One thing that English learners at the beginner and sometimes intermediate stages rarely know is that they do not realize that there are many types of English accents. So far, schools have only taught us that there is only one English language while on the other hands there are many accents of it. 

For example, the accent is like in Indonesian, Jakartans speak Indonesian differently from Papuans. It’s different with the Javanese. Well in English it’s the same. The pronunciation is different. It’s not even just the pronunciation, the idioms and spellings vary from one place to another. 

The world’s most popular English accents are: American English, British English, Australian English, Scottish English, Canadian English, and New Zealand English. Another accent that is now gaining popularity is Malaysian/Singaporean English. 

It can be simply said that there are two main accents of English which people know the most. They are American and British.  American English is the English which come from America while British English is the English which come from Britain. 

Those two accents have their own sub accents which may differ from one to another. American for example. To be able to distinguish the American accent from other accents, the American accent has a more pronounced difference in pronunciation and spelling. Like in pronunciation, the letter “R” is more audible than the British accent where they don’t say the letter. It can even be called the Silent Letter “R” in that word. Then in terms of spelling, words ending in “-or” in American accents are different from British accents which are read “-our”. 

 

Apart from the American accent, people who learn English must know about the British accent. Now the British accent is used in England. Surely you already know the Harry Potter films or The Kingsman? These two films were produced from England and they use a British accent. Maybe you know that native speakers who live in England only use a British accent. In fact, the British accent has many accents. Just like Indonesia, which has many accents based on their respective regions, in England it is the same. Because England consists of many regions. Some of the accents of the British accent itself are: Scottish, Geordie, Scouse, Yorkshire, Welsh, Brummie, West Country. Do you want to hear every single one of these accents? you should watch one of these Netflix Series, namely The Crown. Because this series is set in the British Empire, you can know the life of the Kingdom as well as to practice your listening because of the British accent they use as well as the accents they use.