British VS American English

So what is the difference.............well I will tell you!

Many people never ever think about the differences between the two different varieties of the English language. Being an ESL (English as a second language teacher), I have always wondered why there may be two standards of English, but as with many languages there are differences, So I thought I would do some research about it

There are two standard varieties of English. They are the Standard British English and the Standard American English.
Growing up and attending school in Canada, I learned British English, But because I lived in a border city with the US, the American English influenced me a lot.
There are some historical reasons why American English is what it is, but that would take up a whole lot of time. I will include a link for those who would like to know this. You can listen to the podcast on the website instead of reading it all. Its quit interesting though!

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/why-are-british-english-and-american-english-different

There are five differences between British and American English in regards to;

Phonology: is the system of relationships among sounds that are the fundamental components of a language
Phonetics: the study and classification of speech sounds
Vocabulary: The spelling of words in a language
Grammar: is the way in which words are put together to form proper sentences
and Orthography: the conventional spelling system of a language

Regarding these five points above, I would like to add one more. There are also regional variations within the English language, more within the British Standard English than with the American Standard English, however there can be some wide variances in the American dialect.

Here is a fun video of British regional accents. Im sure you will enjoy it

A few examples that I have experienced when traveling throughout the US and doing business in the US I will discuss. I had the opportunity to go to a business conference in New Orleans and listen to many speakers, but one speaker that was doing a speech was a native of Louisiana. I must tell you that his accent (to me) was so strong that I had a hard time understanding him. The accent that refers to his is called a Cajun Accent, or Cajun Vernacular English. This accent is a dialect which is mostly spoken by Cajun people living in southern Louisiana and it also extends to the eastern part of Texas, and is highly influence by Cajun French which is the language spoken by the Cajun people historically,Many other regions in the US have their own distinct accents, if you would call it that.

Here is a link to some different English accents around the US and the world. It's pretty funny!