what is the difference between English dialects?

**islamlover_girl** · 06-12-2009

I am not a native English ,my mother tongue is Arabic,I am interested to know the difference between English dialects,would u please give me some examples for the difference between British, American ,Australian and Canadian English.

**wth1257** · 06-12-2009

Originally Posted by islamlover_girl

I am not a native English ,my mother tongue is Arabic,I am interested to know the difference between English dialects,would u please give me some examples for the difference between British, American ,Australian and Canadian English.

Some differences in spelling. American English "color" vs British English "colour". Lot's of little things like that. Some small differences in vocabulary and word use but really I've never had any trouble understanding a Britich, Australian, or Canadian English speaker. The actual pronunciation can make it a bit difficult to understand in speech at first but it's really not difficult to figure out.

**wth1257** · 06-12-2009

You speak very nice English by the way

**Thinker** · 06-12-2009

In my experience the word dialect means different things in different countries or at least the border between what is an accent, a dialect and different language are blurred. For example when I was working in China the Chinese spoke about different Chinese dialects but in my culture they would have been called different languages. At the other end of the spectrum I have seen the cockney accent described as a dialect, which again I would suggest is wrong. I would suggest that to be described as a dialect it must include additional or different words (not different spelling of words). For example the Scots use many words not native to English like ‘wee’ (small) and ‘bairn’ (baby) and their use of these words and the stronger guttural accent can some times make it difficult for a native English person to understand what they are saying.

**Clover** · 06-12-2009

It depends. I live in the South, where words to to be shortened or changed. If you live in the North, most likely you take a Shower, in the South you most likely take a Shire. If you live in the North you might get a Soda, but in the South you probably get a Coke or Pop.

**Grofica** · 08-05-2009

In england its a LIFT In america its an ELEVATOR
In england they say PISSED In america its DRUNK
in england they say TELE In america we say phone
In england they say PUB In america we say bar
in england they say disco (or disco-tek) In america we way Club
in england they say boot in america we say trunk (of a car)

In american english....Some people say....

North-West North-East Midwest South
(name of product) pop soda coke
actually in the North west most people say coffee... i cant ever remember someone saying they want a soda / coke / pop.... everyone drinks coffee... latte, espresso, mochachino (spelling?)

(i might have gotten that just a smidge mixed but you get the picture)

Anyway things like that... austrailian english is pretty much the same as brittish just a little different accent... and all the canadians i have ever met spoke french... (thats another topic though) anyway... accent is the big one...