On 29 Jan 2011 at 10:35, Michael Adams wrote: > > Even my Canadian friends insist their language is 'English-UK' rather than > > 'English-US'. > > That would make it sound like you were a member of a majority, wouldn't it? > Except that the USA has a larger population than the rest of us English as a
I'm not disputing the size of USA or their importance in the world. Indeed, if I was learning any version of English as a second language, I would probably learn American because (a) there is more standardisation in spellings and (b) the world is awash with American TV and movies. However, I am not American and my language is not American. I have lived with Americans and been utterly baffled in ordinary conversation. Likewise, I have baffled them. My language is UK English, with appropriate Irish-isms. I doubt if many people here call the stream at the end of their garden a sheuch, for example. Most other English speakers I have worked with view their language as more akin to UK than US English, especially in spellings. Of course Canadians have their own variations and are right to insist it's Canadian-English, rather than British-English (etc for NZ, Aussie, ZA, etc., variations). The Canadians I know are less confused by UK than by US conversation though. Maybe I only know a small sample of Canadians? My issue with the non-existance of the UK English installers is simple. I've been asked to do a one-click installer for a school in Africa, who have specifically asked that it be in UK English, "Because we learned English from the British, not the Americans. We do not want to confuse children with American spellings on the software or to re-inforce Americanisms when we don't need to." I'm not American. If any distributor tells me I have a choice of American-English or no English, they are saying to me they are not interested in my business. I know Canadians who feel the same. When (for example), an interface tells me about spreadsheet 'formulas' and not 'formulae', I think the people responsible have forgotten the user. Splattering Americanisms all over the place makes me feel like I am on the end of imperialist ethno- centricity. I know it seems pedantic, but with the efforts made to accommodate minority languages, I'd appreciate my own being included also. ZF --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
