insert
There are some words that very clearly the Brits and the North Americans pronounce
differently, even though they’re the same word and the best example I can think of is
tomato and tomato.
Jo: So there are also some words that very clearly North Americans and British
people pronounce very differently.
Jean: 没错。有的时候同样的一个词，而英国人和美国人的发音就相差很多。发音
pronounce。比如说tomato 和tomato“番茄”这个词。
Jo: Again there are other examples like herb in North American English and
herb in British English.
Jean: Herb 就是膜塑香草，草药的意思。
Jo: But as well as words, some sounds are pronounced differently too.
Insert
If I were going to drive my car – that’s how I pronounce c.a.r. However a Brit might say
caa – they don’t actually pronounce the r. I can also think of words that have the combination of the letter t and the letter u in it.So in London I would take the Tube whereas a Brit would take the Tube. It’s almost as if they would pronounce it with a ch instead of a t. The instrument a tuba they would call a tuba.The way we pronounce our as is also quite different – for example the North Americans would say water, whereas a Brit would say water. It’s almost as if the a has an aw sound in the British accent.
Jean: Wow so quite a few differences there. 首先是R 的发音，在美语里R 是卷舌音很
重的，和英音听上去很不同。
Jo: So a North American would say car and a British person would say car.
However, if you are from Scotland or Ireland the R pronunciation is more
likely to be like the North American pronunciation.
Jean: 还有那些拼写中有字母t和u 组合在一起的单词。组合combination. 比如说在伦敦
的地铁，英国人就叫它tube.
Jo: Tube. But a North American would say tube.
Jean: Dana 给我们解释说，当英国人说这个词的时候他们发的几乎是ch 的音。还有大号
tuba 这个instrument 这个乐器。
Jo: Tuba in British English, tuba in North American English. And finally Dana
mentions a difference in the way As are pronounced. North Americans will
say water, whereas British people say water.
Jean: 看来“水”water 这个词的英美发音也很不同，还有一个词是表示“令人敬畏的”或者
“极好的”。
Jo: Awesome in British English and awesome in American English. In North
America As are pronounced A and in British English it’s more like AW.
Jean: 我们也专门请教了BBC 英语教学部的专家Nuala O’Sullivan，听她给我们介绍几个
学习英音的小诀窍。
Insert
You need to look for resources that are British-based – so be trying to look at websites
that are British, try to listen to programmes like this on the BBC World Service, try to
watch films or TV programmes that are British-based and then you’ll be exposed to
British accents and British vocabulary and British ways of speaking.
Jo: So you need to look for British-based resources.
Jean: 英国本地的资源– 那首先就要数我们BBC Learning English 喽!! 你也许要夺取接触
英国人的口音、词汇和英式的表达方法。
Jo: You’ll be exposed to British accents, vocabulary and British ways of
speaking. And Nuala has a very important message for everyone who
might be worried about which kind of English is better to speak or learn.
Here’s some language to help you. Be true to yourself.
Jean: 真实面对自己。
Jo: A global society.
Jean: 一个环球社会。
Jo: To get hung up on something.
Jean: 太过于计较某事。
Jo: To get your message across.
Jean: 表达出你的意见来。不过最后还要提醒大家的是，虽然我们比较了一些英语和美语的发
音与用词方面的不同，不过区分英美口音也是没有一成不变的一定之规的，英美英语和
其它地域的英语它们之间都存在着许多的相同和不同点，而我们今天给大家介绍的只是
其中的几个，正如Nuala 给我们做的如下解释。
Insert
I think it’s not that important to say this is exactly how Americans speak and this is
exactly how British people speak. I think the most important thing is to be able to
understand a variety of Englishes and to be able to express yourself in English and use
your own accent, be true to yourself – that’s what I’d say. I mean we live in a global society now – I don't think you should get too hung up about saying I want to speak like an American, I want to speak British English, or whatever. From my point of view as an English speaker, when I’m with other people I just want to communicate with them and I don’t care if they speak South African English or Singaporean English or Chinese English or American English –so it’s getting your message across that’s the important thing, not the accent in which you do it.
Jo: So excellent advice there. We hope that’s helped all of you and answered
your question Qimley. Don’t forget our website www.bbcchina.com.cn
where you can see all the questions people have asked us.
Jean: 如果大家有其它问题想要我们来为你解答，那么就请发邮件到我们的电子邮箱:
questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. 好，今天的节目就到这里了，我们下次节目再见!
Jo: Bye.
