English, the Language.

[BlobVanDam]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I'm not sure what you mean by "win", except in a humorous way (which I guess it's the point ). Due to the difference in population between the two countries, I suppose there are more native speakers of American English than of British English, but BE is the most commonly taught internationally (Europe, Asia, and South America at least). Not to mention Canadian English, Australian English, and New Zealand English, which are closer to BE than to AE.

As it should be. It's the English language afterall, so why should it be taught the American way?

Personally I don't really care about most differences either way, although being an Australian, our language is all taken from British English rather than American.
But there are certain spellings where I prefer the American English, and some I prefer from British English. For example, I always end words with "ize" even though it's "ise" here. But seeing "judgment" just bugs me furiously, and the single "l" on words like "traveling" always looks off to me, although I occasionally write it that way.
Aside from that, I really couldn't care less either way about the other examples. Occasionally I use the American English versions just to remain consistent on American dominated sites, and other times I stick to British. Although for most of those I wouldn't know which is which, and just mix and match whatever feels right to me.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

It used to be popular around middle school and early high school for my peers to use British English spellings, especially adding the 'u' into words, to seem hip and elitist. I never really understood that trend.

 

[Count Zero]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

It's note necessarily easier and it also depends on the native language of the learner in question. Generally, I prefer the British spelling, though some AE spellings have crept into my writing. Also, the -er ending instead of -re makes more sense to me because it's closer to German.

 

[iBender]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I only found out the other day 'on this forum' that pour is spelt differently in AE.

 

[Alpha Romeo]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

Don't forget "whilst" etc...

 

[Lindley]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I only found out the other day 'on this forum' that pour is spelt differently in AE.

Not from where I'm sitting.....

 

[Sean Aaron]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I thought the point of that was to show that despite thinking they use a consistent spelling for English, the Americans actually don't.

I've gone native myself. British English has it's own inconsistencies, but that just marks English as a whole as a pretty fucked-up language.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

However, the way most people actually speak and using the examples of colour versus color or defense versus defence they way it's pronounced seems to me the AE is more accurate.

I'm the last person you would consult to know how a word is pronounced in English (with me being Italian), but in my mind, the first vowel in "colour" is different from the second one: the first sounds like a short, open o/a sound, the second like a long, closed o/u sound, so it's fitting that they are spelled (or is it, spelt? ) differently. To keep with your example, "defense" makes me thing it's pronounced like "defenz", which makes me prefer the "defence" spelling. But it's all very personal, and I could completely off the mark.

Although for most of those I wouldn't know which is which, and just mix and match whatever feels right to me.

Yeah, I guess that's the same for most people.

Generally, I prefer the British spelling, though some AE spellings have crept into my writing. Also, the -er ending instead of -re makes more sense to me because it's closer to German.

For me it's the opposite, as -er looks like an "agent" ending (someone who does something, e.g. printer, runner, etc.), so "center" in my mind looks like it's "someone who centres something", not "something which is in the centre". Also, as a scientist, it's nice for me to discriminate between metre (unit of measurement) and meter (instrument of measurement). But again, it's obviously personal feeling.

 

[scotpens]

I can't say the word Loch.

Loch sounds like Lock when I say it.
I've tried loke, lox, loax... Nothing, she said it wasn't how you say the word Loch.
“You can't really say it, you're not Scottish.”
Those were her words and for all I know, she may have a point (This was over the internet.)

I always assumed the Scottish pronunciation of “loch” was with a non-diphthongal or “stopped” O, and the “ch” more or less like in German. Or is it trickier than that?

 

[Goliath]

Some Celtic spellings make English spelling appear positively rational.

In my own research, I encountered an IRA Volunteer who spelled his last name something like "O Droighneain"--though there seemed to be considerable disagreement about how exactly it was spelled. I found several different versions, some with accents and some without.

As near as I could figure out, this was pronounced "O'Drinan". Makes perfect sense.

But my personal favourite is the Welsh name for Wales: spelled Cymru, but pronounced kum-ree. Elegantly baffling.

 

[Canadave]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

Generally, I prefer the British spelling, though some AE spellings have crept into my writing. Also, the -er ending instead of -re makes more sense to me because it's closer to German.

For me it's the opposite, as -er looks like an "agent" ending (someone who does something, e.g. printer, runner, etc.), so "center" in my mind looks like it's "someone who centres something", not "something which is in the centre". Also, as a scientist, it's nice for me to discriminate between metre (unit of measurement) and meter (instrument of measurement). But again, it's obviously personal feeling.

Interestingly, the best example I can think of where "center" would make sense instead of "centre" would be a hockey centre, which is spelled with the "re." But generally I agree with you on those differences.

And I speak Canadian English, of course, which is a weird hybrid of BE and AE. So we have colour, centre, and dialogue, but also curb and gas. We tend to agree more with the British spellings, but pick up the odd American example when it makes more sense (connection instead of connexion was adopted early in CE). Thus, I submit that we have the superior form of the language.

 

[Goliath]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I'm not sure what you mean by "win", except in a humorous way (which I guess it's the point ). Due to the difference in population between the two countries, I suppose there are more native speakers of American English than of British English, but BE is the most commonly taught internationally (Europe, Asia, and South America at least). Not to mention Canadian English, Australian English, and New Zealand English, which are closer to BE than to AE.

Let's not forget Indian English. A hundred million people in India speak English as a second or third language.

Desis: spicing up English since 1757.

