Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles Today I have some guests on the channel! This is Louis and Dave! You guys might remember Louis from a few videos I did from Istanbul a year and a half ago. They're both in Tokyo right now so I've asked them to help me with a lesson for you guys! I get a lot of tweets asking to explain the difference between British English and American English so today I'm going to have these British guys help me! So we are going to be talking about the difference between ... or differences between British English and American English You both speak British English. We do. We try. Could we get a brief introduction from both of you? Yeah, so I'm Louis Cole and I've got a channel "Fun for Louis" where I do daily vlogs and travel the world and that's where we met, me doing my daily vlogs in Istanbul. and I'm Dave Erasumus and I do experiments. I try all kinds of different things that are new and difficult for me. So they're here with a project, which they'll tell you about later, but let's just get started with some differences. First of all, I really like British English accents What do you guys thing of American English? I think that people from England or Britain are more used to American accents We hear it in all the movies. It's like way more common for us to know about American culture and accents. When we go to America, I find that Americans are more obsessed and excited to meet someone from England or you know, hear our accents. We'll just go over some very basic things like R's at the end of words we pronounce different like the word "color" Oh yeah! I didn't even notice that. Yeah we miss R's off a lot of words, right? but you know, the spelling of color is different as well. Yes, there's a "U" in it. Yeah, we have a "U" in it. We have a "U", I don't know why. Yes, it's just short isn't it? It's very windy. We're on the roof of a building. Don't ask why. I actually think that British English is a little bit more easy for Japanese people to pronounce because Japanese people have a hard time saying R. Oh, I've got an interesting story. When I was last here, I've got a friend who is Japanese and she had an app on her phone that helped her tell the difference between L and R. because it sounds the same. Right. Right and light, we both say... it's ライト for both of them. So they're like, what's the difference? and it's harder to hear because of the way the language is. It's harder to tell the difference between L and R. See, this is why we don't say our R's because we want to help Japanese people understand! It's the only reason I do it. Do you know as well, if you get really lazy in British English you can say... you can drop your T's as well so in america it would be "water" No, we say "water" We say "water" So you cut the T and R! Really?? Oh, I thought it was "water" but that's kind of a lazy way to say it. More poshly, you would say, you know, I'd like some water, please. In American English, you say, it's like "water" Water. Yeah, exactly! We would say "water." But it's also different within the UK, right? Yeah. Oh, really different! You both are from? Near London. So south of England is pretty same-ish. and then you get West Country, I can't deal with the accents, but the north of England. and it's not ... geographically it's not that far but the accents get crazy different! Scotland! Sorry, one second. moshi moshi, are you here? We're on the roof. Moshi moshi. What does this mean? It's "hello" just on the phone though. You can't say it in real life? Just on the phone. Is there an equivalent in English? I don't think so. Just say hello, right? Yeah, hi. What's up?! I'm going to use moshi moshi then! When we're on the phone? Yeah, let's do it. I'm going to use it. I like it! There are a few words, that I didn't even know you guys pronounced like this, but how do you pronounce that word? I mean, I can see that. Maybe we're adding more syllables. We are adding an i in. Wait, unless we spell it differently! Do you? I can't remember. Oh, speaking of spelling How do you spell pajamas? or do you even say pajamas? Oh, there's a Y in there. We have a Y in our pajamaas. I had no idea! "adult" you say? Yes, that's different. It's just emphasizing different letters, isn't it? It's a little different. That one surprised me too. Those are the words that we... we have the same words, but we pronounce differently and then, we also have words that are completely different. For example, like famous ones are elevator and lift Pants? Trousers. Unless, you really want to talk about my pants. Pants are underwear! I made a video where I was introducing these new pants that I got they were like "Don't say pants!" "It sounds so weird!" vaccum cleaner hoover Because of the brand, right? and the reverse is we say "band-aid" and we say "plaster" because band-aid is the brand. Oh, I see, yeah! the opposite of the hoover vacuum thing. Yes! Yes! On a car, everything is different, right? The hood is the bonnet. The trunk is the boot. The blinker is the indicator. The gear shift... The gear shift is the... wait ... the gear stick. so many differences. Cars are just completely different. Okay some vegetables that I would never even know! Eggplant! What do you call eggplant? Aubergine! Yeah! I didn't know that. aubergine... and you call... zucchinis we call courgettes But aubergine and courgette are actually French words which we've adopted, I guess. Okay, that makes sense.