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Cool Teacher · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:19 am Post subject: American vs. Birtish English

On the other thread there has been a bit of a derail so I thought I woudl help steer that over to here. Very Happy

In America it is wrong to use the word "alright" but in the UK it seems perfectly acceptable.

Do you teach your students the differences between these Englishes? Do you ever tell your students it is wrong to use English from the other side of the pond? Very Happy

Do you ever have to use the English you don't use usually like have to write "color" instead of "colour" or have to write "I couldn't care less" instead of "I could care less" etc...?

Have you ever had a situation when you thought one or the other was defintiely wrong like "I work at the weekend" which is standard in the UK?

Can you think of any more examples?

Here's a good one. I thought it was wrong to say "everything is not my fault" when it sounds better for me to say "not evertying is my fault" Wink

I think that the word order changes the meaning but in America it is okay to say the first one and may be standard.

Also, in America people can say "the winningest team" which means the team that one the most games but in England we never say that and it sounds funny. Wink

Sashadroogie · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:23 am Post subject:

British!

Cool Teacher · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:24 am Post subject:

Sashadroogie · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:30 am Post subject:

Between what? American and Birtish English? Absolutely not. Never! Would be an extreme disservice to the learners. Don't even know what the latter actually is!

Kionon · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:52 am Post subject:

I've said in other threads that I recognise several Englishes. The issue with "alright" was that even the British source, the Oxford Dictionary, essentially says not to use it in writing.

I teach my students that s or z, o or ou are up them individually. As long as it is acceptable in formal writing in one of the major English speaking countries, and my student can provide me with a source, then I will not mark it wrong. If I have already marked it wrong, I will return the points to the students in question.

Working at the weekend is a phrase having very different meanings in British English and American English. The construction isn't grammatically wrong in either, but in American English it means you're trying to make some sort of positive progression in the weekend. "Man, my Saturday morning was terrible, I really had to work at the weekend. It was a tough slog." Whereas in British English, it means you spent the weekend in the office. The issue is one of collocation. Americans think of "at" as either a physical location or something that requires an active progression. You can't physically be located "at" a weekend, and unless you are trying to make the weekend better, "at" makes no sense in an American context.

Another one is "I went to university to..." "I went to college to..." In America, university typically has a different collocation than college. One does not go to "university" one goes to a specific university or one goes to "college." College, as I understand it, is more like high school for the British.

Typically Japanese English instruction follows American English. I have yet to encounter a textbook which uses jumper instead of sweater or trousers instead of pants. Rubbish is also the new etymological creation. It only dates from Victorian times. Trash actually goes back to the 1700s, and it is the Americans who kept the "original" word. In these situations, whatever the student wishes to use is fine by me...

Sashadroogie · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:54 am Post subject:

What does "at the end' mean, in an American context?

Kionon · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:58 am Post subject:

Either a physical location, "At the end of a pier" or "at the end of the book" or at the termination of an active progression in time, "At the end of the year."

Sashadroogie · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:00 pm Post subject:

So, at the end of the week?

Cool Teacher · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:04 pm Post subject:

Kionon · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:06 pm Post subject:

Cool Teacher · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:07 pm Post subject:

Sashadroogie · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:09 pm Post subject:

Yet 'at Christmas' is acceptable? More than one day there...

Sashadroogie · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:11 pm Post subject:

And is 'at three o'clock' a termination of an active progression in time? I'd have thought it was simply a rather static point in time.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

To return to the OP, yes, I sometimes point out (not actually teach) some differences between what I recognize as N.American and British/Commonwealth English.

Pronunciation and spelling usually top the list. Obviously, neither is wrong, just different.

On rare occasions, when the situation arises that I am faced with B English grammar (as I know it), I usually state that that is what it is, and that I am more used to NA English. No foul. Students may learn from either type in their lives.

It's usually not something that comes up.

Pitarou · Joined: 16 Nov 2009 Posts: 1116 Location: Narita, Japan

I try to teach US English when I'm at JHS. That's the syllabus and, let's face it, it's the most widely used dialect. But the occasional Britishism (I like ice cream more than your mom.) still slips through.

As for the abovementioned debate, although I proudly write "alright" here on this forum, I would teach "all right" at school.

I also have a student who spent a year at school New Zealand. She loves teaching me New Zealand teenagers' slang.