When I talk to students on their first day at our school, I often ask them why they chose the UK to improve their English. The most common response is that they want to learn the ‘real’, ‘best’ or ‘original’ English. Is British English really the best? Our students seem to think so even though our American, Canadian, and Antipodean cousins would disagree. But why do people think that British English is better?

Some believe that our pronunciation is clearer because it is the ‘original’ and other English spoken around the world is poorer as it has become corrupted in some way. In fact the opposite is true. English spoken in the United States is closer to seventeenth centry pronunciation than British English. Most academics now agree that when English travelled to America with the first colonists, it changed just a little but in England it changed rather a lot. Look at our pronunciation for example. “Doctor” said by an Englishman sounds like “docta” but the same word said by an American really does sound like “doctorrrrr”. This is because the Americans have the original ‘rhotic’ pronuncation (they pronounce all the ‘R’s), whereas the lazy British don’t! Americans still use the ‘original’ spelling of words like ‘theater’ and ‘center’ but the British were influenced by French culture and the French spelling became so fashionable it has became the normal version, so now we write ‘theatre’ and ‘centre’ on our side of the Atlantic.

Can we also really say that one accent is better than another? If I say “The theata is in the centa” and my american cousin says “the theaterrrrr is in the centerrrr” we both convey the same information. Is “theata” superior to “theaterrrrrr”? I doubt it, but strangely many people have the perception that one is better than another. I suspect that this judgement is made for cultural, aesthetic and even political reasons but not linguitsic ones. Still, if many people do have this prejudice, it is not something we can ignore. Most of our students come here to improve their English, not because they love the language and culture (although some do!), but because they want to go on to further study or they want to improve their job prospects or get a better paid job. Good for them I say. If our students have to go to job interviews where the president of the company thinks good English sounds like “theata” not “theaterrrrr”, I wouldn’t blame the poor student for saying “theata” every time!

I might get told off for saying this as it could be bad for business but British English really isn’t better, but if enough people think it is, people will still come here to learn!