★ Distinguish the difference between British pronunciation and American pronunciation

In recent years, the proportion of British pronunciation has increased, and there are even cases where British pronunciation and American pronunciation are used at the same time, which gives candidates It caused a lot of trouble, and some people were unable to perform as well as they should. Therefore, you should pay attention to familiarity with both modes. In general, there are the following differences between the two:

(1) Pronunciation differences

When discussing the phonetic differences between American English and British English, we usually refer to "U.S. "Mandarin" (General American, referred to as GA) is compared with the generally accepted standard English pronunciation (Received Pronunciation, referred to as R.P). The difference in pronunciation between the two is mainly reflected in:

(a) The letter a before consonants such as /s/ /F/ /f/ /m/ /n/ is generally pronounced as / in American English A/ sound, while the British sound is pronounced /B:/. For example: Americans pronounce pass (pass) and chance (opportunity) as /pAs/ and /tFAns/ respectively.

(b) In British Standard Pronunciation, the letter r is pronounced before a vowel, such as real (real), but is not pronounced before a consonant or at the end of a word. But in American English, r has an obvious retroflex sound before the consonant, and it is also pronounced at the end of the word, such as: farm /fa: rm/, car /ka: r/.

(c) The same phonetic symbols are used, but the pronunciation is different. For example: when the unvoiced consonant [t] is sandwiched between two vowels, the former is a stressed vowel and the latter is an unstressed vowel. When it is pronounced, such as writer (writer), Americans are accustomed to voicing unvoiced consonants, so the pronunciation of writer and rider (horseman) are almost the same. Similar examples include latter and ladder; petal and pedal.

(d) The unstressed letter e is often pronounced [e] in American English, but [i] in British English. For example: Americans pronounce except

(except ---) as /eksept/, while British people pronounce it as /iksept/.

(e) The ending -ile is pronounced as /il/ or /i:l/ in American English, while the British pronounce this ending as /ail/. Such as: hostile (hostile) /hRstil/ (US); /hRstail/ (UK).

(f) When Americans speak, they often pronounce all the vowels in unstressed syllables, such as history /5histEri/, extraordinary

/eks5trR: dinEri/. British people are accustomed to omitting syllables in them, which are pronounced as /5histri/, /iks5trR: dinEri/, and after omission, they are pronounced as /ikstro: dnri/.

(g) Some words are pronounced in American English and British Although the meaning and spelling are the same in English, the pronunciation is different.

For example:

Examples

British pronunciation

American pronunciation

Neither

/5naiTE/

/5ni：TE/

Difficult

/5difikElt/

/5difikElt/

Tomato

/tE5ma：tEu/

/tE5meitEu/

Epoch

/5i：pRk/

/5epRk/

(2) Differences in intonation

The differences in intonation between British English and American English are mainly reflected in:

(a) The intonation of British English fluctuates and changes between tones. Larger; while the intonation of American English is relatively stable, with small changes in tone range.

(b) When dealing with the pronunciation of stressed syllables and sentence stress, British people are accustomed to strengthening the pronunciation of stressed syllables, stressed words or phrases, while often passing over unstressed words or phrases. Americans don't emphasize stressed words or phrases like the British do.

(c) Americans speak at a slower pace and are used to drawing out their sounds slowly, so we often find American English easy to understand.

(3) Vocabulary differences

American English and British English often use different words to express the same thing or concept.

Due to space limitations, we only give some typical examples here for your reference in listening practice:

American English, British English and Chinese

(1) Transportation

one-way ticket single ticket

round trip ticket return ticket

subway underground/Tube(London) subway

underpass subway

bus coach/bus public car

trailer/camper/mobile home caravan (hung behind the car and dragged) mobile home

truck lorry

ticket office booking office box office

sidewalk pavement sidewalk

gas/gasoline

1. The difference in word spelling between American English and English

There are two main differences in the spelling of words between American English and English: one is that the words change so that individual letters are different, and the other is that American words are simplified. The former is like inquire (English) and inquire (American). The first letters of these two words are different. But before the transaction of goods, one party inquires from the other party about the price, quantity, delivery time and payment terms of the goods; the English word for "tire" is tire in the UK and tire in the United States; "pajamas" In British English, it is pajamas, and in American English, it is pyjamas; in British English, "license" and "franchise" are called license, while in American English, "license" is used. These words differ only by one letter, and some have the same pronunciation, while others are similar.

American English words are generally simpler than English words. In recent years, American English has become more and more simplified, fully reflecting the modern characteristics of Americans' efficient and fast life and work. Most of these simpler words are derived from English, and a large number of words still maintain their original appearance in English. After entering American English, these words gradually become simpler, making them more convenient to use. For example, the more common word colour, in American English, is spelled color, missing a "u" letter; refrigerator, in American English, is spelled fridge, which is much simpler than the original word in American English. The simplification phenomenon of American English words is the main manifestation of the difference in word spelling between American English and English.

2. Differences in expressions of dates and numbers between American English and English

In terms of dates, there are differences in the expressions of dates in American and British English.

The British style is to put the day first and the month last; the American style is the opposite, with the month first and the date last. For example, March 2, 1996 is written as:

2nd March, 1996 (UK)

March 2, 1996 (US)

In American In the writing method of 1st, 2nd and 3rd, st, nd and rd are not used. Due to the different written expressions of dates, the pronunciation is also different. For example, April 20, 1987, is written in British style as 20th April, 1987, and pronounced as the twentieth of April, nineteen eighty-seven; in American style, April 20, 1987 is pronounced as April the twentieth, nineteen eighty-seven. . Similarly, there are differences between Britain and the United States when expressing dates entirely with numbers. May 6, 1998 should be written as 6/5/98 in British style, but 5/6/98 in American style; 01.08.1998 is August 1, 1998 in British style, but in American expression it is January 8, 1998, August 1, 1998 in the United States should be written as 08,01,1998.

