What are dialects?

And do we need to learn them?

Nottingham city centre Photo by Korng Sok on Unsplash

Hello everyone!

Today, I’d like to talk to you about dialects. In your country, do people speak your language slightly differently depending on where they’re from? Probably yes. And if you speak a language which is spoken in many countries, like Spanish or Arabic, there are probably even more differences, right? 

The same is true in English, of course. I grew up in Nottinghamshire, which is in the middle of the UK. I was also a primary school teacher here for the first six years of my working life. Nottinghamshire, like all other parts of the UK, has its own dialect.

A dialect is the way a particular group of people speak a language. In a dialect, there are some words which only people in that group will understand, the pronunciation is different and there might even be some non-standard grammar. (Be careful not to confuse dialect with accent. Your accent is just about how you pronounce words; dialect is about vocabulary and grammar as well.)

Most dialects are regional. In other words, people speak differently in different parts of the country. However, some dialects are related to a person’s social class (like Received Pronunciation in Britain) or ethnic group (like African-American English).

In the UK, people from different parts of the country can usually understand each other well enough most of the time because the dialects are not hugely different from standard English. Having said that, some dialects and some accents are stronger than others and then people from outside the area really might have some difficulties in understanding what’s being said, especially if they come from the other end of the country! 

You might be wondering if it’s important to learn about different English dialects. I would say it’s probably important if you want to live in an English-speaking country. In that case, you might want to learn about the local dialect which is spoken where you live. This will help you to understand local people, of course, but you also need to know what words to avoid if you travel to another part of the country.

If you don’t live in an English-speaking country, reasons for learning about dialects could be to understand TV shows, films or pop songs! Apart from that, I would say that although it’s a good idea to be aware that dialects exist, you don’t need to worry about learning them!

Phew, right?! Learning English is challenging enough already without having to learn different varieties of English as well! Most of you will probably communicate with other non-native speakers far more often than speaking to a native speaker. So it’s better for you to focus on English which is understood internationally, and you don’t need to worry about learning dialects.

So if it’s not necessary to learn dialects, why am I writing this post?! Partly because I think it’s helpful for you to understand a bit about what’s considered to be correct or incorrect English. Partly so you’re not surprised or confused when you hear something different from what you learnt at school. And partly because dialects can be interesting and fun!

One of the most famous and fun dialects in the UK is Cockney English. This includes something called Cockney rhyming slang. For example, “dog and bone” means “phone”. “Phone” and “bone” rhyme (have a similar sound).  “Loaf” means “head” because “loaf of bread” rhymes with “head”. “Use your loaf” means “Think about it!”

Let me tell you something about Nottinghamshire English. As you know, in standard English, we say “I was”, “you were” and “he was”. Well, in Nottinghamshire, people often say “I were”, “you was” and “he were”! Is this bad English? Some people might say it’s wrong but I don’t agree. It’s OK to say that it’s not standard English but it’s not OK to say it’s bad English.

In my opinion, it’s all about context. If people are talking to friends, especially local friends, then it’s perfectly acceptable for them to use non-standard grammar from their dialect. However, in a job interview or in a formal letter, it would be better to use standard English.

In fact, most people do switch between their dialect and more standard English automatically. I have a friend who lives in Newcastle. The Newcastle dialect is called Geordie. My friend speaks more Geordie when she’s talking to somebody from Newcastle and noticeably less Geordie when she’s talking to me! She does this without even realising she’s doing it!

Even young children can do this. Let’s go back to talking about Nottinghamshire English. Another thing about this dialect is that people don’t pronounce the letter H at the beginning of a word. You remember I told you I used to be a primary school teacher? I noticed that children learnt very early on when to write an H even though they didn’t say it. They also wrote “I was”, “you were” and so on (most of the time) even though that’s not what they said.

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the differences between spoken and written English. One of the many differences is that, in general, people are more likely to use their dialect when they speak and less likely to do so when they write. However, they might also use a bit of their dialect in informal writing such as WhatsApp messages.

Here’s a summary of the main points in this post:

• You need to know that dialects exist and that not everyone speaks the same way.

• You don’t need to learn to speak different dialects unless you live in an English-speaking country and want to understand locals.

• Dialects often use non-standard grammar in informal situations and that’s acceptable, but in formal English, people usually use standard grammar.

Look out for more posts about spoken English in future weeks!

Until next time!

Katie

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Thanks for reading my Substack post! I’m Katie Salter and I teach British English online.

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