3. On English - Varieties - FAQ

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Page 3. On English - Varieties

Varieties of English
See our section World Englishes (top nav. bar)

What type of English do you use?
I use the US American variety, influenced by the fact that I live in Europe and that I have traveled to lots of different places. The US American variety can be detected in some spelling here - that's why you'll find "Traveling" with one "l" instead of the British spelling "Travelling", and you notice it in class in my "a's" and "r's". Check out for inconsistencies, so you can have fun in class! :P More in "About the Author".

Are you a US American citizen?
I'm a bilingual. I've got a dual nationality US American/Spanish. I was born and brought up in Spain. I studied and worked in Australia, the UK, and the USA. I've surely done some traveling! and since 1993 or so I've been living and working in Spain.

Is British English more correct that US American English?
No. No English variety is more correct than others. People tend to be nationalist and classist, but the truth is nobody should say that some accents or varieties are better than others, because that is like saying that some people are better than others just for "inevitable" things like where you are born or what you look like. People have different accents depending on where they learned their mother language. So don't be ashamed if you have a Spanish accent. If you can learn to imitate a less Spanish accent, great. But if not, it's sexy, they say, so don't worry much! Varieties make the world richer and more interesting. There are a lot of people who speak Spanish very well with a strong foreign accent, aren't there? (British, French...) The thing is not the accent, but that you pronounce correctly! Mispronouncing is making mistakes when you pronounce, but that has nothing to do with having this or that accent.