Job Discussion Forums

[chinesecanadian2004]

hi all,

i'm confused as to which dictionary i should buy. i know that american english differs from british english, and that canadian english is somewhere in the middle...probably closer to british in terms of spelling.

from what i gather, americans are more familiar with Webster's dictionaries, and British with Oxford. i'll be teaching in china and i'm wondering if there is a 'preferred' or even 'universal' standard that i should know about. i don't want to confuse my students from the variations.

should i just stick with the oxford canadian dictionary (the one i'm familiar with....or....... does it even matter?

thanks.

[ls650]

[Louis]

Agreed, teach what you know. Let your students know of any uk/us alternatives if you are aware of them, but don't sweat it.
Also, I don't worry about uniformity either. If a student writes: "I went to the theater with my neighbour" that's fine, at least at the lower/intermediate levels.

[High Plains Drifter]

No, it doesn�t matter. Whether to use an American or a Canadian dictionary will be the least of your worries. Besides, all your students will assume from your accent that you are from the USA. (Which is why you will want to festoon yourself with Canadian flag patches and decals, as do all Canadians abroad.) The difference between the American and Canadian accent, where there is one at all, is so slight that I have never known a single student to notice the difference. In fact, emphasizing your Canadianess might actually be a mistake. Students the world over want to learn standard, mainstream English, whether American or British. The more you try to maintain a distinction as a Canadian, the more your students will be concerned that you are not teaching them standard English. I know you don�t like to hear this, but that�s reality.

I rarely trouble my students with differences in spelling, and what differences in grammar are worth discussing other than perhaps got vs. gotten? Some vocabulary�words they�re likely to encounter--should be discussed: truck vs. lorry, lift vs. elevator, flat vs. apartment.

It�s the British vs. American/Canadian accent that will cause them the most difficulty. Once, while listening to a cassette that came with the British version of Headway, the students heard the word jumper. I stopped the tape and asked the students how they thought jumper was spelled, and every one of them spelled it �j-u-m-p-a�. I just tell my students that the British don�t pronounce their Rs. What I don�t do is tell them that the British speak bad English or make a lot of mistakes. Sadly, the opposite is not true of many British teachers who delight in ridiculing, in class, American accents, spelling, and usage. Not only is this unprofessional, it is untrue, and can create ill will when the students repeat these comments to their American teachers.

By the way, in my experience it�s Canadians from Saskatchewan, Manitoba & Alberta that have slightly noticeable accents, but I have at times worked with Canadians from Toronto and Vancouver for months without ever hearing a word that revealed that they were Canadian. I�m curious, with your finely tuned Canadian ear, can you tell when someone is from one of the central provinces?

Good luck. If your students� biggest problem is whether to put a �u� in color, consider yourself very fortunate.

[chinesecanadian2004]

thanks for all the replies.

now that i thought about it, it didn't really make a difference in university either. when i wrote papers even in my senior years, as long as i stuck to one standard (in my case american [MS Word spell check ]), my profs were fine with it. i guess my cause for concern was teaching the fundamentals to students w/o consideration for a so called standard. i'm so used to the american way of spelling b/c i relied on the spell check for so long....i'm lazy.

as for distinguishing canadian accents....i can't. i've met ppl from all over canada & can tell you that i can't hear a difference. maybe if they lived in the stix, but...they all sound the same to me. i know accents in the states are more clear -n.b. boston, texan & southern accents.

i thought this was kinda interesting: http://www.jkcc.com/english/ourhistory.html

[High Plains Drifter]

You're welcome. Here's one last bit of advice: Even though it's a lot of work to push that darn Caps Lock key down again and again, if you want to impress people that you're a professional, use capital letters, eh? (They do use capitals in Canada, don't they?)

[chinesecanadian2004]

[ls650]

[High Plains Drifter]

The shift key? Well, whaddaya know; that is convenient only pressing it once.

[Louis]

RE: accents. I have met many people from all around the country (served in the military) and I never noticed a Saskatchewan accent, other than some tend to say "hey" instead of "eh". The place for accents is the East Coast: Capers and Newfs are usually unmisktable.

[Capergirl]

[mjed9]

[Louis]

We're talking about native accents here, of course. Quebecers that speak English as a first language don't have an accent.

[Capergirl]