Hi Kirill, Well to be honest, if you want the most grammatically correct form of English you should look to India. The English legacy there has left them with exceptionally high standards for the language among the elite. English is still used as the official language of the legal system, parliament and business.
In fact there was was a program a few years ago in the UK, where they sent several English natives over to India to be taught English. The conclusion of the program was that standards of grammar have slipped considerably in the West. The English natives found their ability in the English language was *far* lower than the Indians they were studying with. So you can say that Indians lack the conversational style or 'improper' use of English that is so common in the West but you can't accuse them of not understanding the language. On your point of American English being the language of global business, maybe you're right. The internet is dominated by American English much to the dismay of the British. We have very large brand name clients in both the UK and US and tend to use the respective spelling with each of them. As a British person, when you see American-English spellings, you do not look too kindly on them unless they have originated from a US firm. So I'd agree with you that an understanding of both forms is very useful, being able to localise (localize) your writing is an important skill. In my experience of Russia so far though, the vast majority of English-speaking Russians I have met have only been taught American English. -- Best Regards Nick Wilsdon e3internet http://www.e3internet.com Skype: Nick_Wilsdon Tel: +7 4932 346314 Blog: http://nickwilsdon.com On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 1:15 PM, Kirill Galetski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > Hi, > > Russians' preoccupation with British English and necessarily having a > British is irksome at best, idiotic at worst. As a former English teacher, I > take offence [sic] to it. > > The world standard for business is American English, with all of the > trappings thereof. It's not an accident that major non-Anglo corporations > such as German concern Bosch have American English as their standard for all > English-language communications. > > To quote Bill Bryson from his book MADE IN AMERICA, An Informal History of > the English Language in the United States, > > "To this day it remains a commonplace in England that American English is a > corrupted form of British speech, that the inhabitants of the New World > display a kind of helpless, chronic 'want of refinement' every time they > open their mouths and attempt to issue sounds. In fact, in several > significant ways it is British speech that has become corrupted, or, to put > it in less reactionary terms, has quietly evolved." > > Nevertheless, I believe that when English is taught, both the American and > British varieties should be taught in nearly equal measure. This implies > having a teacher that is competent to do both, but it certainly does not > limit the teacher to being only of the British nationality. > > Just my two kopeks' worth. > > Kirill. > >
_______________________________________________ Expat mailing list [email protected] http://www.lists.ru/mailman/listinfo/expat http://www.expat.ru/forum/
