In our daily life and during research writing, there are many words with multiple spelling options like: behavior and behaviour, so which English should be used, British or American and why?
Henna, Bassam is right. Recently I published a book in Canada, and had to use the British spelling throughout. Yet most of my readers will be from the United States. I do hope that the spelling will not distract them. Yet I wanted to use the Canadian publishing house for its prestige despite spelling.
Hi Henna, i think in writing the difference between American and British english are more significant in pronunciation . there are certainly preferences in use.
Hope that this link will be useful : http://esl.about.com/od/toeflieltscambridge/a/dif_ambrit.htm
But in general i agree with Bassam, the choice of using British or american in writing depends on selected journal of publication.
cheers
My experience is that British English is more prevalent in the education system, and the American English is mostly used in research, scientific journals...! It may sound strange, but I checked my opinion with my daughter who is a teacher of English!
Ljubomir, I think it is more a question of quantity of journals in the U.S. as compared with the U.K. When invited to send article to scholarly journals in the U.K., I send manuscripts in American English and invariably the editors correct the spelling to British English. Even so, the written differences between the two are slight. It has already been said that pronunciation differs more than writing, as phonetic transcriptions can show.
As an engineer of Electronics and Telecommunications, and as a professor of Microelectronics, Optoelectronics and Optical Communications I must give the priority to American English (as ‘lingua franca” of technology and science). As a European, I must give the priority to British English. But for me as a linguist, both American and British English have the same statute.
Ljubomir, Nebi, Fetita, Bassam, Nelson, great thoughts but how do we decide which form of English to use in general research writing?
Again, Henna, the answer depends on where you want to publish. If in a U.S. journal or university press, American spelling; if in UK, Canada, or Australia, British spelling. You will ask me, where to start? I would respond, "The most prestigious." I know that you already know which is the journal or university press of choice in your chosen research field. In our field, each journal specifies which set of conventions it wants followed.
From: 2009 IEEE Standards Style Manual
10.5.2 General terminology usage
English words should be used in accordance with their definitions in the latest edition of Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary [B9].
22.2.3 Style for IEEE documents to be specifically adopted by ISO or IEC:
c) Since American English is acceptable internationally, the IEEE will continue to use American English grammar and spelling in its standards. In cases where British spelling is used in an internationally recognized term (e.g., “Fibre Distributed Data Interface”), that spelling may be retained.
---------------------
IEEE, pronounced "Eye-triple-E", stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The association is chartered under this name and it is the full legal name.
IEEE is the world's largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity.
Dear Henna
Well Internationally, American english grammer as compared to British is getting momentum due to its relaxation limits and more conveniences for non native linguistics. I think this developmental trend is also related with rapid globalization in result of modern technology development.
Thanks Nelson and Nebi, and I understand what you mean sir Khalid, globalisation is definitely impacting the trend.
As a non-native English speaker I find British and American English quite similar, with only slight differences, especially in the written form in newspapers and textbooks.
Although these differences between the two languages include pronunciation, spelling, lexis, idioms formatting of dates and numbers etc. a small number of words have completely different meanings in the two versions or are even unknown.
Whereas the spoken forms of British English vary quite a lot compared to American English. Actually, British English vary considerably within the United Kingdom itself, for instance if we compare dialects, pronunciation and especially accents between England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
Same is with the unofficial standard for spoken American English which has also developed, as a result of mass media and geographic and social mobility. However the good thing is that they both apply Standard English in formal written form, which makes English language easier to be perceived by non-native English consumers of both British and American literature.
Dear Henna, sorry for the delay... but in my opinion, you should try to conform the writting based on where are you going to publish. American Journal --> American English. UK, Ireland and Commonwealth colonies --> British English. But as I said, it is my non-native english speaker opinion!!! Good luck!
I think both British English and American English, two main dialects of English, if I may say so are spoken and written from foreigners. Although there is a difference in their equivalents as well as in pronunciation, according to my opinion it enriches English Language in general and the speaking preferences are available choices for us.