 

[Skywalker]

That's because Welsh is isn't English at all, it's it's own language.

Yes, but I was comparing it to Irish not English. Both are Gaelic languages.

Mr. Pedantic checking in!

Welsh isn't a "Gaelic" language. But it is a "Celtic" language.

The "Gaelic" (or "Goidelic") languages are Irish, Scottish, and Manx.

Welsh and Cornish are "Brythonic".

Yup. IIRC, the main difference between the two groups was that one--just one--proto-Celtic sound became 'p' in the Brythonic languages and 'k' in the Goidelic languages.

It's amazing how just one single sound shift can create such drastic divergences.

 

[DarthTom]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

Let's not forget Indian English. A hundred million people in India speak English as a second or third language.

Desis: spicing up English since 1757.

This is why I love the TrekBBS sometimes, you learn something new everyday. I did not know that Indian's spoke their own distinct form of English, albiet primarily as a second language.

Damn Indians, they've combined both American and British English to come up with their own.

Poor Shakespeare, he's rolling in his grave with regard to the lot of us.

• Unlike British, but like American English, some Indian speakers don't pronounce the rounded /ɒ/ or /ɔː/, and substitute /a/ instead. This makes <not> sound as [nat]. The phoneme /ɔː/, if used, is only semi-rounded at the lips.[citation needed]. similarly in North India "coffee" will be kaafi, "Copy" will be kaapi etc.
• Words such as <class>, <staff> and <last> would be pronounced with a back <a> as in British English but unlike American English, i.e., [klɑːs], [stɑːf] and [lɑːst] rather than American [klæːs], [stæːf] and [læːst] and in South of India "Parent" is pɑːrent.

 

[Skywalker]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

This definitely didn't need to be posted in the other English thread.

 

[Goliath]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

He said, without a trace of irony.

 

[indranee]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I grew up speaking and writing BE and then switched to AE at around 15 years of age once I got acclimated to living in the USA. I find BE more pleasing to the eye and ear, whereas AE is easier to deploy. However, I still spell and say certain things via BE (as in words like "emergency" or "realize").

Let's not forget Indian English. A hundred million people in India speak English as a second or third language.

Desis: spicing up English since 1757.

This is why I love the TrekBBS sometimes, you learn something new everyday. I did not know that Indian's spoke their own distinct form of English, albiet primarily as a second language.

Damn Indians, they've combined both American and British English to come up with their own.

Poor Shakespeare, he's rolling in his grave with regard to the lot of us.

• Unlike British, but like American English, some Indian speakers don't pronounce the rounded /ɒ/ or /ɔː/, and substitute /a/ instead. This makes <not> sound as [nat]. The phoneme /ɔː/, if used, is only semi-rounded at the lips.[citation needed]. similarly in North India "coffee" will be kaafi, "Copy" will be kaapi etc.
• Words such as <class>, <staff> and <last> would be pronounced with a back <a> as in British English but unlike American English, i.e., [klɑːs], [stɑːf] and [lɑːst] rather than American [klæːs], [stæːf] and [læːst] and in South of India "Parent" is pɑːrent.

It's more like 200-300 million, not 100. But I think roughly 50 million actually use English as a first language in India. I went to English-medium schools since I was 3 years of age (schools where you learn everything and speak to each other and the teachers in English) and I had English as my first language, Bengali (my mother tongue) as my second language, Hindi (the so-called and disputed-by-many "national language") as my third, and Sanskrit as my fourth. I took French and Spanish when I came to States in high school.

And even in India, the English spoken is not uniform. I spoke something popularly known as (or derided as, more like) the "Convent English". It's what someone like Indira or Rajiv Gandhi spoke. Or anyone educated in the English-medium school systems. It's a bit like how Aishwariya Rai speaks. But, someone who hasn't gone through those schools would have a more pronounced "Indian" accent, less "Anglicised". Then again, you have someone like Freida Pinto who, I believe, is an Anglo-Indian by birth. Her natural accent is different from "Convent English" as well. But if she's gone through the English school system, she'd have picked up the convent-school accent. Needless to say, all these "accents" come with a complete package of distinct words and expressions and even spellings.

In the rural areas, the Indianized accents dominate. And India is so vast (the size of the main Euro landmass when you think about it) that regions matter as well. To my ears, a Bengali speaking in English has a completely different accent than a Marathi, or a Tamil, or a Punjabi. And often we are forced to speak to each other in English

The sheer breadth and reach of Indian English is the reason why Indian-English-Diasporic Lit has had such a huge presence in world literature since the days of R. K. Narayan, and as well as Ruskin Bond and V. S. Naipaul. I think the Constitution was right to designate English an official language. After 200+ years of British rule, it became not a matter of choice but necessity.

 

[Jax]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I was talking with an American friend about our two different versions of English and I noticed quite a few words where you cut out the letter U...its like you have a grudge against it.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

Americans don't care about U!

 

[DarthTom]

Re: American English v. British English - AE wins by 250 million votes

I was talking with an American friend about our two different versions of English and I noticed quite a few words where you cut out the letter U...its like you have a grudge against it.

You just have them lying around all over the place. In all seriousness, it seems natural that the 'colonists,' would want to simplify / amend the language as another way to distance themselves from the crown.

It would be interesting however to find out at what point Americans began dropping traditional British spellings? Because the original colonists presumably would have been educated by British schools and therefore retained British spellings of the words and passed that tradition down to their children?