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11-02-05 12:59 PM
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Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - General Chat - Language opinions: English | |
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MathOnNapkins

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Posted on 05-29-04 12:29 PM Link | Quote
This is going out to the Brits and any other non U.S. anglophones.

What I want to know, does American English sound funny to you? From my standpoint, especially growing up watching old tapes of Monty Python and all, British English sounds weird and exotic. It might be because I'm just so used to hearing it, but our variety (not Southern U.S. btw) sounds quite bland to me. What do you think? Do people in the U.K. try out their "American" impressions?
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Posted on 05-29-04 03:45 PM Link | Quote
I'm sure lots of people try to do American impressions everywhere

American English doesn't really sound funny to me.. If I'm watching an American program on television or something I hardly even notice if the accent is American, but maybe that's just because I'm used to hearing it... If an American person speaks to me though it seems very different hehe. I don't think it sounds bland though, it's very strong when compared to the English I always hear. But again, maybe that's just because I'm used to it.

I'm English by the way
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Posted on 05-29-04 03:49 PM Link | Quote
British English is what I'm most familiar with, because I live in Australia, and Australian English is not too dissimilar from it.

I prefer a lot of English/Australian spellings to things, and I prefer the English/Australian dictionary to the US one. For example, I find words like "burglarize" and "addicting" to be THOROUGHLY irritating, because they DO NOT exist in the British or Australian dictionaries. I find "burglarize" to be funny and "addicting" to just be plain WRONG. The correct words in our language are "burgle" and "addictive".

I guess the fact I've been bought up in a society that is slightly irritated by the 'Americanisation' of Australia also contributes to this.

that and I'm a nerd and picky with spelling and grammar. Not that mine is really any good....


(edited by ChibiTaryn on 05-29-04 06:51 AM)
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Posted on 05-29-04 03:55 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by ChibiTaryn
I prefer a lot of English/Australian spellings to things, and I prefer the English/Australian dictionary to the US one. For example, I find words like "burglarize" and "addicting" to be THOROUGHLY irritating, because they DO NOT exist in the British or Australian dictionaries. I find "burglarize" to be funny and "addicting" to just be plain WRONG. The correct words in our language are "burgle" and "addictive".
Well, in American English "burgle" isn't a verb, so it's kind of funny for us to hear that
As far as "addicting"... I don't get too upset with it, although "addictive" is correct, as you said... but it doesn't irritate me NEARLY as much as people saying "hanged" instead of "hung"!!
The SomerZ
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Posted on 05-29-04 05:58 PM Link | Quote
Well, I used to speak English with a very British accent (although English ain't my mother tongue, I have always been exposed to the language, through media and most importantly through my family (my aunt, who now lives in my town, lived in England with her two daughters for 20 years, and they usually prefer speaking English over Norwegian). However, when I went to Texas, I gradually got an American ("Texanish") accent. When I got home, people thought the change from "Queen's English to Redneck English" was hilarious.

In Norwegian schools (where English is a mandatory class from early on (maybe as early as the 2nd grade, I think)), British English is taught. However, you are allowed to write speak American English, as long as you are consistent (i.e. you don't switch between American and English expressions/idioms/grammatical rules).
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Posted on 05-29-04 07:01 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by ChibiTaryn
'Americanisation'


as with "burgle", using -ise or -isation sounds funny to me (having lived in america all my life) compared to -ize or -ization as is used here. for example, "organize" looks correct, but with "organise", I keep wanting to pronounce it like "organ ice". along the same lines, "offence" and "defence" look funny (I prefer "offense" and "defense").
at least it's not "organice"
I suppose "organize" looks dumb to british/australian english speakers for the same reason as with "warez" vs. "wares".

I don't particularly care about 'ou' instead of 'o', though (as in color/colour, favor/favour, etc). in fact, I went through a phase a year or so ago when I actually used such spelling myself. I got over it, though, in favo(u)r of consistency, since I don't use other british spellings such as program/programme, gram/gramme, etc.

british english still sounds funny compared to american english... but this time I mean that in a good way.
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Posted on 05-29-04 07:33 PM Link | Quote
In france, british english is taught in school. When I moved to the US, I couldn't understand ANYTHING anyone was saying! It really did seem like americans had this weird accent, however, now that I'm here, I feel like it's the british people who have an accent... Very odd...
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Posted on 05-29-04 09:09 PM Link | Quote
I live in Germany and learned also British English. Thus I'm used to write 'colour' unlike 'color' in BE, people I know in RL also mostly use to speak in British English. But even not, it doesn't matter.
Languages are individually spoken, so I don't care if someone uses a specific version or not; the most important thing for me is to understand the other one. But usually I never had any major problems understanding an American citizen, like if he/she asked me something om the street
hhallahh

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Posted on 05-30-04 04:35 AM Link | Quote
It's kind of an interesting situation. Most teachers who teach english as a second language in foreign countries teach British english. Yet American english is far more common in pretty much every form of discourse, especially cultural. Why not teach American english? Is it not "proper" enough?