I think both British English & American English are written and spoken equally among us although there is a difference in equivalents and pronunciation. The choice is on us to decide which one to choose.
http://shpresa.hoxha&uni-pr.edu
I think both British English & American English are spoken and written almost equally and preferred from different ages, although there is a great difference in their equivalents and pronunciation as well.
http://[email protected]
In my opinion, English is a crazy language, but I like it.
Is the English Language so hard?
@ Erkan Yersel
I think that the effective way to improve The academic English is to practice it in real situation, as well as conferences, academic writing. etc.
Laurent, add Canada, Australia, and a few other members of the Commonwealth to your list of British-spelling nations with scholarly journals.
I believe both British and American varieties of English are fine and you should be perfectly understood using either of them. What I think is important is being consistent. So if you choose one of them, then you should stick to it. For example, if you decide on American, then you should write not only "behavior" but also "honor", "neighbor", "color" and so on. The same about pronunciation. For example in case of the word "problem" the British and American pronunciations are different. And again if you decide to say it in the American manner, I believe, you should also keep the American manner when saying "possible", "top" or "probable" as the main difference is the same.
Another thing to bear in mind is that there is no such thing like pure American or pure British English. Such languages exist only in dictionaries. In practice different people speak and write differently depending on their age, education and the place they are from. Thus, since there are many possible varieties of English, a non-native English speaker does not have to worry so much about making mistakes.
One more thing. Obviously, sometimes you have to adapt your writing style to the requirements of a journal. In my case, I generally do my best to stick to American spelling, but once I wanted to submit an article to a journal published in Great Britain and it was necessary to make some changes in the spelling of some words. This is just a thing you have to accept if you want your article to be published in certain journal.
American English
Because most of the sources and codes in American English
It is also the general language of understanding between different countries
In terms of sheer numbers, approximately 2/3rds of native English speakers use some form of North American English, so if you're learning spoken English and want to be more widely understood, choose American English (Canadian English barely sounds any different).
If you're submitting an academic text, and you don't know which dialect the journal prefers (most don't really have a preference as long as you're consistent), default to American English.
Only if you're certain the journal you're trying to publish with prefers British English should you default to that dialect. I've been working as a translator/proofreader in Germany for over ten years, and the vast majority of papers that have gone over my desk for correcting have been submitted in American English. Changing from one dialect to another is super-easy in MS-Word: just change the language settings of the document from US to UK, or vice versa, and the little red squiggles will show you the way.
Interesting fact: -ize etc. is exclusively used in America; -ise etc. is exclusively used in Australia; and both versions are acceptable in British English.
American English is preferred, let's figure out why?
I noticed the following four main differences between British and American english:
1. The pronunciation of "ARTO" letters is different according to the letter position and the previous one, e.g bi-r-d and late-r- vs la"d"er.
2. Some words have the same or different meaning in both accents, e.g flat vs apartment and trainer(shoe) vs trainer (coach).
3. In grammar, instead of using "will" in American, British people are using "shall". Besides, In American language, we say: The band/team/police is.., in British we say: The band/team/police is/are .... In addition, British likes to use present perfect, have I ....while American likes to use simple past, Did I ...
4. Some spelling differences in "u" letter like honor (American) and honour (British), color and colour ... organize (American and British) vs organise (British). Also, "er" and "re" like meter (American) vs metre (British), liter and litre....
This is why we like American English, easier in some manners .
(The guy who is responsible about that is Noah Webstar)
Hope this answer is good for you.
I prefer British English (because I feel it is the original English language, a language with many centuries of history and culture) in publications that leave freedom of choice. Otherwise, I write according to journal requirements.
UK spelling is used by far more countries as the standard form of spelling than the US variant. For example, the commonwealth countries, including India and Pakistan which have enormous populations. Thus, I'd recommend sticking with Oxford English.
I think both of them. Where ever you are you have to try to respect the way of speaking and their equivalents.
American English is smoother, but no one has priority over the other. As language teachers, we should know the differences between the two dialects, especially words and pronunciation, and we should also put emphasis on consistency.
I prefer British English (because I feel it is the original English language,
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Linguistics
- Philology
- Language
- English