What's in a Word?

I've been thinking alot about the English Language lately. Now we first must make a distinction between "British" English, and American English. I speak the latter. In Europe, you must be clear on this distinction. Everyone here is taught the British method in school, however they watch American TV and movies, thus usually preferring to speak like me. I am currently at The Vocal Jazz and Pop Days in Soesterberg, The Netherlands (pronounces "Suess-ster-bergch"), where American English is envogue. All day long, conductors (Dutch by birth) comment on how something is pronounced the American way, how we must sing more like Americans, and how in American English, the word is actually spoken thusly... Apparently, this is the international impression of our English:

1. No final consonants, unless they can be sounded upon (such as "n" or "m"). This means "d's"and "t's" are out.
2. Should one happen upon at "t" in the middle of the words, this is pronounced as a "d", like "bottle".
3. All vowels must be bright and light.
4. There must be and extraordinary amount of vocal inflection (non-monotone) in every phrase.
5. Each spoken vowel contains a multitude of pronouncable dipthongs (such as our word "how"-prounced "ha-oh-oow" ). You must slide around between these to a great degree.

Now, here is a list of common requests by American choral directors:
1. More final consonants, no one can understand what you are saying, "lie" or "light". Don't hang onto sounded consonants...no extra humming, please.
2. Make your articulations crisp, even in the midst of the words. We must have good diction.
3. All vowels should be pure and rounded, like......of course the British!
4. Try not to constantly change the timbre of your voice, a good, even sound is preferred.
5. Do not sing the dipthong, make each vowel sound seperatley, putting emphasis on the first vowel and less on the following.

What's really happening here is cross-Atlantic flattery. We want to sound like them, and they like us. How bizarre. It's in the same vein by which marketing companies fool consumers by saying how something has been popular in Europe for years as a selling point. In Europe, however, (and this is true because I heard it with my own ears) things have been popular in The U.S. for years. I suppose there is a kind sentiment in this, mutual admiration, or slight geographic envy (grass is greener sort of thing), but why?

Vocally, both sides of the Atlantic end up with a hybrid version of what English actually is, some sort of sloppy, fake middle ground. In other facets of life, we have a romanticized view of a place containing people, who are, in fact, just like us...minus the obvious cultural difference (of course).

So, during my last week in Europe, I am constantly contemplating what it is to sounds "like and American". I find myself secretly re-pronouncing everything just to listen to myself talk...I think I will develop a complex from this. It is an odd thing to be "the foreign guy", "the native speaker". I have an accent, an American one...weird. Do European girls think it's sexy?

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