Do You Speak American? Essay

Absolutely, the answer was no. In the past, I thought American English was only a language which pronounced â€Å"r† heavily. Surprisingly, according to the map of dialect, America can be divided by seven parts. They are Eastern New English, NYC,Philadelphia, The North, The Midland, The South and The West. And different regions of America have different dialects. In terms of the dialect of American English, I have a re-understanding of this language. I find it is interesting, even surprising, and I am more curious about that. The dialects of American English is really interesting. Honestly, when I hear a conversation or a speech, I can hardly recognize the accents without special note, although sometimes I can recognize the obvious accents according to the meaning of the sentence. For example, most young California say [? ] to replace [? ], say â€Å"like† as â€Å"lake†. According to my personal experience, when I traveled to Miami, Florida, I heard that most people in there said â€Å"lift† as â€Å"left†. Moreover, Net English used among young people is another part of interest. For example, â€Å"das kool† equals â€Å"that is cool†, â€Å"lol† means â€Å"laugh out loud†, â€Å"How ya doin hun† is â€Å"how are you doing honey? †, â€Å"g2g† means â€Å"got to go†, etc. Maybe they think typing English in this way is more convenient and fashionable, however, I do not think so. Furthermore, experts recommend that TV series is a good way to recognize and learn dialects since the actors of a program are come from different regions. At last, teenagers prefer to use some new words of phrases to express an common meaning, such as â€Å"bling bling† refers to expensive jewelry. This is popular and sometimes I also use that to express myself. Actually, I am surprised about the dialects of American English in the following aspects. Firstly, in North America, people will laugh at lobsterman’s dialect and make fun with the way they speak. As far as I am concerned, we should respect different languages and cultures. Even though we cannot understand the way of communication, every dialect must has its own value to exist. Moreover, although people dislike some dialects, they can always imitate those dialects they hate. It is unbelievable. In addition, I watched these three DVDs without subtitle. So when I watched the CD2 which introduced the dialects in the mid-land, I found it was difficult for me to understand what people said. However, it is easier to understand what the north and west people said. I think it means that the people of mid-land and south have strong accents. Frankly, there are some points that I do not know before I watching this video. First of all, Philadelphia shakes the American speech more than any other city. Secondly, the Black and the White cannot communicate with each other by using English at the beginning. Thirdly, some people who come from the mid-land consider New Yorker speak bad English, since New Yorker say â€Å"water† as â€Å"[w? :d? ]†. To be honest, as for me, I like the dialect of New York. Fourthly, some pronounciation of dialect are totally different from the original pronounciation. For example, in Ohio and Michigan, â€Å"yins† means â€Å"you†, and in north, â€Å"ayuh† is equal to â€Å"yes†, etc. Finally, looking at magazines to find new words is a job, its purpose is to update the dictionary. To sum up, I don’t think I am speaking American even though I am in New York now. The dialects in United States are diverse. In my opinion, dialect is a component of cultural activities. And some dialects are related to history, some are related to the life style of different region. There are a variety of expressions for dialects. Those include the differences of pronounciation, the new words for common meaning, net English, etc. Most important, no matter what kind of language we say, we should respect all of them and admit the existence value of them. At last, I think watching different American TV series is a good way for me to improve my American English.