The more useful question is which English your child will hear most, at school and around them. The suggestions below can help you choose, and then keep things simple at home.
How different are British and American English?
Less than many parents think. The grammar is nearly the same, and most first words, like "bed", "apple" and "cat", are the same in both. The differences are mostly these:
- Some words. Americans usually say "cookie", "soccer", "fall" and "apartment". British people usually say "biscuit", "football", "autumn" and "flat".
- Some spellings. American "color", "center" and "favorite" are "colour", "centre" and "favourite" in British English.
- One letter. The last letter of the alphabet is "zee" in American English and "zed" in British English. You will hear it at the end of alphabet songs.
- The accent. Some vowels sound different. In a word like "car", Americans say the "r", and many British speakers don't.
There are also many other kinds of English, from Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, South Africa and other places. Speakers of all these kinds of English understand each other.
Does the choice matter for a young child?
Not much, in our view. What research does stress is the amount. Researchers who study young children with two languages say that the amount a child hears has "a profound effect" on how their language grows. That is about how much English, not which kind.
So here is our suggestion: put your effort into how often your child hears English, a little every day, from people, books and songs, rather than into choosing the perfect accent.
Which one should we choose?
These are suggestions, not rules:
- Follow the school. If your child learns English at school, or will soon, use the school's kind. Ask the teacher which spelling the class uses.
- Follow where you live, or will live. If you live in an English-speaking country, or plan to move to one, use the English spoken there.
- Follow the people your child talks to. If an aunt, a neighbor or a babysitter speaks English with your child, their English is a good one to learn. It is the English your child will use with them.
- Otherwise, choose what you can find. Pick the kind with the books, songs and shows you can get easily, or the one you know best yourself.
Will hearing both confuse my child?
For listening, a mix is normal. Songs, cartoons and books come from many countries, so your child may hear "cookie" in one story and "biscuit" in another. When that happens, you can name both: "Some people say cookie. Some people say biscuit."
For writing, keeping things the same helps. When your child starts to read and write in English, choose one spelling and use it at home, so they see each word written the same way each time. If the school uses British spelling, use British spelling for homework and notes. If it uses American spelling, use American spelling.
Can my child switch later?
Yes. Choosing now doesn't fix anything for life. When children live in a language, an early start usually pays off, because they hear so much of it. So if your family moves, or your child joins a school with a different kind of English, the English they hear every day will likely shape how they speak.
Spelling can change too. A child who learned "color" can learn "colour" at school, the same way they learn any new word.
How Kadoo fits
Kadoo teaches American English: every word is spoken with an American accent and spelled the American way, like "color", "soccer ball" and "cookie". If your child's school uses British English, a few words will be different, and you can point them out: "In Kadoo it's cookie. At school it's biscuit." Most everyday words, like "bed" and "toothbrush", are the same in both. Kadoo doesn't use the microphone, so it can't hear or correct your child's pronunciation.
Sources
- Byers-Heinlein and Lew-Williams (2013), Bilingualism in the early years: What the science says, LEARNing Landscapes.
- Muñoz (2008), Symmetries and asymmetries of age effects in naturalistic and instructed L2 learning, Applied Linguistics.
