. . . when they’re speaking to tourists, of course. By “what kind” I’m meaning American English vs. British English.
What prompts the question is I finally got around to watching Rio where Linda, a mild-mannered Minnesota girl, winds up in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival in pursuit of her lost blue macaw. She winds up on a parade float (long story) and the samba school director (voiced by Sergio Mendes!) is yelling up at her in frustrated Portuguese. Tulio, the guy who got her down there in the first place, translates, “He says you gotta shake your tushie!”
Well, that would mean something quite different to someone in New York than someone in London, in par with the infamous “Knock me up sometime” invitation Aussies use. It’s an American film for an American audience so I’m sure the milder term was meant, but now I wonder would a real Cariocan say that to a relative stranger?
I haven’t been to Brazil in 25 years, but then there was a mix of American English, an occasional Britishism, and some obvious stilted text-book English. In the intervening years I’ve been in contact with many Brazilians and their English shifted clearly towards something entirely familiar to Americans.
I traveled in Brazil last year, between Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro. To the best of my recollection, they generally used American English. I don’t recall any Britishisms.
The OP’s question doesn’t apply to just Brazil. Most English language schools in South America don’t explicitly promote one type of English over another, but several things are at play:
If schools have native English speaking teachers, there usually are more North Americans than Brits teaching. That’s just because there are more of those people who find their way there. The institute in Colombia where I train English teachers has about 3 American/Canadians to every one Brit
Those schools usually have curriculum (texts, etc.) that come from the States, so vocabulary in the classroom is going to be North American, regardless of who’s teaching.
The appeal for learning English (both economic and cultural) is generally weighted to the U.S. People throughout the world are generally watching more movies, etc. that have American English. This is probably going to be the most likely reason why someone in Brazil is going to use one particular kind of English vocabulary (i.e., tushie) over another.
You have to keep in mind that people in other countries learn English from a vast array of sources. One thing that’s common in South America are private high schools that are devoted to a particular foreign country/language. You can go to an 'American" high school, a “British” high school, or a “German” high school, where you’re more like to have nationals of those countries. (Though not all the teachers will necessarily be from those countries.)
So–to the degree that people in Brazil speak English at all–you can’t really say that they speak any specific “kind.” The fact that a person in Brazil uses the word tushie is not really going to mean that much, other than at some point in his experience learning English he picked up that word and chooses to use it. He could’ve gotten it from a movie, from one particular movie, or an acquaintance.
The differences between American and British English are so minor that you are unlikely to be able to say a non-native speaker is definitively speaking one or the other. They may be somewhat more influenced by one dialect than another, but in the end their non-native speech patterns and interference from their native language will far outweigh any such effect.
As a native speaker of English, you are alert to the differences between English dialects, so they seem more significant than they really are. But if you read over the sentences I have written in this post, for example, can you say which “kind” of English is my native dialect?
I wonder whether the majority of non-native speakers are even particularly aware of the differences? Sure, some are; especially those who have learnt English very well. But your average “English 101” student - surely that’s well beyond them?
Usually it is, unless it’s pointed out. It depends upon what particular difference we’re talking about (pronunciation, lexicon, etc.). Probably they’re least aware of grammatical differences, and most aware of certain vocabulary, though most can hear the difference in pronunciation in a vague, general way without being able to identify specifics.
I am a Brazilian. I learned English in high school, but that was not enough for speaking the language.
I have improved my English skill by watching movies and TV shows. Since those sources come primarily from the US, my vocabulary and pronunciation are mostly American.
I can easily distinguish a British from an American accent, but I can’t say if an American is from Texas or from New York.
If you get red marked for every “missed u” on account of “we teach Her Majesty’s English here, young lady!”, you may still pronounce with an accent someplace between received speech and Madrid, you won’t be able to understand Mancunian, but you’ll be very conscious that you are supposed to spell British. In general, ESL teachers will not provide any information about dialects other than which spelling are you supposed to use (my college ESL class almost rioted when our teacher, who was American and out of the US for less than a month, marked down our British spellings, as she hadn’t specified previously that British spellings were unacceptable).
He did, indeed. “Fanny” was what I was supposed to be thinking of. :smack: At least it sparked an interesting discussion. Nava, your teacher was a boob.
That still doesn’t necessarily mean that the person you were talking to definitively spoke American English (and not a mix). Basic lexical items (such as flashlight) probably are picked up more frequently in things like American films rather than in British curricula coursework.
Generally I consider non-natives to be “speaking British (or Commonwealth) English” by certain mannerism of grammar, rather than vocabulary. If the person has achieved a high level of proficiency (or learned English at a very early age), then it can be determined from accent.
