DIE GROSSE

Britisch oder amerikanisch?
One language – many differences
Die englische Sprache kennt zahlreiche nationale Unterschiede, die bekanntesten betreffen das britische (BE) und
das amerikanische Englisch (AE), aber auch in Indien, Südafrika und Australien gibt es zahlreiche Besonderheiten.
Der folgende Beitrag zeigt Ihnen, wie Sie typische Stolperfallen in London und New York umgehen.
How to tell the difference:
BE or AE?
To a native speaker this answer is relatively
simple: the accent gives it away.
To a non-native speaker, however, it can
be diffi cult to determine accent, so if in
doubt take the easy way out: ask!
People generally don’t mind being asked
where they are from, indeed they are
usually happy to tell you. Of course, if
you have some correspondence from
the person it becomes a little easier, as
there are several major diff erences in
writing between BE and AE.
Vocabulary and spelling
Spelling diff erences are, to the trained
eye, a dead giveaway:
> Is the theatre in the centre of town or
is the theater in the center?
Th e fi rst (theatre, centre) indicates BE
while the second (theater, center) shows
ProFirma 06 2010
that the writer is American. When Noah
Webster published his “American Dictionary
of the English Language” back in
1828, he decided to simplify the language
to a certain extent, hence the change
from “-re” to “-er” and “-our” to “-or”
(e.g.: BE colour / AE color). Th e same
goes for the following:
> Use gray color to indicate aluminum
on the plans.
Gray and aluminum are AE; in BE they
would be grey and aluminium.
Th e following sentence is a real hodgepodge;
can you tell which parts are BE
and which are AE?
> At the weekend, would you rather go
socializing downtown with our kids or
at school with all the students?
At the weekend is BE (Americans say
on the weekend), socializing, downtown
and kids are AE (in BE it’s socialising,
town centre and children), at school is
also BE (AE uses in school), while students
is AE (BE would refer to pupils).
Punctuation and grammar
Strangely enough, it is not only in choice
of words or spelling that the two forms
of English diff er. Punctuation and
even grammar can indicate origin too,
although these are generally less pronounced
and defi nite than the variations
in spelling and vocabulary.
BE tends to use far less punctuation
TIP: If in doubt when it comes to
punctuation, leave it out and claim
you are using BE!
Vocabulary
a dead giveaway todsicherer Hinweis
extent Umfang
hence deshalb
hodgepodge Mischmasch
envelope Briefumschlag
than AE; when addressing an envelope,
for example, you might not see a single
punctuation mark if the writer is using
BE. With AE, however, there would be
commas and perhaps even a full stop or
two.
> BE: Mr J King
23 Uppity Street S
malltown
> AE: Mr. J. King,
23 Uppity Street,
Smalltown
Th e same holds true for dates:
> AE: January 17th, 2008 or 01/17/2008
> BE: 17 January 2008 or 17.01.2008
As English really is used in so many
forms throughout the world it doesn‘t
matter too much which form you choose
to use. If you are more comfortable
with AE then use that, but the important
thing is to stick to it: don‘t chop and
change within any one text, as that will
indicate someone who doesn‘t know the
diff erence or who is making mistakes,
rather than a person who just happens
to use a slightly diff erent form of the
language.
S. 3 Pressemitteilungen, S. 4 Kreuzworträtsel
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