Ben Crystal > Quotes

“you can live somewhere for years, and your neighbours will only ever hear you as a newcomer, but go home and your friends say, Oh you’ ve got such an accent . . . But”
― Ben Crystal, You Say Potato: The Story of English Accents

“Some English learners worry about this. ‘I’d love to lose my foreign accent and sound just like a native speaker,’ they say. To which I answer, ‘Why? Why do you want to lose your identity?’ And I advise them to be proud of their accent, in just the same way as I would tell people in Britain’s regions to be proud of the way they speak, and not feel so insecure that they look for alternatives. As long as learners can communicate clearly and effectively, native speakers need ask for no more.”
― Ben Crystal, You Say Potato: The Story of English Accents

“Britain's relationship with America might be described as 'special', but only if by 'special' we mean 'frequently dysfunctional'.”
― Ben Crystal, Sorry, I'm British!: An Insider's Guide to Britain from A to Z

“More and more rules were added until people tried to standardise spelling in the eighteenth century - by which time the language was already an unruly adolescent of 1300 years, throwing letters all over the place.”
― Ben Crystal, Sorry, I'm British!: An Insider's Guide to Britain from A to Z

“The daily mantra of these single-minded individuals – that ‘the sea is there to be swum in, and must be conquered’ – is one that is frequently adopted by any Brits on holiday in the UK. Well, for the first day of the holiday, anyway. C”
― Ben Crystal, Sorry, I'm British! An Insider's Guide To Britian From A To Z