There are also differences between the two countries in terms of verbal expression of numbers. $175 (175 U.S. dollars) is pronounced a (one) hundred and seventy five dollars in English, and one hundred seventy five dollars in American English, and is often omitted. When expressing consecutive numbers with the same number, double or triple is used in English, but this is generally not the case in American English. For example, the phone number 320112 is pronounced three two zero, double one two in English, and three two zero one one two in American English. 999 234 is pronounced nine double nine (triple nine) two three four in English, and nine in American English. Nine nine two three four, but Americans also pronounce three consecutive identical numbers as three plus the plural form of this number, such as 999 as three nines.

3. Differences between American English and English in correspondence

Business or Commercial English Correspondence refers to the communication used in transactions. In the United States, Business writing is commonly used, which includes letters, telegrams, telephone calls, telexes, reports, postcards, etc.

There are certain differences in letter styles between English and American English, such as letterheads and salutations, letter formats, word choice, and ending politenesses. Generally speaking, British letters are more conservative, and many British people like to use old-fashioned epistolary style with more formal and rigid words, while American letters have a very lively and energetic language, and the format is relatively simple. Therefore, when we are writing to the United Kingdom or its old colonial countries, we must use Queens English; if we are writing to the United States or an area within its sphere of influence, we must use American English. Of course, British language and culture have also changed in recent years, but overall, the differences between the two are obvious.

Business English letters are generally required to be printed neatly with a typewriter or computer. Each line on the left starts vertically, which is called vertical or block style. This format is commonly used in the United States; each paragraph The first word is indented, which is called indented style or indented style. This format is commonly used in the UK. Vertical job titles and signatures are bounded by the left sidebar. This format has been commonly used by American companies that highly respect work efficiency.

Formal business English letters should include the name and address of the recipient company or the full name, position and address of the recipient above the title, which is called the inside address. There are also two ways to write addresses in letters: vertical and indented. The vertical and American styles put the lines side by side, and the indented or British style puts the lines in sequence. However, the author has noticed that in recent British business letters, the addresses in the letters are not indented sequentially, which seems to be the same as the American style. In addition, there is also a popular way of writing a general recipient's address in the United States, which is to omit the house number and street name in the Inside Address of the letter.

In English letters, honorifics should be used. The most common honorifics are Mr, Mrs and Miss (used for unmarried women). The British often use Esq. (the abbreviation of Esquire) after a male's name, but in business, they are slowly using Mr. Mmes. (the plural form of Madam) for more than two ladies. Messrs (plural form of Mr) is used for more than two men, or for a company or group composed of more than two men. In British English letters, Mr, Mrs, and Messrs are not abbreviated with periods. On the contrary, American English that tends to be more progressive and liberal uses abbreviations with periods, such as Mr., Mrs., Messrs.

4. In terms of titles, the two most common ones in business are Gentlemen (American style) and Dear Sirs (British style), which are equivalent to our country's "Yours sincerely" or "Yours sincerely". If the letter is written to various company units and not to a specific person, use Gentlemen (plural form) in American English and Dear Sirs in English. If there is only one person in the other company, Sir/Dear Sir must be used. Punctuation marks are generally used after the salutation. The British style uses a comma (comma) and the American style uses a semicolon (colon).

There are many complimentary closes at the end of letters, which are equivalent to the sentences such as "salute", "salute", and "shunan" used at the end of letters in my country. The most typical American expressions are Sincerely and Best regards. The typical British expressions are Yours sincerely (acquaintance or know the other person's name), Best wishes, kind regards and yours faithfully (unknown name). In addition, there are special polite formats for British polite expressions, but these are no longer used except in special circumstances.

5. Differences in idiomatic usage between American English and English

There are also obvious differences in idiomatic usage between American English and English. For example, British English often adds should in the subjunctive tense, while American English mostly does not.

To express the concept of "have" or "not", English uses to have/haven't got, and American English uses to have/don't have; "have to" or "must" do something, English uses to have got to do something, in American English just say "to have to do something"; "holiday temporary work" in English is holiday jobs, and American English uses summer/temporary jobs; "renting a computer" in English is computer hire, and in American English is computer rental; "from a certain school" "Graduation" has different expression habits in Britain and the United States. In American English, the word "graduate" can be used for any kind of school, such as graduate from university/school, etc., while in English, graduate is limited to university graduation, and leave is used for high school graduation. ; When talking about a company's low pay, the usual English expression is It was badly paid, while the American English expression is It didn't pay very much; the English expression "I get along very well with my boss" is I got ort very well with my boss, but in American English, "got along" is used to replace "got on" in the sentence; "raise prices" in English is put up prices, and American English is used to raise prices; "on a computer course" in English is "go on a computer course" , in American English we say take a computer course.

6. When talking on the phone, the United Kingdom and the United States also have different ways of expressing themselves. If we are a secretary or operator in an office and are not the person the other party is looking for, we often say "Please wait." , the customary English expression is hold the line, please, and American English usually uses hold on; if you ask the other party (such as the operator) to transfer to the manager, the English expression is Could you connect me with the manager? American English usually uses the preposition "to" to replace the preposition "with" in the sentence.

Of course, there are other differences between American English and English, but American English is developed from English after all.