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Difference between European English and US English.

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nona the brit  +  387604 Tue, 03 Jul 07 07:14 PM

slum prudery? Interesting turn of phrase. I think it is pretty true that a lot of British people don't consider us as part of Europe in quite the same way as other Europeans. Politically, yes. But geographically, no. We are happy to talk about 'going to Europe'. I'm sure it seems peverse to outsiders but it's a common attitude in all sectors of our society.

No other European countries have English as their native mother-tongue language. It's true there are many speakers of British English - but you can also say that about the American version. Do you think we should stop calling it American English and start calling it something else?

Also, I think there are European countries which teach American English rather than the British version so how does that factor in?
nona the brit
Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004
England
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The name says it all.
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Yankee  +  387642 Tue, 03 Jul 07 08:45 PM

I remember seeing this headline in a British newspaper once:
British Man Missing in Europe

And I remember finding that headline quite humorous. Smile [:)]
Yankee
Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006
Connecticut, USA
Veteran Member 6,502
Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain
Related discussions
Bokeh  +  387648 Tue, 03 Jul 07 09:14 PM
 Nona The Brit wrote:
slum prudery? Interesting turn of phrase.
It's from "My Fair Lady".
 Nona The Brit wrote:
I think it is pretty true that a lot of British people don't consider us as part of Europe in quite the same way as other Europeans. Politically, yes.
I think the British people scared to embrace being Europeans are those who believe the imperialistic conservative nonsense that to be British is to be better.
 Nona The Brit wrote:
But geographically, no.
Geographically, yes! The UK and Eire sit on the European continental shelf with a sea depth of less than 50 metres right the way around.
 Nona The Brit wrote:
No other European countries have English as their native mother-tongue language.
That's true but it is also true that it's not the mother tongue of several million British subjects. (According to Wikipedia 70% of the UK population speak English monolingually.)
 Nona The Brit wrote:
I think there are European countries which teach American English rather than the British version so how does that factor in?
Try doing a search on the web for British schools in Europe compared to American ones. Look at translation agencies and see how their FAQs specifically point out that they do British English. Also if you look at style guides for documents translated for the European Union you would see they state spellings and grammar should be British. Lastly it doesn't make sense that mainland Europe should learn US English in place of British English. Trade between the UK and its EU partners far exceeds any trade between the US and mainland Europe.
Bokeh
Joined on Sun, Mar 18 2007
Spain
Regular Member 531
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nona the brit  +  387795 Wed, 04 Jul 07 08:15 AM

I think it's just an odd mind-set we have. I have an odd dual attitude - I'm very pro-Europe (and think we should switch to the Euro, join Schengen etc) yet I still think of Britain as geographically separate from mainland Europe. Although logically I can see that in effect we are an offshore island of Europe.   I don't think I'm that unusual in that...

Perhaps it's generational. 'when I were a lass' we definitely were NOT part of Europe and we tend to retain impressions that we grow up with, even though the world changes.

In any case all this is not very relevant to the fact that the accepted names for the two main variants of English are American English and British English.

According to the BBC Education site

It is estimated that over 95% of the British population are monolingual English speakers. There are various minority Celtic languages, and speakers of these are invariably bilingual English speakers. In Scotland 1.4% speak http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library/documents6/eid_ach_gisf_index.htm" target="_blank" title="http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/languages/european_languages/countries/uk.shtml/ext/_auto/-/http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library/documents6/eid_ach_gisf_index.htm">Scottish Gaelic as well as English; in Northern Ireland 6.6% of the population are bilingual in Irish Gaelic and English; in Wales, 21% also speak Welsh. Welsh is the only Celtic language that enjoys official status.

In Scotland, Northern Ireland and some border areas of England, Scots is a distinct minority language although at times it overlaps with Scottish English.

There are also large numbers of community languages, brought into the country and sustained by recent immigrant communities, which account for more than 5.5% of the population. The largest group (spoken by 2.7% of the total UK population) are South Asian languages such as Bengali, Punjabi, Hindi and Gujarati. Other community languages include Cantonese, Italian, Polish, Greek and Turkish. 45% of the total ethnic minority population lives in London, but community languages are spoken throughout the United Kingdom.

see http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_lang

*Moving to Linguistics section for those who wish to continue the debate*
nona the brit
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Kooyeen  +  387925 Wed, 04 Jul 07 02:31 PM
Hi,
I'd really like to know what kind of English is taught in each country in the world. I think in Europe only British English is taught (considering most of the schools, most of the courses, etc.), but I'm not sure. I think it's something required by the European Union or something.
In Italy, British English is what is (tried to be) taught. As far as I know, most of those who are taught British English here don't even know that American English exists. But I don't know about other countries.
Kooyeen
Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005
Italy
Senior Member 4,981
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Bokeh  +  387995 Wed, 04 Jul 07 04:43 PM
 Nona The Brit wrote:

Perhaps it's generational.

see http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/european_lang
How old are you, Nona?

By the way your link doesn't work for me.

Here's the Wikipedia link.
Bokeh
Clive  +  388007 Wed, 04 Jul 07 04:57 PM

Hi Bokeh,

In British culture, it's not usually considered polite to ask a lady her age Embarrassed [:$] (or even to ask anyone their age, generally speaking.)

I know that in some other cultures, such questions are fine.

Bst wishes, Clive
Clive
Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004
Canada
Veteran Member 29,657
El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo
Bokeh  +  388116 Wed, 04 Jul 07 11:06 PM
 Clive wrote:

Hi Bokeh,

In British culture, it's not usually considered polite to ask a lady her age

Hi Clive,

Are you a Brit?
Bokeh
Clive  +  388123 Wed, 04 Jul 07 11:30 PM

Hi again,

I'm from N. Ireland, which the British have claimed for many years.Wink [;)] 

Clive
Clive
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