American English

:-) Good morning, afternoon or evening (depending on where you are reading this from)
 

Lately, I have been focusing my studies of English on the American variety which has led me to some questions. I know there are different dialects/ accents around all the country (General American, Southern dialect and so on); but, which ones would you say the major ones are?

In other words, in how many major accents/ dialects would you divide the English language in the States?
 

Thank you beforehand for all the possible answers,

Brenda.

Pharrell Williams: 'The Happy Movement'

Hey, how are you all?
 

Have you heard of the ‘Happy Movement’? I was surfing on the net and suddenly, I found this video on YouTube. It was filmed on my island and it shows people in different landscapes manifesting happiness. In this case, all of them appear in funny costumes! I was quite interested so that I looked for some information about it and it led me to many other videos which have been filmed all around the world. I found this amazing!

Has your city already be involved in this movement?

Check it out! It is a lot of fun!

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7Wjcje_Q1A

<em>(Please, correct any mistake I could have made)</em>

People and Persons One of the first things I learnt about English was that the plural of 'person' would always be 'people' and NEVER persons. However, lately I am finding more and more writings where authors write 'persons' instead of people. Could you tell me if the use of 'persons' is correct? If so, in which contexts? is there any difference between the use of each word? Thank you.

American English vs. British English

As we already know, each language accent varies depending on the region where it is spoken. During my life, I have met British as well as American speakers of English; though I could also talk about other English speakers, I want to focus my writing on the ideas of these two main accents.

From my experience, I have realized that there is a kind a controversy between both of them. British speakers usually say that Americans have 'destroyed' the English language because of their pronunciation and their use of the language. I hope this is just a radical thought of the British people I have met. This reminds me of those Spaniards who actually think similar of the accents of Latinamerican people.

From my point of view, I do like the different accents that a same language has as they show their own identity and it is actually what differenciates each other.

As I am quite interested in both opinions: What do you, American and British speakers, think of the difference between both accents?

'By my own' and 'by myself' I always get confused about them: When should I use either one or the other? Is any difference between 'by my own' and 'by myself'; or could they be used as equivalent? Thank you!

What is your aim about studying other language(s)? 'If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.' /Nelson Mandela/ I could not agree more with him. From the first time I read this quote, I am devoted to reach that level where people could talk to me in English and those words went to my heart instead to my mind as they do currently. Now, I am wondering what language learners think of it: language just as a system to understand utterances or language as a means of cultural exchanges.