Teach English in Shanxi Lǚchang - Yuncheng Shi

English is a language, and is considered the most spoken on earth. English from America (USA) is called American English, while English from Great Britain is called British English. British English is the language spoken and written in England and the American English is considered a variety of English language native to the United States. These two types of English are spread all over the world as second languages to countries whose first language is not English, for example my country Cameroon. Others have learnt the language as a result of colonialism, while others from Teaching English as a Foreign Language as the case of most Asian and South American countries. English language has long been known as a business language and is looked upon as the best language on earth. Today every home in non-native English speaking countries needs an English language speaker and writer. The British English as well as the American English has different origins. The American English originates from British subjects who first settled on the East Coast of North America in the 17th Century. The British during this period outnumbered the French and the Germans. The settlers spoke varieties of English from various parts of England. English was therefore the only option and became the only outcome of today’s American English. In the creation of the language, varieties were leveled and differences crushed from the other settlers. Others, who contributed to the American English like Scottish, did so in the form of vocabulary and pronunciation around the 18th century. British English originated in England. The parent tongue, called Proto-Indo-European was spoken 5000 years ago by nomads who roamed the South-East European plains. It is the dominant language of the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand. It is also the official language of India, Singapore, South Africa and many Sub-Saharan countries. Though many have been slightly modified, but their origin remains British. When it comes to vocabulary, there is always a difference between the two types of English. Hundreds of everyday used words are different. For example, the Americans call the front mirror of a car the windshield, while the British call it windscreen. Others like petrol station in Britain is gas station in American English and both still call it filling station. In American English, collective nouns are singular. For example, team refers to a group of players or athletes but in British English it can be singular or plural. For example, one can say the team are playing today or the team is playing today. In most pronunciation, Americans for example roll their “t” in words like “better”, while British cut “t”. When using helping verbs for example, “Shall”, Americans hardly use it in conversation but prefer “will” but the British might say “shall we continue?” while an American would prefer “should”. Verbs like learn, whose past tense is learnt or learned for British, Americans only use learned. In the aspects of spellings, there exist hundreds of minor differences between the two English languages. For example, the British use colour, honour and the Americans use color, honor respectively. Both have more similarities than differences. In Cameroon where I live, our system of education is British as a result of colonialism. So British English is the main language in about 90% of Cameroon schools. It is taught from nursery to university. Nowadays, a blend of both American and British English is spoken and written everywhere in my country due to factors such as international relations, introduction of American secondary, high schools and universities, access to US websites and Newspapers. Interaction between Americans and Cameroonians has forced a blend of the two languages. Today, Cameroons’ official exams accepts the two forms of English as opposed to the early 80’s and late 90’s when British English was the only language of instruction in all aspects. Despite their differences and similarities, both languages are still the most valuable on earth. I personally, prefer the British English because it was my first foreign language to learn (productive and receptive). References; Origin of American English https://mokslai.lt/referatai/anglu_kalba/origin-of-american-english.html Other abstracts from this site https://www.britannica.com/topic/English-language