British Vs American Pronunciation

We've chosen four of the most common words used in everyday conversation that have a different British vs American pronunciation.

British vs American Pronunciation

Pronounce London / Via pronounce.london

British vs American Pronunciation – Which Do You Use?

We’ve found the top words that have a different British vs American pronunciation. We always like to think that English comes from England, and that the British pronunciation is therefore correct, but you might be surprised when you check through our list – you might even be using the American version of the word in your every day conversations. If you’re trying to work out how to pronounce these words correctly, have a look at the infographic.

Our Top 4 British vs American Pronunciation Differences

Vitamin

In the U.K. it’s pronounced the same way that it is spelt: VIT-a-min, vit rhymes with wit.

Americans pronounce it VITE-a-min, vite rhyming with bite.

Schedule

in the U.K., the word begins with a shh and the “c”disappears, here it is sounded out, SHED-ual.

The American pronunciation, “SKED-ual.” is easier….

Advertisement

Brits shorten this word to advert which sounds quite clever. Vert sounds like shirt.

Americans on the other hand keep the “t” in the third syllable making the U.K “iz” into an American “tize” sounding like this, AD-vertize-ment.

The whole word is broken down like this, ad-VERT-izment.

Herb

Brits pronounce the “h” in herb, when referring to leafy greens

The “h” is silent in the U.S. and sounds like “erb”.

This article first appeared here: British vs American Pronunciation

About The Author:

Marie-Ora has developed simplified ways of quickly teaching students how to pronounce foreign languages when she tutored at university and she has built on that foundation to create a phonetic respelling which demystifies this complex alphabet and makes pronunciation accessible to the layman.