American English - how hard can it be?

Well, it's not easy at all, if you really want to get it right. It may be easier than UK English but definitely it's not piece of cake.

I always wondered why we don't learn American English in school and instead we're learning something that is supposed to be some sort of International English.

Ever since I started working with Americans I tried to change my pronunciation to match theirs. In time, I had difficulties in pronouncing letters or groups of letters. First it was the th which I managed to deal with after a couple of months. Then, the t in the middle of words such as bottle - sometimes I have the feeling it sounds more like r when I try to say it à l'américaine. There's also the nt group which to me sounds a lot like n in words like winter. Of course, when I try to pronounce that, I'm afraid it sounds too much like winner. Oh, and let's not forget the r. In our language it sounds a lot like the Mexican r.

But the bane of my existence is the darn i in words like America. I don't remember ever being told the American i is supposed to be blunt (I don't know how else to describe it) in pronunciation, as opposed to the Romanian i which is rather sharp. I can get it right 2 out 5 times which is not enough, by my standards.

I know ... I need to spend more time with Americans until my English sounds more like American English and not like some Eastern European Bad English.