How close are British English and Australian English?

WTF   Sun May 23, 2010 10:54 am GMT
As an American I must confess I struggle to tell the difference between Australian English and British English. They speak in a similar tone, use similar slang and generally speak in a similar way. Some regional dialects of Australian sound like regional dialects of British English. Likewise, when you hear an Australian newsreader, "Standard Australian" sounds very similar to British RP to me. Despite American English being my native language, I can't imagine the differences between Aus English and British English are as pronounced as that between American English and British English.
Wombat   Sun May 23, 2010 11:21 am GMT
Unlike most varieties of English, Australian English has phonemic vowel length distinction.
???   Sun May 23, 2010 12:51 pm GMT
Australian English is quite similar to Cockney.
Kendra   Sun May 23, 2010 2:16 pm GMT
I like the way they pronounce DANCE, the American way ;)
Carlos I de España   Sun May 23, 2010 3:34 pm GMT
As a Spaniard I have no problem whatsoever distinguishing an Aussie from a Pommie. Just ask them to pronounce the word Australia, for example. Or mate. It's so obvious that I sincerely don't understand how anyone can miss it.

There are no "regional dialects of Australian", they all speak the same way, be it Sydney, Perth or Darwin. Perhaps in Tasmania there is a bit of a regional accent.
During WWI, Australian soldiers became famous for being unable to distinguish what part of Australia each of them came from, something that didn't happen to British.
Spaniard   Sun May 23, 2010 10:25 pm GMT
You are not Spaniard.
Shut up   Sun May 23, 2010 10:45 pm GMT
There is a pretty obvious difference between the two for me. Although Australian is definitely derived from the more lower class, Cockney type accents of England, as many came as convicts from there. Within Australia, I haven't noticed much of a difference, but New Zealand does have a distinct accent from Australia, even though it is quite similar.
Carlos I de España   Mon May 24, 2010 12:51 am GMT
Well yes, I'm a Spaniard,
and I spent almost two years of my life in Australia.

Didn't really like it, even though I lived in several parts of the country.
A huge country with almost no cultural or speaking differences among its peoples. Coming from Spain it's quite a shock
Aussie   Wed May 26, 2010 2:18 pm GMT
Billabong   Wed May 26, 2010 2:29 pm GMT
Verdad   Wed May 26, 2010 2:50 pm GMT
Despite being an ex-colony of Britain and still sharing the British monarch, Australia is culturally much more linked to the US than it is Britain. Just look at Australian cities, instead of the disorganised, rather organic structure of British cities, Australian cities are modeled on the US grid system, they go for big wide, open roads as oppoesed to smaller British ones. Instead of keeping the skyline low like in British cities, Australia has gone for the big skyscraper style, like the US, they have made a concious effort to make their cities look powerful and grand, while British cities always have a rather down-to-earth look.

Also, just look at the houses they live in. British suburban homes are typically semi-detached, red brick constructions. On the other hand, Australia has folowed a rather American style of building open-plan, detached homes and using concrete blocks or wood as the construction material. This construction difference alone goes a long way to giving Australia a more American-sied feel.

Also, like the US, Australia is very shopping mall based. That's not to say the UK doesn't have big shopping malls, but in the UK there are still a good number of independant stores and shopping in the city centre. In Australia, shopping revolves around going to the mall, and to an extent, kind of similar to the US, Australian daytime social life revolves around going to the mall - something that is not in British culture.

Not to mention the way they speak, just listen to those videos posted above and tell me they don't sound more American than British.

In short, despite sharing some cultural similarities with the UK, Australia is the America of the Southern Hemisphere. However, despite it's links to the UK, the US has always been Australia's biggest trading partner, which is why the US has had a greater influence on Australia than the UK has.

However, as for New Zealand, I'd say they are rather more like the British than the Americans.
^^   Wed May 26, 2010 3:07 pm GMT
If Britain was a young country like Australia then it would also look more American. Bigger skyscrapers, US modelled grid systems etc but England is a very old country you can't just change roads into a grid system like the US because some of these roads in England have been built by the Romans so it's not as easy as just getting rid of all the old churches and old buildings just to create a modern US grid system.

American and Australia might be modern but what they would NEVER HAVE IS CULTURE!
Andy   Wed May 26, 2010 5:46 pm GMT
I'd imagine the Australian cities resemble American ones more because it hasn't been around nearly as long as Britain, which has some very old cities with smaller streets that have been around for hundreds of years, and they have a lot less land overall, so it makes sense.
Paul   Wed May 26, 2010 6:11 pm GMT
Unless they have an extreme crocodile-dundee accent and use lots of australian slang, I can't distinguish them from british people. South Africans also sound british to me.
Australian   Thu May 27, 2010 4:22 am GMT
Spanish people are not welcome in Australia.