Differences between American and British English
Lesson
While there are certainly many more varieties of English, American and British English are the two varieties that are the most common. Generally, it is agreed that no one version is "correct" however, there are certainly preferences in use. The most important rule of thumb is to try to be consistent in your usage. If you decide that you want to use American English spellings then be consistent in your spelling (i.e. The colour of the orange is also its flavour - color is American spelling and flavour is British), this is of course not always easy - or possible. The following guide is meant to point out the principal differences between these two varieties of English.
Use of the Present Perfect
In British English the present perfect is used to express an
action that has occurred in the recent past that has an effect on
the present moment. For example:I've lost my key. Can you help me
look for it?
In American English the following is also possible:
I lost my key. Can you help me look for it?In British English the
above would be considered incorrect. However, both forms are
generally accepted in standard American English. Other differences
involving the use of the present perfect in British English and
simple past in American English include already, just and
yet.British English:I've just had lunch
I've already seen that film
Have you finished your homework yet?American English:I just had
lunch OR I've just had lunch
I've already seen that film OR I already saw that film.
Have your finished your homework yet? OR Did you finish your
homework yet?PossessionThere are two forms to
express possession in English. Have or Have gotDo you have a
car?
Have you got a car?
He hasn't got any friends.
He doesn't have any friends.
She has a beautiful new home.
She's got a beautiful new home.While both forms are correct (and
accepted in both British and American English), have got (have you
got, he hasn't got, etc.) is generally the preferred form in
British English while most speakers of American English employ the
have (do you have, he doesn't have etc.)
The Verb Get
The past participle of the verb get is gotten in American English. Example He's gotten much better at playing tennis. British English - He's got much better at playing tennis.
Vocabulary
Probably the major differences between British and American English lies in the choice of vocabulary. Some words mean different things in the two varieties for example:Mean: (American English - angry, bad humoured, British English - not generous, tight fisted)Rubber: (American English - condom, British English - tool used to erase pencil markings)There are many more examples (too many for me to list here). If there is a difference in usage, your dictionary will note the different meanings in its definition of the term. Many vocabulary items are also used in one form and not in the other. One of the best examples of this is the terminology used for automobiles.
| American English - hood | British English - bonnet |
| American English - trunk | British English - boot |
| American English - truck | British English - lorry |
Prepositions
There are also a few differences in preposition use including the following:
| American English - on the weekend | British English - at the weekend |
| American English - on a team | British English - in a team |
| American English - please write me soon | British English - please write to me soon |
Past Simple/Past Participles
The following verbs have two acceptable forms of the past simple/past participle in both American and British English, however, the irregular form is generally more common in British English (the first form of the two) and the regular form is more common to American English.
| Burn | Burnt OR burned |
| Dream | dreamt OR dreamed |
| Lean | leant OR leaned |
| Learn | learnt OR learned |
| Smell | smelt OR smelled |
| Spell | spelt OR spelled |
| Spill | spilt OR spilled |
| Spoil | spoilt OR spoiled |
Spelling
Here are some general differences between British and American
spellings:
Words ending in -or (American) -our (British) color, colour, humor,
humour, flavor, flavour etc.
Words ending in -ize (American) -ise (British) recognize,
recognise, patronize, patronise etc.
The best way to make sure that you are being consistent in your
spelling is to use the spell check on your word processor (if you
are using the computer of course) and choose which variety of
English you would like. As you can see, there are really very few
differences between standard British English and standard American
English. However, the largest difference is probably that of the
choice of vocabulary and pronunciation
British - American
1. Pavement – sidewalk
2. Rubbish – trash
3. Football – soccer
4. Biscuit – cookie
5. Sweets – candy
6. Tube – subway
7. Full stop – period
8. Autumn - fall
9. Flat – apartment
10. Lift – elevator
11. Chips – fries
12. Petrol – Gas
13. Motorway – highway
14. Jam – jelly
15. Cinema – movie theatre
16. Trousers – pants
17. Car park – parking lot
18. Jumper – sweater
19. Holiday – vacation
20. Post code – zip code
Discuss
Over the past 400 years, the form of the language used in the United States – and that used in the United Kingdom and the rest of the British Isles have diverged in many ways, leading to the dialects now commonly referred to as American English and British English. Differences between the two include pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, idioms, formatting of dates and numbers, and so on. A small number of words have completely different meanings between the two dialects or are even unknown or not used in one of the dialects.
This divergence between American English and British English once caused George Bernard Shaw to say that the United States and United Kingdom are "two countries divided by a common language"; a similar comment is ascribed to Winston Churchill. Likewise, Oscar Wilde wrote, "We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, the language."
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