Some people don’t know whether to learn American English or British English. Here is my answer to it.
It’s really, really hard to pick up a native-sounding accent if you learn English as an adult. Children pick up accents very quickly, but adults don’t. Even after speaking English every day for twenty or thirty years, you’ll probably keep a bit of a foreign accent. I’ve met many English learners who’ve lived abroad for several years in an English-speaking country. For the most part, I can’t tell what country they’ve lived in unless they tell me.
Since it’s so hard to learn an accent, you probably shouldn’t spend a lot of time trying to guide yours to one accent or the other. There are better ways to use your time, like learning new vocabulary or phrases.
Even if you are able to get an American or British accent, it won’t make much difference. That’s because English speakers are used to hearing different accents. Americans hear British accents on TV and movies. And we all hear accents from other countries: Russian accents, Korean accents, French accents, and so on. Usually, British people like the way that Americans sound, and Americans like the way that British people sound. So you’re OK either way.
So just pick whatever language is most convenient for you. If you have friends or teachers from America, you should probably learn American English. If you have British friends or coworkers, maybe it’s better to learn British English.
It’s probably easiest to stick with just one kind. However, there’s nothing wrong with mixing a bit of British and American English together. It won’t hurt you!
【小题1】The author mentions English learners in Paragraph 2 to show .| A．it’s hard to speak like native speakers | B．the author isn’t good at telling accents |
| C．people don’t like speaking with an accent | D．people like to live abroad to learn a language |
| A．Choose a special country to live in. | B．Make use of time to learn new words. |
| C．Tell the differences between accents. | D．Learn British accents through movies. |
| A．there are many accents in the world |
| B．which accent to learn isn’t that important |
| C．American and British accents aren’t very different |
| D．Americans and British people understand each other |
| A．okay | B．necessary | C．wrong | D．dangerous |
