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British English vs American EnglishIn the year 1607 British English was introduced to America as a result of colonisation. It is also because of this colonisation that English is a language spoken throughout the world today. America?s independence from Britain was reflected in more than just its policies. American English was born as a way for Americans to further distance themselves and assert their independence from their past rulers. The pioneer of the American English is Noah Webster, who made the first American English dictionary and a firm believer that words should be spelt the way they sound. With differences including spelling, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation it may be a surprise that the speakers of the two types of English understand each other at all. Many embarrassing situations may arise because of these differences. The world rubber has different colloquial meanings in either type of English i.e. rubber in American English means condom and in British English it is used to refer to an eraser. The area where the difference is most obvious, especially to foreigners is pronunciation and with the spread of American English via the media most students first contact with English is American English. Indeed, there are instances of schools that focus their syllabus on American English as it is considered ?lazy English? and therefore easier to learn. It is probably considered easier because of the simpler spellings and less stringent grammar rules. A good example of this is the American usage of the present perfect tense. ?I had supper? would not be considered correct in British English instead, ?I?ve had supper? would be the correct form. The past participle form of the verb ?get? is ?gotten? in American English but ?got? in British English. Examples of spelling differences include program vs. programme and replacing -ise with ?ize. The best way to deal with the differences as a teacher is to be consistent. Teaching students one set of spelling, grammar, pronunciation etc will be more beneficial and less confusing than teaching them a combination. When the students will be using the English in a business environment and using it for writing documents, consistency in grammar, spelling and punctuation is especially needed. It will not be easy for a non native speaker to learn both dialects at the same time. However it would be advisable to make the students aware that there are different ways to spell or pronounce certain words and a short lesson at the end of the teaching year illustrating the differences should be sufficient. English is a language spoken throughout the world and in every country that it is spoken there will always be differences to British English because people add their own histories and cultures to the language. Whichever type of English students are taught a certain standard must be maintained in order for them to be understood by and to understand users of any other type of English. This dynamic, ever changing language has survived because of its adaptability and soon there will not be an American or British English but a ?Global English?.
