It is widely known that the importance and influence of English language have become more and more obviously in globalize society nowadays, as English has already become an international language worldwide. Until today, the English has formed several different types due to the difference between history background 、geography environment and social development of English using countries. Among these countries, American English in American region is the most important type.
All in all, based on British English, American English was developing ever since 17th century. At the beginning of 17th century, the capitalism of British was advanced and since this growth rate directly stimulated British capitalist and new nobles, their ambitions of controlling the world made the American the first station robbed overseas. From then on, Britain established a lot of colonies in American. With the British and other countries immigrants crowding into American, the culture and economy multiply day by day, and English changed a lot in pronunciation 、grammar and vocabulary as a mother tongue, so it gradually formed characterized American English. Anyway, as to English learners, grassing the essential of American English and British English would made learners to understand western culture better, also can make use of English in practice better. Especially to the beginner, it would help one cultivate the sense of language and avoid misunderstanding in order to comprehend this language more swiftly and more exactly by knowing the difference between American English and British English.
According to this above, this assay is going to discuss the difference on pronunciation、spelling、meanings of words and slang between American English and British English.
Firstly, we will start with the pronunciation:

读音方面 英语和美语在读音上的差异主要反映在元音字母a, o 和辅音字母r 的不同读音上。

1，在ask, can‘t, dance, fast, half, path 这一类的单词中，

所以这些词在美国人口中就成了[æsk][kænt][dæns][fæst][hæf]和[pæø]。

2，在box, crop, hot, ironic, polish, spot这一类单词中，英国人将字母o读作[)],而美国人则将o读作近似[a:]音的[a]。所以这些词在美国人读起来就成了[baks][krap][hat][ai‘ranik][paliJ] 和[spat]。

3，辅音字母r在单词中是否读音是英语与美语的又一明显差异。在英语的r音节中不含卷舌音[r]，而美语的r音节中含卷舌音[r]，如下列词在英语和美语中读音是不同的：

英语读音 美语读音

car [ka:] [kar]

door [d):] [dor]

river [‘riv2] [‘riv2r]

party [‘pa:ti] [‘parti]

board [b):d] [bord]

dirty [‘d2ti] [‘d2rti]

morning [‘m):ni9] [‘morni9]

英语中只有在far away, for ever, far and wide等连读情况下，字母r才明显的读作卷舌音[r]: [fa:r2‘wei][f2‘rev2][far2ndwaid]。

4，在以-ary或-ory结尾的多音节词中，英国人通常将a或o弱读，而美国人不仅不弱读，还要将a或o所在的音节加上次重音，所以这些词在英语和美语中不仅读音有差异，节奏也显然不同，例如：

英语读音 美语读音

laboratory [le‘b):r2tri] [‘læbr2,tori]

necessarily [‘nesis2rili] [,nesi‘serili]

preparatory [pri‘pær2t2ri] [pri‘pær2,tori]

secretary [‘sekr2tri] [‘sekr2,tori]

5，而在以-ile结尾的另一类单词中，英国人将尾音节中的字母i读作长音[ai]；而美国人则弱读作[2]，例如：

英语读音 美语读音

docile [‘dousail] [‘das2l]

fertile [‘f2tail] [‘f2rtl]

fragile [‘fræd3ail] [‘fræd32l]

 missile [‘misail] [‘mis2l]

除此之外，另有一些难于归类的单词在英语和美语中读音也各有不同：

英语读音 美语读音

clerk [kla:k] [kl2rk]

either [‘ai92] [‘i:92r]

figure [‘fig2] [‘figj2r]

issue [‘isju:] [‘iJu:]

leisure [‘le32] [‘li:32r]

neither [‘nai92] [‘ni:92r]

schedule [‘Jedju:l] [‘sked32l]

 Secondly, in spelling, American English and British English may be different too, however, the expressed meanings can be the same. There are some examples. (former is the British English spelling, later is the American English spelling.

1，英语单词中不发音的词尾-me, -ue在美语拼写中被删除。

           英语拼法     美语拼法

公斤 kilogramme kilogram
方案  programme program
目录  catalogue catalog
对话   dialogue dialog
序言   prologue prolog 

2，英语中的以-our结尾的单词，在美语中删去了不发音的字母u。

           英语拼法    美语拼法 

举止、行为 behaviour  behavior
颜色                  colour  color
特别喜爱的    favourite  favorite
风味                 flavour  flavor
荣誉                honour  honor
劳动                 labour   labor
3，英语中以-re结尾，读音为[2]的单词，在美语中改为-er结尾，读音不变。

       英语拼法 美语拼法

中心         centre   center
纤维           fibre   fiber
公尺          metre   meter
剧场         theatre  theater

4，英语中某些以-ence为结尾的单词，在美语中改为- ense结尾，读音仍为[ns]。

          英语拼法     美语拼法 

防御           defence     defense
犯法行为     offence     offense
执照             licence     license
托词          pretence     pretense

So on and on.
Thirdly, from the angle of the using of words, the same word can express the different meaning, however, the same conception may express with different words. For instance “billion” in American means “one thousand million” but “one million million” in Britain；“first floor” infers to “the second floor” in Britain, but still means “the first floor” in American English；corn means “cereal” in British English, however, specially means “maize” in American. And in American “sidewalk” refers to the rode for pedestrian, while in Britain people use “pavement”. Such difference also exist in “petrol” and “gas” ；“lift” and “elevator”, and so on.
The difference in spelling sometimes was caused by the meaning of the words. Which have been changed in Britain while in American, it still keeps the original meaning. For example, “nasty” means “smelly、dirty” in Britain English, and the meaning is very strong before, but nowadays it just means “unpleasant、unsatisfied”. However, in American English it keeps the original meaning.
In another condition, some words keep the original meaning in Britain English, but, changed since they were transplanted to American. “politician” is negative in American English, while neutral in British English；”scheme” is negative in American English which means “plot” or “harbors evil intentions intention, but in Britain this word means “plan” and is neutral. We are not going to give more examples here.
Fourthly, the habit of using words in American and Britain is also different. AmE is more conservative in the usage of hypothesized than BrE. For example, BrE keeps the old usage in law and formal situations. Such as “I move that Mr. Smith be appointed Secretary. ” But in other situations, BrE do not use this generally, but add word “should” into the subord innate clause, like “I ask that you should attend the meeting.”
While in American, we use the origin hypothesize of BrE in all the circumstance. Such as “I insist that you take up the job。It is important that he be present at the meeting.” Such usage in AmE has a large impact in BrE, and appears in British articles sometimes.
Generally speaking, it inclines to add adv. or prep. after some verbs in AmE, and to use phrase verb instead of single verbs. Such as “drown out——drown, start up——start, pay off——pay” and so on. “I will pay（off） to revisit the city.”
Sometimes, AmE also add prep. after phrase verb, even though unnecessary. Such as we use “give up on” to take place of “give up”. For example, “While the problem of criminal rehabilitation is difficult，we must not give up on our efforts to achieve it.” For another example, we use “meet sb.” when we see a friend somewhere in BrE, but usually we use “meet with sb.” in AmE in the same condition.
Until today, some people still believe the BrE is the purist language compared with AmE. They regard AmE inelegant because of the inferior slang due to the varied culture and religions. This conception originated from the discrimination of AmE by British people. But to we English learner, should not focus on which language is better. Maybe, the only thing we could do is to understand and utilize the English language through distingnish the differences between them as possible as we can, and make full use of this language as a tool to known and touch the word outside.

Finally,this is the culture background about American and British.