British vs.
American English
Introduction
Torsten Daerr
English is spoken in many countries
either as the mother tongue or as a second language. That’s why instead of
«English» there are many «Englishes» — variations of the language. In this
article I’ll focus on the two mostly commonly used versions of English —
British and American English.
Before we take a look at some of the
differences between the two main types of English I’d like to stress that these
differences are somehwat minor and with the ongoing internationalization of our
modern world they could even said to be diminishing.
The few differences that exist
between British and American English tend rather to enrich communication than
slow it down.
Although not all my British readers
might agree, I think that the American version of spoken English is becoming
more and more dominant for several reasons. Let me give you an example to show
you why American English has a stronger impact on British English than vice
versa.
When you go to the UK and switch on
the TV you will see a lot of American shows, movies and films which, of course,
are shown in the original, American version. Thus, especially young people
watching TV will learn a lot of American vocabulary and phrases which they
easily internalize and use as their own. It follows, modern British English is
much more likely to be influenced by American English than the other way round
because when you live in the US and watch TV you rarely will see a British show
or film.
Another area where US English
dominates is international business. Most globally operating companies are
based in the US and hence the influence of American English terminology is very
strong.
However, as with any issue, the more
you think about it, the more variations you will encounter and it would be
impossible to cover them all in one article.
That’s why we’ll move on now to the
differences between British and American English. Instead of giving you a
comprehensive rundown of all imaginable items I’ll limit myself to a small
selection of my personal observations.
Spelling
When it comes to different spellings
there isn’t really that much to say because in the near future the world will
more or less agree on one uniform version.
British English has a tendency to
keep the spelling of many words of French origin whereas Americans try to spell
more closely to the way they pronounce words and they remove letters not
needed, which makes sense to me. Here are some examples:
British English
American English
centre
center
theatre
Theater
realise
Realize
catalogue
Catalog
programme
Program
travelled
Traveled
neighbour
neighbor
grey
gray
plough
plow
to practise (verb)
to practice (verb)
practice (noun)
practice (verb)
cheque
check (noun)
Again, these are in my opinion
examples for the most important spelling differences between British and
American English. Of course, there are more of them and the purpose of this
article is not to elaborate on orthography but to raise your awareness of the
subject so you can make your own observations and draw conclusions.
Список литературы
Для
подготовки данной работы были использованы материалы с сайта http://www.efl.ru/