How Are British English and American English Different?

This video is all about the differences between UK English and US English. The differences are not that great, to be honest. Native speakers of either British or American English generally have little trouble understanding each other's speech, especially standard formal speech. But there are minor moments of confusion, and learners of English as a second language might have some trouble with one variety if they have mostly studied the other. Don't worry, though, because British English and American English are both English, and the differences aren't major.

There are some differences in accent. There are numerous accents in both the USA and the UK, but we can generalize by focusing on too standard/formal accents: General American English in the USA, and Received Pronunciation in the UK. One difference is that British English is r-less: they pronounce the word "car" with no R sound at the end, and lengthen the vowel instead. Americans say a clear R sound at the end.

There are also differences in vocabulary. For example, in the UK they say "rubbish" while in the US they say "trash" or "garbage". There are also some little differences in spelling and grammar. All in all, British English and American English are two varieties of the same language and the differences are pretty easy to get used to.

Special thanks to Peter Ashton for his British audio samples and feedback!

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Video chapters:

00:00 Introduction
00:58 Differences between UK and US vocabulary
02:54 Differences between British and American accents
06:07 How are British spelling and American spelling different?
07:28 Grammatical differences between British English and American English
09:09 Examining some sentences
10:06 Final comments
11:01 The question of the day

Music: "Majikk" by Jingle Punks.
Outro music: "Rocka" by Text Me Records / Bobby Renz.

[jeffreywang]

British : Where is the toilet?
American : In the bathroom.

[abylay]

"I'm not your friend, mate."

[johnathanhughes]

Interesting anomaly:

In Australian English, which contains elements of US and UK English, we use both "Licence" and "License" - but whilst either spelling is acceptable, TECHNICALLY you're supposed to use -se for a verb and -ce for a noun.

So the government will license me to drive, but they do so by giving me a licence. . .

[adityatyagi]

One time I was editing a document with a British friend. He simply didn't understand me when I kept saying to put the "period" after a certain word. After awhile, I realized he didn't know what a "period" was and he referred to it as a "full stop."

[bikutoso]

As a non native English speaker, there seems to be lot of mixing of UK English and US English in the English used by me.

[titleloanman]

As a person from the south, hearing that Americans don’t use the word “reckon” made me spit out my sweet tea and knock over my banjo.

[dannym]

🇬🇧 English (Traditional)
🇺🇸 English (Simplified)

[jrc]

Really interesting. It reminded me when I was teaching student nurses from the Philippines here in the UK. They grew up learning American English so all their assignments contained really unfamiliar spelling and expressions.

[terrylambert]

The American postal service delivers the mail. The British mail service delivers the post.

[DísirKyrkje]

I’m American and I remember walking into an elevator in Hawaii, and this guy looked at me and said ‘Kwite niat eh?’
I just stared at him then said excuse me?? He repeated it again ‘Kwite Niat eh?’
And I just stared at him again, then said I’m so sorry I don’t understand.
He looked at me and slowly said
‘Q u i e t. N i g h t. E h?’
He was Australian 😂

[DrScrubbington]

When you mentioned how past tense forms have different tendencies, I think burned/burnt is an odd one in America, because here we usually say "burned" as a verb (I *burned* the candle), while "burnt" is exclusively used as the adjective (the candle is *burnt* or burnt out.) Although there are plenty of Americans who may say "burnt" as the verb as well.

[satchin]

Mr. Paul appreciate your pronounces in english and it's really nice that every one can understand easily.

[nerysghemor]

In the US, “reckon” sounds very rural, and possibly Southern.

[nucelom]

today i learned that when i'm talking in english i'm basically jumping from british to american all the time

[saidfarid]

Hi professor
Thank you so much for your priceless advice and interesting guidance.
I love your way of teaching and excellent explication.
I really appreciate your job.
I wish you peace and happiness under the sky of prosperity.

[gogreen]

I'm an American who enjoys watching the show produced in the UK called "Escape to the Country." I was aware of some of the differences between American and British English, but that show has opened a whole new world. Besides the house hunters speaking with a wide variety of accents, I've discovered more differences in vocabulary or figures of speech. For example, Brits use "garden" for what Americans call a generic yard (which could contain flower/vegetable/rock gardens as well as grass lawns, trees, bushes, hedges, etc.) Also, I still laugh when a smiling house hunter calls a room or setting as "homely" instead of "homey." Then a small den/living room/study is often called a "snug." And I had to ask a Brit how the word "mooch" is used since a couple of house hunters said they wanted to go inside a residence for a "mooch." In that context, it means to take a look or wander around, quite a different meaning than the American definition. And don't get me going on how confusing it is to hear that they are going to climb the stairs to the first floor of a residence. Also, the word "property" seems to refer to the physical residence itself, and not the land with the residence and possible other "out buildings." Sometimes in the US, "property" can be used just for a building, but it usually means either a vacant lot or the land and whatever else is on it. A subtle difference, yes, but another difference that could be confusing. Another difference I picked up, many house hunters in the UK don't want open concept living spaces (kitchen/dining/family or living rooms all open to each other) and they don't seem very concerned about the number of bathrooms or their locations. They seem content with one on the "first floor", even in a two story house. (And many times, these homes have been updated, renovated, and expanded and bathrooms weren't added!)

[needbettername]

I've watched a German English speaker have a break down trying to understand an American, British, Australian and Canadian have an argument.

[afinoxi]

Canada : *exists*
USA : _It's free real estate._

[solosunbeam]

Interesting as a Scotsman how many similarities there are between Scottish standard English and General American English.

[BabsW]

Having grown-up and lived in both countries as a child and adult, some of these differences can cause embarrassing moments- rubber 🇬🇧 vs eraser 🇺🇸, pants 🇺🇸 vs trousers 🇬🇧, etc.