Teach English in Licun Zhen - Linfen Shi

The English language has become a very popular language for many nationalities to learn and is used around the world to enable multi-national communication. Although the adoption of English almost as a lingua franca is an interesting topic, I will instead be focusing on two of the different types of English that are in use today – British English and American English. ‘Two nations divided by a common language’ is often attributed to George Bernard Show as a description of Britain and America. Before we look at some of the common differences, I would first like to look at the reasons for these differences. The differences between these two dialects of English are rooted in history. When the first settlers set sail from England to America they took the common tongue with them, which was based on rhotic speech, an accent where you heavily pronounced the ‘r’ sound in words. At the same time, the wealthier, new higher classes in southern England changed from rhotic speech to a softer ‘r’ sound, creating what’s now known as Received Pronunciation (which is still considered the dialect of the privileged elite). From this divergent beginning, British English began to be influenced by French when, around the 1700’s, it became popular to use French-style words and spellings. This trend didn’t make its way over to America, and so has resulted in British English having some linguistic similarities to French which American English never developed. This difference in influences has continued throughout the development of both dialects due to social preferences and geography – some words in British are derived from languages such as Arabic, French and German, whilst American has words derived from Spanish and Mexican for example. Also, as a way of showing independence from Britain, American English was deliberately changed by the lexicographer Noah Webster when he wrote his American dictionary. He wanted American spelling to be more straightforward, but also different from English to show an independence from the former British rule. One important point to note is that both dialects are living languages, meaning that they are constantly in use and as a result are constantly changing as new words are added to general use, words fall out of use, and meanings can change – and with the birth of the internet and greater communication between different nationalities information can quickly become out of date. For example, many American spellings have made their way into British English. One example of this is the dropping of ‘u’ in words such as ‘color’ and ‘honor’. Although the British spelling is more prevalent, the use of American spellings by British speakers is a regular occurrence, possibly due to American spellcheckers, or American language used on the internet, which is predominantly English. It also can’t be missed that these spellings can be argued to make at least some sense – the ‘u’ in the above words initially came from French, and are not pronounced in British English. I’ve already mentioned the spelling differences in words such as ‘color’ and ‘honor’, ‘colour’ and ‘honour’ in British English, but there are many more such as the American ‘airplane’, ‘theater’, defense’ and ‘tire’, versus the British ‘aeroplane’, ‘theatre’, ‘defence’ and ‘tyre’. One example of the living nature of the dialects is the American ‘jail’ vas the British ‘gaol’. ‘Gaol’ is virtually unused in British now, and some British speakers might not even know what the word is, whereas ‘jail’ is in common use. It could be argued that ‘airplane’ versus ‘aeroplane’ is another example, both are used but ‘airplane’ has made its way into common British use, even to the extent that my British English spellchecker recognises both spellings. There are also differences in not only spelling, but the actual words for things can be completely different. Some vocabulary that differs completely in this way includes: British English American English Trainers Sneakers Waistcoat Vest Chips French Fries Biscuit Cookie Rubber Eraser First Floor Second Floor There are also differences in grammar between the two dialects. For example, American collective nouns are singular, meaning that ‘team’ refers to a group as in ‘The team is playing tonight’. In British, collective nouns can be singular or plural, as in ‘The team are playing tonight’ or ‘The team is playing tonight’. There are also differences in the past tense forms of irregular verbs. The word ‘dream’ in British has a past tense form of either ‘dreamed’ or dreamt’, speakers usually using ‘dreamt’. American speakers usually use ‘dreamed’. For the past participle form Americans tend to use the ending ‘en’, as in ‘got’ changes to ‘gotten’, whereas British only uses ‘got’ These are only a few of the difference between American and English. Although these differences on the whole are small, they can cause miscommunication. A British speaker asking for a rubber to erase something from a whiteboard in an American setting may cause some embarrassment because in American English rubber refers to condom. I remember a situation where I was working in a Summer Camp in America, and while taking the kids to breakfast I said ‘I could eat a scabby horse’ meaning I was very hungry (my dialect is North East English, specifically Teeside). The kids didn’t know what I was talking about as that saying had no meaning in their dialect and they had never heard it before, once I’d explained it they burst out laughing. One other example I can think of which could cause problems is in the building floor labelling. In British, we start at the ground floor, next up is the first floor, next is the second floor etc. In American however, the ground floor is either ground floor or first floor, and the next floor up is the second floor and so on. In summation, the differences between American and British English are small, but can cause some problems for the EFL teacher and students. If a teacher starts teaching from a British English background to students who have previously learnt American English, it can lead to students criticism of the teachers language ability. It can also cause minor inconveniences for students – if they have learnt English to live and work in America, but have learnt British English, they can have an uncomfortable time adapting as their English won’t fit with the people around them. However, despite usually minor communicative misunderstandings, speakers of one dialect will, for the most part, understand speakers of the other so the selection of which to learn by the student should be shaped by which is used in the environment they’re learning English for. Also, teachers must be aware of the common difference so that they are better able to explain them to curious students.