Mike, you're welcome once again - I'm glad to have helped and wow - also reassured you.

This is of course my just personal opinion which doesn't necessarily mean that it is the best way to do it, but personally I think this might be a good one.

My class and me were also taught British English as the primary version and after we had learnt it for some years already, i.e. after having a basis to operate with it, we were also introduced the special differences of the American English, which should not be disregarded as it is also important to know for people who (want to) go to the states; you mentioned that already in a posting above.


-> Interesting that Australians take much pride in using British English - that actually would support the thesis that it'll hardly happen that the British English will be replaced by the American English, what do you think?

It might become second after Australia for these reasons:
The Australian loves to nickname names and any words comes to their mouth for exampes:
Barbique to barby, football to footy,toilet to loo,chiken to chuk.
Most people when at birth they have a full name,the Australian loves to nickname
Patrick to Pat, Regina to Regie ,Cristina to chrisse and so on

Newspeak, beaurocracy versus the language of rhythm and comfort
Hi, probably most of us have read George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Remember that quote: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever"? It’s a chilling image of state control, deprivation and a sort of ‘bleaching’ of humanity. It’s common knowledge that Orwell’s novel was in some way a reflection of his own times and maybe a prediction of how existing trends might turn out. Let’s turn to Orwell’s life for some clarity. His wartime work for the BBC (published in the collections George Orwell: The Lost Writings, and The War Commentaries) gave him a solid taste of bureaucratic hypocrisy and may have provided the inspiration for his invention of "newspeak," the truth-denying language of Big Brother's rule in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell's reputation rests not only on his political shrewdness and his sharp satires but also on his marvellously clear style and on his superb essays, which rank with the best ever written. "Politics and the English Language" (1950), which links authoritarianism with linguistic decay, has been widely influential.
Linguistic decay: it’s an interesting concept. How can a person think if s/he can’t verbalise concepts which are like ‘tools of thought’? Where is the power of communication, organisation, artistic expression? It’s a little like a form of devolution whereby mankind looses the ‘thumbs of cognition’.. anyway… If language in the United States is changing, is it devolving? Is the American English language losing power to describe and discriminate? Personally, I believe that Orwell was referring to the style of language used by many government departments; legislators; legal practitioners. Orwell was warning against a tyranny of wordsmiths who used their craft to exclude the rest of the population. For my money, simplification with precision is a wonderful thing. Frankly, the United States is very good at reforming our language.

mike from japan, can u speak japanese? i know this is way off the topic, but i was learning japanese for some time but i forgot most of it because im learning welsh now, then ill probably forgot that too because i want to learn french or spanish. lol. anyway back to the topic.