WITH the Internet, you can now learn English anywhere in the world. If you are living in the Mediterranean coastline somewhere in Spain for example, there are many English language schools erected there. That’s because sites such as Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol have lots of British tourists all year round and they speak English. And since these British tourists speak English with the non-r accent, English language schools here in Spain are patterned after that.

By the way, the development of the non-rhotic accent in English started as far back as the 15th century in old England. Certain words in the English language like bass were originally called barse. The most pronounced non-rhotic accent can be detected in the Australian version of English so if you want to go to Australia, you may do so this Christmas. However, it is unlikely that there are still flights reserved for you there so that Australian trip can wait until summer next year where it will be winter in Australia.

In a typical English language school in Spain, you will be assigned a student partner in the entire course of six academic months. And by the way, that’s just the Basic English acquisition course which is officially called as TOEFL or Teaching of English as a Foreign Language. The other courses are intermediate and advanced. During the first day of class, you will be exhorted to write a short essay in English and you will have to recite that essay in front of the class. The essays will be longer as the class progresses. If you opt to continue with the intermediate and advanced stages, you will become a language instructor yourself. British English with the non-rhotic accent is what you will typically hear on Sky News.

But if you want to learn the way Americans speak on Fox News with the complete r accent (except in the New England states), then go to the United States and enroll in an English language school there. You just need the right visa to do so. But if you cannot be in the United States physically, then a Spain-based English language school also offers video conferences with American natives who are paid by the school to tutor you how to speak English the American way. By the way, this is charged against your tuition as an extra but you will never regret including this feature in your enrollment. Who knows, you’ll migrate to North America someday.

There are other countries in the world whose peoples speak English as a first and second language. These include certain countries in Africa like Botswana, Cameroon, Fiji, Micronesia, Ghana, Gambia, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Of course, understandably, English here is spoken with a heavy accent. English is also spoken in India but with a non-r accent because it’s influenced by the British. So you can also learn from language schools in these countries. Have fun learning globally.