English Dialects: American and British - part 2

Here in Eastern Poland the middle-aged and older generations speak with quasi-British accents, while the younger generations speak with American accents. This is due mostly to the lowering of the Wall in 1989, before which British forms of English were the most accessible ones. The Cold War with America depprived the people of materials for American English. However, the younger generations, who have grown up since the Wall fell, have been fed steady diets of American music and films.

The battle is not over. In fact, it has just begun. Since Poland has joined the E.U. the older teachers have become emboldened to reassert the supremacy of RP British English, suffering the younger generations to relearn the American accent they have already partially developed through natural means. It's HIGH TIME these teachers recognize the possibility of co-existing variations of accents. Of course that would require them to develop new strategies of teaching such subjects as phonetics and pronunciation. If they did, then my students would not bring up the issue of two different systems of pronunciation for the English they are being taught.

Certainly an alternative solution is for me to speak with a British accent, but if you heard my imitation of British you would scream for me to stop - it's so terrible. I could teach them in my native accent, Southern American, but I am sparing them the pains of laughing so hard in every class from confusion over such words as tire and tar or the ambiguous phrases such as d'ya (meaning did you) or Git y'on outa hir! (meaning Get out of here, now!).