Which English is better -- British or American? (British vs. American English)

Generally, people in the English-speaking world consider themselves to be part of one community, not only because of language, but because of generally shared values on justice, human rights, etc. This is why Americans refer to “our English cousins”, even though most Americans don’t have British ancestry.

Generally, English speakers don’t care which variety of English someone is speaking, as long as they are easy to understand and their expressions are not too comical. Like most Americans, I never paid much attention to differences between US and UK English until I got to Europe. I thought we all spoke variations on one English. However, if you’re an American teaching English in Europe, the Europeans (but not the British) are constantly forcing you to defend your English. Often when you catch Europeans in mistakes – especially European teachers – they will falsely claim that the mistake is “British” English and that the American’s correction is “wrong”. It’s really a form of bigotry.

There’s a famous example where a teacher in France was teaching children to say “number phone”. When two American children in the class corrected her and told her it’s “phone number”, she berated them, saying, “That may be acceptable in AMERICAN English, but in this class we are learning correct BRITISH English!” This is ridiculous, of course, because the British and the Americans say “phone number”, and not “number phone”. When you’re an American, Canadian or Australian teaching English in Europe, the locals subject you to this abuse quite often.

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Hi,

I am interested in what is believed to be ‘Oxford English’ - a description resurrected from a thread alive some 5 years ago. What does it mean?

Alan

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Who are you addressing? I made reference to Oxford dictionaries (i.e., from Oxford University Press), but I said nothing about Oxford English.

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I am referring to #16 .

Alan

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Hi Al this thread came up in a search and I was just having my tuppence really just on the wording of the Title -

Im wondering if you’re asking me a trick question here? - however my opinion of what Oxford English is would be pretty much what is contained in the current version of the Collins Oxford English Dictionary. From the list below it appears unavailable in the USA

[i]The Oxford English Dictionary is a world-famous bestseller, chosen by thousands of users for its up-to-date and authoritative coverage of the English language. It contains over 240,000 words, phrases, and definitions, providing meanings for everyday words including scientific and technical vocabulary, as well as English from around the world. This revised edition of the dictionary has been updated with hundreds of new words and phrases drawn from ongoing language research of the Oxford Reading Programme and the Oxford English Corpus. This edition also features a new centre section, with quick-reference word lists (containing, for example, lists of Unusual Words, and Onomatopoeic Words), and a revised and updated English Uncovered supplement, which presents interesting facts about the English language. The revised edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary also retains such popular features as the Word Histories and Usage Notes that can be found throughout the A-Z text of the dictionary. This luxury edition includes thumb indexes and a page ribbon to mark your place, and is beautifully presented with printed endpapers and coloured head and tailbands. A convenient reference for the home, office, and school, it is also an ideal gift for friends or family. The dictionary includes 12 months’ access* to Oxford’s premium online dictionary and thesaurus service, Oxford Dictionaries Online, updated regularly with the latest developments to words and meanings, so you will have the most accurate picture of English available. Find out more about our living language using Oxford Dictionaries Online. Hear how words are spoken with thousands of audio pronunciations, and access over 1.9 million real English example sentences to see how words are used in context. Improve your confidence in writing with helpful grammar and punctuation guides, full thesaurus information, style and usage help, and much more. *Available in selected markets (UK, Europe, Australia, Canada, and South Africa)

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Miracles don’t happen, Jamie, especially in Russia.
If a person was born and raised in Russia, was taught English in Russia by a Russian teacher (who claims to speak British English, and not a smattering of American English. Though that teacher would be hard pressed if you ask him or her to define the term “British English”), it’s a safe bet to conclude that the person in question speaks a garbled brand of English with a heavy russian accent, mispronouncing words here and there and making grammatical mistakes to boot. And you should consider yourself lucky if you manage to make out at least fifty percent of what that person says.

I know all too well the Russian approach to education: their top priority is good grades and not the knowledge that they are supposed to get by the end of a course. If they got all A’s, they consider that they know everything related to the subject, which is, more often than not, far from the truth.
They should put aquired knowledge and skills above good grades.

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Unfortunately, however, this is still true. Under Putin, Russia has descended into fascism, and there is no way out in sight.

@Torsten

Is it possible to include the full date of posts including the year?

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You can see the date of each post on the right hand side:

Oh, it’s a separate thing. I didn’t even notice that was there.

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Older posts also include the month and year they were created: