It's generally the vowel sounds that change so I've dug out a load of vowel examples and hopefully got the right instructions to indicate how a Brit should pronounce the word in order to sound like some kind of a yank! The highlighted examples are the most important differences.
The hardest thing here is trying to write down a sound that people who aren't linguists can recognise & sometimes the sound I'm trying to capture falls somewhere between sounds that a English person would normally use. Also worth noting is the fact that most of these are from the standpoint of being an English midlander who pronounces grass to rhyme with ass and not to rhyme with parse.
I've generally lengthened the vowel sounds by adding an 'h', turning the sound from 'a' (as in cat) to 'ah' (as in 'ah, I see what you mean') but not so much that it becomes "ar", like a pirate.
Obviously, any Americans reading this will be totally confused because they don't have English vowel sounds to start with.
| Letters | Examples | US differences from standard GB | Example sound |
| e, ee | be, eve, see, meet, sleep, | slightly lengthened | meeel, teeem |
| ea | meal, read, leave, sea, team, | ||
| ie, ei | field, believe, receive | ||
| i | it, kiss, tip, pick, dinner, | pretty much the same, very slightly lengthened | iht, pihddee |
| y | system, busy, pity | ||
| e | let, tell, press, send, end, | slightly lengthened | leht, dehd |
| ea | bread, dead, weather, leather | ||
| a | late, make, race, able, stable, | slightly lengthened | lehyt, aayb'l |
| ai, ay | aim, wait, play, say, day, | ||
| ei, ey | eight, weight, they, hey, | ||
| ea | break, great, steak | ||
| vase | Not an "Ar" sound (varss) but an "ay" sound | vayss | |
| a | cat, apple, land, travel, mad, | slightly lengthened. "ay" sound is more southern than "ah". Try merging the two. Note: HALF is not "harf" but "haff" | caht/cayt, mahd/mayd, hahff/hayff |
| last, class, dance, castle, half | |||
| ar | army, car, party, garden, park, | much the same, slightly lengthened, R at end is more pronounced | cahrr, pahrrdee, cahm |
| a | father, calm, palm, drama; | ||
| i, ie | ice, find, smile, tie, lie, die, | lengthened from 'eye' to more of an 'ah' sound, esp. "I am" = "Ah aym". The more you move from eye to ah, the more southern you will sound | fahnd, smahl, ahpplaah, gaah |
| y, uy | my, style, apply, buy, guy | ||
| ou | out, about, house, mouse, | hard to write down the sound for this. It's like adding an almost silent 'ee' sound after the initial 'ah' to create a wider sound. | hah-ews, nah-ew, brah-ewn |
| ow | now, brown, cow, owl, powder | ||
| o | not, rock, dog, bottle, copy | longer sound, again more like an "ah" or an "ar" than a short "o". Before an R the sound is rounder, becoming a longer "ohr". | naht, dahg, bahtt'l |
| o | long, gone, cost, coffee, | lahng, cahffee | |
| or | more, order, cord, port, | mohrr, ohrrd'r | |
| o | go, note, open, old, most, | slightly lengthened | goh, ohp'n, boht |
| oa, ow | road, boat, low, own, bowl | ||
| oi, oy | oil, voice, noise, boy, toy | pretty much the same, very slightly lengthened | nohys, bohy |
| aw, au | law, saw, pause, because, | The closing "w" is less noticeable than in GB English, staying wider and more open. Again, the wider you go ("ah" rather than "oh") the more southern you get. | lohr/lahr, pohrz/pahrz, b'cohrz/b'cahrz |
| ought | bought, thought, caught, | thohrt/thahrt, cohrt/cahrt | |
| al, wa- | fall, always, war, want | fahl, wahnt | |
| water | "Water" is actually shortened, not like our "wartah" | wohdd'rr | |
| u,ou | use, music, rude, June, group, | pretty much the same, very slightly lengthened. Less of a pronounced "y" before the "oo" sound. | noohtr'l, moohv |
| ew, eu | few, new, neutral, | ||
| ue, ui | hue, cue, sue, suit | ||
| o, oo | do, move, room, tool, | ||
| duty, student, tune, | These have little or no "y" or "j" sound (djyewty, styewdent) | doohdee, stoohd'nt, toohn | |
| route | This has an "ow" sound like 'doubt', not an "oo" sound | rah-ewt | |
| oo, u, o | look, good, gun, money, love | longer sound, more like an "er" or an "uh" than a short "u". More "er" gives a more southern accent. | lerk, gerd, mernee, lerv |
| u | put, push, pull, full, sugar, | pert, persh, perl, sherg'rr | |
| ou | would, could, should | werd, kerd | |
| ou | tough, enough, rough, | Less pronounced "er" than the ones above, more of a soft "uh" | tuhff, enuhff, ruhff |
| er, ur, ir | serve, burn, hurt, girl, sir, | "ur" sound has a more pronounced R with a slightly longer vowel before it. "Herb" has a silent "h" in the US. | surrv, burrn, gurrl, surr |
| or, ar, ear | work, word, earth | wurrk, wurrd, urrth | |
| herb | urrb | ||
| Other words pronounced differently | |||
| schedule | UK = shedule, US = skedule | skehdoohl | |
| vitamin | rhymes with 'bite a pin' | vihytamin | |
| aluminium | US version loses the second "i" | ahloohminum | |
| mobile | the second syllable is shortened | mohb'll | |
| advertisement | stress on the 2nd syllable | advuhrrtizment | |
| leisure | longer first syllable, using "ee" instead of "eh" | leeezsuhre |
