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British v American EnglishI am writing this as a research article for the final unit (20) of my TEFL course with ITTT. I would like to give a brief outline of British vs. American english and the history and differences. english is truly a Global language and is seen by many as the International language of Business. This is an important point in such a trade and money focused world. It is seen as increasingly important for people to have some english knowledge in the business world and, by default, parents will want this for their children too. British english is the form of english used in the United Kingdom and American english is the form of english used in the united states. The english language was first introduced to American through British colonization in 1607 in Virginia. Since then there has been a difference in both the spoken and written forms of British and American english. For an english teacher, it is at least important to acknowledge the differences between the two and of course, to be au fait with the branch used by the country that you are teaching english in. The influence of America around the world post-WW2 has also been a huge factor in the spread of english internationally The main differences between British english and American english are in spelling, grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary and number formatting. For example, the date can be described in British english as 20.04.1990 or ?The twentieth of March, nineteen-ninety? but in American english it is described as follows. It can be described as 04.20.1990 or ?March twentieth, nineteen-ninety?. Subtle spelling differences such as (British) colour and (American) color also exist and may be confusing for students. The only way to teach this is through memorization techniques as there is usually only one way or the other depending on what country you are in. A huge difference between British and American english is the general tone of voice and pronunciation. Speakers of American english tend to have a wider fluctuation of pitch and volume while speaking whereas speakers of British english tend to have a lower range of both pitch and volume fluctuation in their speech. An example of a difference in pronunciation between British english and American english in the spoken form is as follows: ?Hello? = (British)?Hello? but (American) sounds more like ?Hallow? with a nasal tinge depending in the dialect spoken. english-speaking members of the commonwealth tend to speak British english whereas American english is used in countries such as South Korea and Mexico. Around the world there are est. 375 million native english speakers and est. 470 million to a billion ESL speakers. english is truly an international language and this shows by the number of teachers, classes and schools opening up every day worldwide. In conclusion I think It is important for teachers of our language to have a good knowledge of the differences between British and American english to be able to teach the subject in an appropriate manner.
