Good to see this thread resurrected — thanks to Theresa :) Besides the variety in US / Canadian accents, it should be mentioned that the difference between UK and US accents is insignificant compared to the differences within England herself — to say nothing of the other UK countries (Wales, Scotland, etc). Actually, you’d probably hear more accent varieties by taking a tour of London than by crossing the Atlantic. The accent normally taught as “British” is in fact Received Pronunciation, which is very easy to understand and is actually closer to General American than to the way most UK citizens actually speak. This is not surprising, since both accents originated in Southern England — not Northern England, Scotland or Wales. Whether you focus on RP or General American, you’ll be perfectly fine in any English speaking country. On the other hand, if you travel to (for example) isolated parts of Georgia (USA), London's East End, or Yorkshire, you may need an interpreter no matter what you’ve studied :)

I don't know, maybe because it's their native language so they just have more knowledge of the pronunciation No offense meant, but i've already listened to some indian people speaking english and the accent was terrible (the same here in Morocco) so I'd rather imitate the american accent than invent some ridiculous catastrophic accent

That's an even more interesting question.  Like people have said, there's no such thing as a correct or best accent, really.  Even if you ignore regional differences within countries, there are many countries where english is an official language that all have their own "general" accents - Canada, Jamaica, Australia, New Zealand a bunch of African countries including Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, and a lot of other carribean and south Pacific Island nations.  Of course, there are complicated (or not so complicated, on its face) reasons for this, i.e. British and American imperialism, but no form of speaking is less valid than another.  Your accent gives information to the people you are speaking with about where you are from and how familiar you are with their home area.  Having an accent should not be thought of as a problem, as long as you can still understand each other (although some people are not so nice - or smart - and may make unfair judgments because of your accent). In reality, few people really talk the way people talk on the news or on Rosetta Stone, but if you copy those "standard" accents, then you will likely be understood by all speakers of the language.

Good post from Phil and its true, you really don't need to go far to hear a big difference in accents here. The city of Hull is 40 minutes north from where i live and the difference in accent is very noticeable. I often post regional accents on my Hellotalk for people to try and understand. Maybe one of the teachers here can tell me if that's a good or bad idea but in my opinion if you can understand a Geordie or a Scouser, every other accent will be a walk in the park.