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Forums - General Discussion - Is British English or American English Used More Frequently?

A couple of my cousins living in Qatar were taught in British-English.

As for me, there's a strong American influence where I live, so the school I went to taught in American-English.



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RolStoppable said:

I was taught British English and to be honest, American English kind of scares me whenever I read what toastboy typed.

LOL!



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c03n3nj0 said:

I honestly don't see why people care if people spell color/colour a certain way. I mean, English is bound to be different from region to region.

 

Anyhow,, the U.S has a population of about 310 million, plus Canada ( we use the same stuff don't we?) that pretty much outnumbers British English speakers by a lot.  

Unless people start counting India... 


People from Ontario use British English, I am not sure about other provinces (excluding Quebec) though.



I used to live in a foreign country that didn't speak English and we learned British English.

 

I'm not too sure why some Canadians (or others) here think we speak close to Americans. We say things different, we write them differently (Colour, Armour, Sulphur), I would say we speak British English. 

 



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Rainbow Yoshi said:
c03n3nj0 said:

I honestly don't see why people care if people spell color/colour a certain way. I mean, English is bound to be different from region to region.

 

Anyhow,, the U.S has a population of about 310 million, plus Canada ( we use the same stuff don't we?) that pretty much outnumbers British English speakers by a lot.  

Unless people start counting India... 


People from Ontario use British English, I am not sure about other provinces (excluding Quebec) though.


We sound differently too, Canadian actors that go to Hollywood are taught to speak like an American, because they have a Canadian accent. 



"To play or not to play, that is the question."- A wise man

 

Lifetime sales prediction

Wii 79/150 million

Xbox 360 47.7/73 Million

PS3 43.6/69 Million

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c03n3nj0 said:

I honestly don't see why people care if people spell color/colour a certain way. I mean, English is bound to be different from region to region.

 

Anyhow,, the U.S has a population of about 310 million, plus Canada ( we use the same stuff don't we?) that pretty much outnumbers British English speakers by a lot.  

Unless people start counting India... 

Anything up to 1.8 billion people in the world speak English.

You're outnumbered

Incidentally, India has the second-largest English speaking population in the world, at 120 million.



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CrashDestroyer said:
Rainbow Yoshi said:
c03n3nj0 said:

I honestly don't see why people care if people spell color/colour a certain way. I mean, English is bound to be different from region to region.

 

Anyhow,, the U.S has a population of about 310 million, plus Canada ( we use the same stuff don't we?) that pretty much outnumbers British English speakers by a lot.  

Unless people start counting India... 


People from Ontario use British English, I am not sure about other provinces (excluding Quebec) though.


We sound differently too, Canadian actors that go to Hollywood are taught to speak like an American.


I have been exposed to the Ontario accent by my relatives, it is difficult to describe but for example Roger is Rawger etc.



Kantor said:
c03n3nj0 said:

I honestly don't see why people care if people spell color/colour a certain way. I mean, English is bound to be different from region to region.

 

Anyhow,, the U.S has a population of about 310 million, plus Canada ( we use the same stuff don't we?) that pretty much outnumbers British English speakers by a lot.  

Unless people start counting India... 

Anything up to 1.8 billion people in the world speak English.

You're outnumbered

Incidentally, India has the second-largest English speaking population in the world, at 120 million.

Those 1.8 billions  includes all forms of English, not just British.



 Tag (Courtesy of Fkusumot) "If I'm posting in this thread then it's probally a spam thread."                               

Outside the US it's pretty much British English all the way - so globally British English still outweighs US English.

Also, it's interesting to note that one of the rather plastic attributes of English (any form but obviously very strong in Britain then transfered to US) it that it will absorb words.

For example in Britain in the past the word rare would never have been used to describe a steak preference, now it is commonplace - and that's just British English happily absorbing US variants.

So it seems probable that not only will English continue to dominate globally as the most common language for Business and Science, but it will continue to absorb words from other sources including US English - making the whole notion of what is English a moving target.

If you're really interested in English then I suggest you read the following book as it manages to be fairly amusing tackling the subject:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Tongue-Language-Bill-Bryson/dp/014014305X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291068256&sr=8-2

I of course point to Amazon.co.uk - home of proper English (i.e. British!).  :)



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c03n3nj0 said:
Kantor said:
c03n3nj0 said:

I honestly don't see why people care if people spell color/colour a certain way. I mean, English is bound to be different from region to region.

 

Anyhow,, the U.S has a population of about 310 million, plus Canada ( we use the same stuff don't we?) that pretty much outnumbers British English speakers by a lot.  

Unless people start counting India... 

Anything up to 1.8 billion people in the world speak English.

You're outnumbered

Incidentally, India has the second-largest English speaking population in the world, at 120 million.

Those 1.8 billions  includes all forms of English, not just British.

That's still 1.5 Billion British English Speakers  and 300 Million American English speakers.



"To play or not to play, that is the question."- A wise man

 

Lifetime sales prediction

Wii 79/150 million

Xbox 360 47.7/73 Million

PS3 43.6/69 Million