American and British Vocabularies (Philological Room) Language Learning Forum

American and British Vocabularies
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Jiwon
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Message 25 of 76

07 August 2008 at 5:02am | IP Logged

Sunja wrote:

thebard wrote:

I'm not sure about the stove-cooker one. For me, the thing you put the food in is the oven. What sits on top where you light the gas is the hob. Petrol station is much more common than "filling station". Suspenders in the UK are something a woman might wear. The guy who collects the dustbin is the dustbin man, or just the binman.

Thanks, thebard, I actually enjoyed all of what you wrote! That helps me to give a little more insight when I tutor English.

The German students that I tutor get confused between British and American English and there's a tendency for them to mix it all together! You may not think that sounds bad, but they learn the ultra-strict "Oxford" English in their schools, starting about age 11 and at the same time, they are bombarded with a huge influx of American songs, movies, and television --- well, mostly songs because I can't convince them to watch their DVDs in English ;)

Some Germans move on from British English and get jobs across the Atlantic, where their British English is then "watered down" to Canadian or American English. Granted: most differences are small; "play in a team", vs. "play on a team".

What most are confused about is spelling. I teach them British spelling, but they often forget -- again, due to American books, magazines, etc. and can't remember, "plow" or "plough". As foreign language learners, it's hard for them to be consistent.

Wow.. reading this made me realise how British my English has become since I came to Sri Lanka.

Having said that, most of the TV shows and songs I listen to are also American, so I am aware of American expressions and use them occasionally. However, when it comes to written English, I'd stick to British spelling and expressions. I still get shocked when the spell checkers mark "realise" as the wrong spelling of "realize". Why don't you make them read books written in British English? That ought to counterbalance the American influence.

I've never heard of cilantro by the way. Coriander all the way for me..
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Volte
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Message 26 of 76

07 August 2008 at 5:04am | IP Logged

Sunja wrote:

What most are confused about is spelling. I teach them British spelling, but they often forget -- again, due to American books, magazines, etc. and can't remember, "plow" or "plough". As foreign language learners, it's hard for them to be consistent.

If it makes you feel better, there are about 30 million native English speakers in the same boat: Canadians. I was told early on in school to just pick one of American or British spelling and stick to it, and that it didn't matter which, as was the rest of my class. Unsurprisingly enough, I don't use either 100% of the time; I tend to omit the u in words like color, use s and z fairly interchangeably in -ise suffixes, etc. I never remember which of gray and grey are associated with which country, except for a short time after a spellchecker reminds me or I pay close attention to writing by an author from one of America or Britain. Etc.

Similarly, Canadian pronunciation is rather closer to American, but 'zed' is always said instead of 'zee'.

Beyond that, there are also regional differences within the USA, within America, within Canada, etc, as well as many other English speaking areas of the world.

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Alkeides
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Message 27 of 76

07 August 2008 at 5:10am | IP Logged

I actually use -ize in most situations.

-ise was a fairly recent development, if you read older literature, -ize is the consistent spelling both sides of the pond. It is also the etymological one, save in the case of "realise" and a few others which were borrowed from French instead of directly being borrowed from Latin.

-yse should ALWAYS be spelled with an "s" according to etymology though.
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Sunja
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Message 28 of 76

07 August 2008 at 7:31am | IP Logged

Jiwon wrote:

Why don't you make them read books written in British English? That ought to counterbalance the American influence..

hihihi...well, my current students aren't exactly motivated to read on their own. The group consists of 9th graders. They're still learning the basics and they're confused as can be ;) Advanced learners have questions about movies and pop culture stuff, and of course grammar. I tutored a short Conversation Class during the break, and they were more confident, but wanted to know how to keep their vocabularies apart.

What's missing are first and second-grade readers, you know, "See Spot play with the big ball."? That would give the younger ones the feeling that they've accomplished something. I have a few of those in my own collection and I loan them out. One of them I had to translate a bit into "British" -- Soccer! But it got them talking!

As to the older students of intermediate and advanced English, (I think) they get quite a good dose of literature in the school. I'm not sure because I'm not a school teacher. zigzag told me they read books like Macbeth, Lord of the Flies, Generation X.

EDIT: I'm hoping to get another advanced group soon. If so, I might be able to convince them to read Robin Hood or Shelley's Frankenstein. I have great materials on those....sorry! okay, that's enough rambling....

Edited by Sunja on 07 August 2008 at 8:04am
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JW
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Message 29 of 76

07 August 2008 at 5:47pm | IP Logged

Sunja wrote:

I don't think I know many Australian regionalisms

My favorite is when they like a meal they say it is “gorgeous”

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Olympia
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Message 30 of 76

07 August 2008 at 6:08pm | IP Logged

I completely agree with robertdover8; as a matter of fact, I almost mentioned it myself. I would hate to be the
person who asked to borrow a "rubber" in a classroom of students in the US. "Rubber" is most definitely "condom"
here. Although I think people find it funny enough over here that they tell their friends that erasers are "rubbers"
in Britain and everyone has a good laugh, maybe if a Brit said that it might be understood nowadays. But yeah, we
always say "eraser."
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Sanukk
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Message 31 of 76

07 August 2008 at 7:51pm | IP Logged

Rameau wrote:

Concerning the first list, I think the divide between a few of these terms is a bit exaggerated...Surely "jug" and "pitcher" are both acceptable terms on both sides of the Atlantic?
<SNIP>
Neither "sweets" nor "candy" is likely to raise too mant eyebrows on either side of the Atlantic.

I disagree, although most Brits would know what you wanted if you asked for a pitcher or some candy, they would almost never use those terms in normal speach (unless talking down to an uneducated american LOL)

~S
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Sanukk
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Message 32 of 76

07 August 2008 at 7:59pm | IP Logged

Sunja wrote:

Yes, I tend to think of cat food or something! But I wouldn't think you'd hear, "how about a tin of soup" :)

I don't see why not, In my shopping today I bought six tins of chicken soup, calling them cans of soup just doesn't feel right.

~S

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