By Yunjie
In a daily chatting with two of my best friends in college, I found both of them are now learning the British accent. When asked about the reason, one girl working in a private English education institute in China explained, “English teachers with the British accent are relatively rare, and consequently seem to be more advanced and fancy, therefore they are more welcomed by students, parents, and the school”, while another girl who is attending graduate school in London told me that “I try to learn British English because the teachers here pay more attention and give more compliment to international students speaking British English”.
Based on that, I did a simple follow-up research on the Internet trying to see different people’s perspectives on different English varieties. It looks like US websites enjoy publishing articles such as “30 Awesome British Slang Terms You Should Start Using Immediately”, while the British media has a fondness for articles such as “40 Things That Americans Say Wrong”. And in Chinese websites, there are tons of posts discussing about whether to learn British English or American English. Agree or not agree: a hierarchy of English varieties does exist. First British English, then American English, finally comes with some other non-standard English varieties.
Continue reading “Does the accent really matter?”