Teach English in Zhuhu Zhen - Suqian Shi

The language is not something static but it is a dynamic process that consists of many levels of development over time, which of course encompasses several influencing factors as we may know them. In the time of globalization, where English has been establishing itself as the common, widely spoken language throughout the world, in some cases, it is still hard for some, especially non-native speakers, to understand each other while using the same English Language, no matter how fluent or proficient these individuals may be. This brings us to the biggest issue regarding the issue, that I intend to address here, in this essay - the difference between British and American English. This phenomenon brings us to the concept of Teaching English as a Foreign Language utilizing the British and/or American system. The differences are present in almost every aspect - accent or pronunciation, intonation, tempo, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and syntax. Thus, in some instances some words or expressions are misunderstood or not understood at all; Let us break some of them down one by one as we proceed: 1. Pronunciation a. Between British and American English the ‘R’ sounds are one of the most striking differences. American English is rhotic, which means that the ‘R’ sound is always clearly pronounced, whilst British English is non-rhotic, meaning the ‘R’ sound is not pronounced or is only slightly notable. For example, it is not heard when it occurs before another consonant unless it is followed by a word that begins with a vowel. b. ‘A’ sounds. Near the end of the 18th century, southern England began to change from what is called a flat a to a broad a. [ɑː] in British English normally become [æ] in American English when it is not followed by an "r" or an "i" sound, for example, the word Half (/ha:f/ in the UK and /hæf/ in the US ) but words that are [æ] the British English remain quite similar in American English with one exception words in which the "a" is followed by "rr" is pronounced "e" ( Marry /mæɹɪ/ in the UK and Marry /mɛɹi/ in the US). c. ‘O’ sounds. The pronunciation of the ‘o’ in such words as not, lot, hot, top, dog, hod, the pot is also noticeably different. In British English this is still an open ‘o’, pronounced with the lips rounded and the tongue at the back of the mouth, whilst in America the “o” sound is unrounded. For example: stop and hot /stɑp/ and /hɑt/ in the US but /stɒp/ and /hɒt/ in the UK. d. ‘T’ sounds. In British English ‘t’ is usually pronounced quite clearly or as hard ‘t’, but in many instances of American speech, when it is not the initial consonant in a word, it may either be pronounced like a d or ɾ, it may also disappear entirely. When the ‘t’ occurs between two vowel sounds, it is often pronounced as d: bitter, latter, shutter, water, waiting, writing, etc. In Britain, on the other hand, the pronunciation of such pairs as bitter/bidder, latter/ladder, shutter/shudder, waiter/wader, writing/ riding leaves no room for ambiguity, even when the context is unknown. 2. Spelling Making a complete list based on spelling differences between British and American English will be a very hard work incompatible with the purpose of the essay which is to give an overview of some differences between them both. We will talk about spelling differences by categorizing them in groups: a. Words ending in ‘-our’ in the UK and in ‘-or’ in the US. British English American English honour honor colour color behaviour behavior armour armor b. The second group is composed of words ending in ‘-tre’, usually deriving from French, and ‘-ter’, used in American English. British English American English centre center metre meter theatre theater goitre goiter c. The third group is composed of words of Greek origin. GB English has ‘oe-’, whilst US English has ‘e-’or less commonly - ‘oe-’. British English American English gynaecology gynecology anaesthetist anesthetist Palaeolithic paleolithic manoeuvre maneuver d. In this group, differences between UK and US spelling are far from systematic. Some verbs, regardless of the country, can only have ‘-ize’, while in others only ‘-ise’ is possible. British English American English aggrandise aggrandize symbolise symbolize vaporise vaporize realise realize We can also find a certain number of disyllabic verbs stressed on the second syllable when they are written with a single ‘l’ in British English, but double ‘l’ in American English, such as: enrolment (enrollment), skilful (skillful) which affects the spelling of derivatives. An interesting group is comprised of words that are spelled with a single different or additional letter. The difference affects pronunciation, such as: aluminium (a-lyoo-min-yum), behove, carburettor (kar-boor-et-ah), cheque, divorcee (di-vor-see), doodah, mum, plonk, potter, speciality (spesh-ee-al-it-tee) in British English VS aluminum (a-loom-in-um), behoove, carburetor (kar-boor-ate-er), check (in banking), divorce/divorcee (di-vor-say), doodad, mom, plunk, putter, specialty (spesh-al-tee) in American English. Generally, in grammar and syntax, American and British English are remarkably similar. The main differences that we can list are: first, the form of the same verb; the verbs fit, quit and wet are regular in British English, but irregular in American. In American English, the past participle of get is either gotten or got, except in the structure have got, used as an alternative to have, which is the same as in British English. Many other differences can be found either in pronunciation, spelling or grammar but for our overview study, those are the selected ones. It is worth noting out that in most of the countries where English is taught as a Foreign Language, for instance, Asian countries, American English is preferred.