Is British really SO different from US-English?!
Just pronunciation. For example, when I hear [paipe] I am used to understand it as a "piper". But a British could have meant "paper".
If you are not used to the American pronunciation too much then British English will not be a problem, I guess.

Very interesting...
What can you tell about the people you got to know in the US/GB? It's impossible to describe a whole nation by (with?) few words, but what do you think, what are the biggest human differences and affinities between "us" and "them" and among themselves? I'm interested in what ist the outlook to get together with my intended collegues

You think in English?!?! ...If you start to think in a foreign language, it's because you know it good enough and the words and the expression in this language come up first.
I don't have a problem to express myself in English, and I don't think when I speak. Then, I usually realise that I have so many mistakes in what I just said...
Well, this is example. Even I was corrected many times in my life, I do not remember when I have to say "said", and when "told"...
About thinking and poor English. It is maybe difficult to understand, but here is example. Many people in Russia do not have any other option than to think in Russian, yet they use "ихняя"...

yet they use "ихняя"...

So, you agree now, that it is not that unbelieveble to speak and think with poor language?

Of course I believed you I was just curious - my brain functions a little different. When I think in a foreign language (English in the US, German now) it's mostly a couple of worlds that come up first because I use them frequently. But for the complexity of my ideas I need the whole power of my mother tongue. Speaking is different - you have to express yourself so it doesn't matter whether you make mistakes or not, whether you are sure about the word or not.

Sorry for correcting you...

Correct: I think I made a mistake yesterday.

Correct: The girl in the photo...

Hello, is there anybody in there? You haven't been posting for almost a month already. No need of communicating anymore?
To silent_sound: Well done!

thank you , you are right.

hello , I'm here. I was busy ( exams...)
Nobody has written to me this month

I don't think when I speak
It`s really a pity.

Yeah... That maybe the reason for my poor English

It is not that bad actually You have a rather good vocabulary which is a valuable asset. Your sentence structures are far from primitive due to your language practice in different English speaking countries. But sometimes your speech reveals your Russian origin (missing articles, literal translation of idioms, etc)
What do you usually do to improve your language apart from participating in this discussion?

Unfortunately it is not only pronunciation There are also huge differences in vocabulary use, spelling and grammar. But it's really amazing that they (British and Americans) do not know any differencies themselves - they just speak their language and do not rack their brains about it. It is usually foreigners who have to distinguish between BE and AE and learn the differences.
My British friend told me about her experience in the USA and was proud of having learnt a lot of "American" words. She was really surprised that "bonnet" was "hood" and "boot" is "trunk" in AE. Funny, isn't it?
Check this: http://www.lbt-languages.de/lernhilfe/lernhilfen_ae_be.html

I don't do anything to improve my English... And my English of course is a bit better than most of the Russians (I work in English for 12 years, and always my bosses are native speakers).
I think that large amount of writing helps me to improve my speaking abilities though. Now I not only write for myself, but help for my girlfriend and couple more of PhD students, here and in Norway...

I'd say "huge" is a little exaggerated. There are certain differences but they are not that bad, imho. For spelling you can always choose BE or AE in the Word Options, vocabulary is different sometimes but you can always understand what they mean, and in a couple of days you start using these words too. And grammar is basically the same. Can you give an example of a sentence that would be correct in AE and wrong in BE?

What can you tell about the people you got to know in the US/GB? It's impossible to describe a whole nation by (with?) few words, but what do you think, what are the biggest human differences and affinities between "us" and "them" and among themselves? I'm interested in what ist the outlook to get together with my intended collegues
Hi, I feel like I'm blind sometimes. I've read your message for the first time today although it's been there for more than a month ┘ Sorry
When I think of Americans, I think of incredibly friendly people who are always ready to help. I've never experienced anything like that in any other part of the world, and it's great. As for the negative side, they have a different sense of humor and it irritates a little. They do make jokes but it's shallow somehow. Russians, or even Germans, can make jokes about themselves and laugh (what we call "подколоть" in a good meaning of the word). But not Americans. They are so obsessed with the idea not to hurt one's feeling that they are simply afraid to make jokes about a person (of course, they have a serious reason for it considering the ever present danger of a law suit from anyone).
As for the UK, I didn't have a lot of time to get a clear picture of them as a nation. But if you ask about the country, it's very expensive, it's very old and it's almost impossible to find good food there.

I am not going to argue with you because everything is relative. Maybe you are right and it is exaggeration to regard these differences as huge but they are big enough to ignore them. If you check this site http://esl.about.com/library/weekly/aa110698.htm, you▓ll see that there are a lot of differences in grammar as well.
My American friend has real fun ⌠correcting■ my British English which he calls ⌠the language of a small and unimportant island■. And he never lets out anything including grammar and spelling.
As for the schools here in Germany, all variants of the English language (including Australian, Canadian, Irish, etc) are allowed and I never correct my students. But it is considered to be bad style if students mix up these variants in one essay, so I have to point it out to them. The same is true with different language styles (formal, colloquial, slang, etc).

but they are big enough to ignore them
Is that correct?
Maybe:
they are not small to ignore..
or
they are big enough to not ignore them...
?

I was looking at this from the practical side, if it's about teaching someone else then the differences become important of course.
Btw, if you click on "ссылка" before and after the link when you write a message it becomes more convenient to look up the site.