British and American English
Learning English Vocabulary
BBC
4.5 • 523 Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 6 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Cookies or biscuits? Autumn or fall? Catherine and Doug discuss British and American English. Hear about differences and similarities in vocabulary from both sides of the Atlantic.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a download from BBC Learning English. To find out more, visit our website. |
| 0:12.3 | Six Minutes Vocabulary from BBC LearningEnglish.com. |
| 0:18.4 | Hello and welcome to six-minute vocabulary. |
| 0:21.7 | My name's Catherine and I'm here today with our special guest presenter, Doug. |
| 0:25.8 | Welcome to the show, Doug. |
| 0:27.0 | Hi, Catherine. How are you? |
| 0:28.3 | I'm fine, thank you. How are you, Doug? |
| 0:30.0 | Fine. |
| 0:30.7 | Tell us a bit about yourself, Doug. |
| 0:32.2 | You're originally from Canada, right? |
| 0:34.4 | Yes, I'm from Vancouver, which is in Western Canada. |
| 0:39.5 | But I moved here a long, |
| 0:44.7 | long time ago. But you still got an American English accent and noticed. I haven't lost that. |
| 0:51.1 | And that's cool because this show is all about the differences between British English and American English vocabulary. So tell me, Doug, do Canadians like you speak American English? |
| 0:58.0 | I don't think Canadians would say that. |
| 1:00.6 | Let's say they speak North American English. |
| 1:03.9 | Okay. |
| 1:04.6 | But it is very similar. |
| 1:06.2 | So American English, actually, in British English, aren't really that different. |
| 1:10.3 | No. |
| 1:10.8 | I'm British, and me and Doug can understand each other perfectly. |
| 1:15.7 | Yes? |
... |
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