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.
Besides the history involving the two countries and some intrinsic linguistic features of the two varieties, one of the main reasons why many people think that British English is somehow more “superior” and “sophisticated” than American English is the context where the two varieties are used by the media. Due to the successful development of American film and television industry, people from all over the world are now exposed to various American TV programs, films and advertisements everyday, therefore they tend to associate American English with the type of English used in them of all genres, especially action films and sitcoms, which use “easy” and colloquial language. On the other hand, British English tends to be more “highbrow”—it appears more in BBC documentaries, historical drama, Victorian literature and some serious discussions. Mass media inevitably reinforces the two stereotypes of British English being “posh” and American English being “simplified”.
From a deeper aspect, attitudes towards different English varieties and accents actually reflect our underlying prejudices and lack of understanding of language itself. The ultimate goal of learning a language is to communicate with others, rather than impersonate others. I am really really hoping to see one day when people are not bothered or ashamed by their language accents, instead they could speak their foreign languages proudly, loudly, in the way they feel the most comfortable with.
I was so angry when you told me that students with British accent are preferred by the professors in London and I think it is a kind of racism that considers British English is superior and “standard”. I am also disapproval of the term “non-standard English” which is judged according to the accent of the speaker. The situation in McGill, or in Canada, is way much better, probably because there are immigrants with different accents from all over the world. However in British, there are less immigrants and speaker with other accents are considered outsider.