It's also funny because I read somewhere that in 100 years (or more), American and British english will be so different that you won't be able to really understand one if you know the other. I have real trouble believing this, especially as the world becomes a more interconnected place. I always thought that one dialect would eventually become the dominant one... as has happened in America already. But who knows. Certainly the fact that foreigners learn the British variety exacerbates this problem.
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Posted on 05-30-04 05:46 AM Link | Quote
hhallahh: It's not what is more proper or not, it's the fact that Britain is close to both France, Germany, and Norway, while America is not.
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Posted on 05-30-04 06:21 AM Link | Quote
Most of the english teachers in europe are from England or were exchange students in England, you'll very rarely see americans teaching english in Europe, unless they're teaching assistants... This is probably not only due to geographical location, but also to the fact that it's so hard to cross the atlantic for non-professional reasons (even studying), and that teachers aren't paid well enough to pursue a teaching job abroad...
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Posted on 05-30-04 07:48 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by ChibiTaryn
I find words like "burglarize" and "addicting" to be THOROUGHLY irritating, because they DO NOT exist in the British or Australian dictionaries. I find "burglarize" to be funny and "addicting" to just be plain WRONG. The correct words in our language are "burgle" and "addictive".
Burgle? ROBBLE ROBBLE!

I never heard someone say "Addicting" before, and I live in the US. People here say addictive.
I don't like how the Brits add u's to things, like colour or favourite. It just looks so wrong... yet funny
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Posted on 05-30-04 08:05 AM Link | Quote
In Canada, we're supposed to use British English.

...Of course, I don't exactly stick to tradition, and I much prefer saying "color" as opposed to "colour". Blah. And then sometimes I use BOTH spellings in the same paper.
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Posted on 05-30-04 11:22 AM Link | Quote
We got an American soap over here, Undeclared, with an actor being portrayed as 'English'. He sounds -really- bad.

A lot of Brits over here seems Americanized, with many intergrating American words. "Addictive" I see around often, and is used with "Addicting" sometimes. No one here has ever used burgalarize, first time I knew there was a word like that
hhallahh

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Posted on 05-30-04 05:13 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Yiffy Kitten
Originally posted by ChibiTaryn
I find words like "burglarize" and "addicting" to be THOROUGHLY irritating, because they DO NOT exist in the British or Australian dictionaries. I find "burglarize" to be funny and "addicting" to just be plain WRONG. The correct words in our language are "burgle" and "addictive".
Burgle? ROBBLE ROBBLE!

I never heard someone say "Addicting" before, and I live in the US. People here say addictive.
I don't like how the Brits add u's to things, like colour or favourite. It just looks so wrong... yet funny


You mean you don't like how Americans subtract us from everything... since they were first. D:< And we're inconsistent.. personally, I'm much more comfortable with spelling "color" as "colour" instead of, oh... "your" as "yor" (but then again, they're inconsistent too..) x_X Yor yor yor. Though I generally prefer American spellings... it's more phonemic, and the more phonemic, the better.

I never see the word "addicting" as a substitute for addictive. I suppose burglarized is strange too, but... oh well.


(edited by hhallahh on 05-30-04 08:16 AM)
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Posted on 05-30-04 08:51 PM Link | Quote
Well, when I hear americans speak on TV, it doesnt sound different. Sometimes when americans come up to canada and talk you notice a different sound to words, but I guess that depends which area of the US they came from

And I like 'colour' better than 'color'
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Posted on 05-30-04 09:18 PM Link | Quote
Well, iI don
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Posted on 05-31-04 04:52 AM Link | Quote
I say colour, I like that spelling the most and it makes the most sense for me... my english is a mix between the two. Schools learn Brittish english BTW.

I don't find any English odd, well the Brittish english does sound like they were Royal or something but other than that...
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Posted on 05-31-04 05:02 AM Link | Quote
" I keep wanting to pronounce it like "organ ice".

THANK YOU! Oh god, thank you! I'm glad I'm not the only one who looks at it that way.

Real ice!

Brittish accents own. To me, it sounds more refined and intelligent. And obviously I can't detect an accent for my people because I've lived here all my life. It would be weird to hear how I sound from the ears of someone else in another country.
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Posted on 05-31-04 06:19 AM Link | Quote
The british have the accent because when they sing they sound just like the North Americans.
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