# Non native English speaking Dopers: Did you learn British or American English? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 28, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-native-english-speaking-dopers-did-you-learn-british-or-american-english/852769 "2020-04-28T19:59:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-native-english-speaking-dopers-did-you-learn-british-or-american-english/852769/21 "2020-04-29T15:00:45Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I’m American, but I just want to comment that I noticed when I visited India most people speak English well, but they speak British English. They say “lorry” rather than “truck” for example. I assume that’s an artifact of their colonial past. My God darling, when you put it like that it sounds as if the US had no such thing. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-native-english-speaking-dopers-did-you-learn-british-or-american-english/852769/22 "2020-04-30T09:03:36Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I’d wish to know what job that was required for :eek:. In the eighties, fluency in English was still rare for Germans, let alone fluency in perfect British English. The only chance to have adopted that would be to have been raised bilingual or having spent time in a British boarding school, or maybe in a very exclusive private German boarding school we don’t have much of and which are very expensive, think [Salem school](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schule_Schloss_Salem). I think it was university level. He spend his exchange time in a city in someplace like Birmingham. And although he came back with fluent English, it would have been enough for some Englishmen to sneer at. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-native-english-speaking-dopers-did-you-learn-british-or-american-english/852769/23 "2020-04-30T12:55:09Z")
When taught English in the Netherlands, it was British spelling and colloquialisms. Like all Dutch people, the teachers overestimated their abilities in English (it’s quite good, but nowhere near “near-native”) - so they would insist on pronunciations mirroring their (at times heavy) Dutch accents. This was partly counteracted by media: much/most of Dutch tv offerings at the time were subtitled American fare. I was a voracious reader, and English language fiction was cheaper than the same works translated into Dutch (and also available sooner). Since more fiction is American rather than British, over time tyre became tire, and color lost an u. This would earn me occasional demerits in English class in school, but not often. By the time I came to the States, I just needed to lose “dear boy” and “good chap” But I was already pronouncing my “r”s ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-native-english-speaking-dopers-did-you-learn-british-or-american-english/852769/24 "2020-05-02T09:45:43Z")
I have a number of coworkers who learned English by listening to music. One friend learned more English due to his love of Japanese cartoons, which were not available in Italian. English was easier than Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-native-english-speaking-dopers-did-you-learn-british-or-american-english/852769/25 "2020-05-02T22:28:52Z")
When I worked in Germany in the early 1990’s, our local national civilian staff overwhelmingly spoke English English. It was funny listening to one of the air traffic controllers sound like a perfect English gentleman while giving ground controlled approach instructions to American military pilots on an American military airfield. Return business trips, though, the staff at hotels, restaurants, etc., seem to use a much more American-style English. And they act funny when I try to speak German, especially when I say “si” instead of “ja,” because my brain mixes languages. My friend Dieter, whom I desperately wish I could find, spoke very good American English, because he worked exclusively with us low-class American soldiers. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-native-english-speaking-dopers-did-you-learn-british-or-american-english/852769/26 "2020-05-03T00:45:51Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I worked for a German company in the mid-90s. German executives would rotate through the American branch regularly. I never heard any of them speak with a BBC accent. Believe it or not, they all had German accents. > > You would know more than me about German proficiency but when I was stationed there in the late 80s/early 90s it seemed pretty rare to find someone who didn’t know English at least reasonably well. I studied in Germany in the mid 1990s, and it was very rare to meet someone who knew English reasonably well. In Berlin, it was unusual to meet somebody who spoke English at all, because the main second language in most of Berlin had been Russian. If you wanted to ask for directions, or order at a restaurant, or go to a doctor without pre-hiring a translator, or do anything, really, you did not meet anyone who had even passable English. One of the jobs I had in Germany was teaching English, and I generally got the work, despite being unqualified, because the parents didn’t know English beyond absolute basics, and I could speak German well enough to speak to the parents. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-native-english-speaking-dopers-did-you-learn-british-or-american-english/852769.md?page=1)