In my country the answer would be: strictly British!! Our language-exam system is based on it; our teachers must use it, even if they are native American speakers.
I use the spell-checker here and must note I have to correct my words often for I use my original knowledge... It's a bit bothersome, but also educational :)

edit: I'd add that learning the words and grammar is quite different than learning the comprehension and pronunciation, so whilst I learned British grammar, I used American tapes/records too to learn the others. So in the end it's kind of a mixture of the 'two languages'.

re the spellchecker. I find that is often Americanised.

words such as flavour-- we add the "U" where they write flavor or favor. COLOUR or their COLOR. etc.

We in UK always end up imitating a lot of AMERICAN slang expressions

By the way, here you should use "then" (in that case) instead of "than" (compares things - this is bigger than that). But this is a very common error among native English speakers, especially around the internet. :)

dogsbody70 wrote: "I believe that what we call a pavement-- Americans will call it 'sidewalk.'"

This is true. In the US, pavement is the surface material covering the street, the sidewalk runs along the pavement. :)

I'm rather relieved, sometimes I think British English is a dying language. . . like Dosgbody said so much is Americanised nowadays!

Dogsbody, you make an excellent point. Do you remember when slang phrases like 'da bomb' or 'that's so gravvy' came into fashion for a short while, because it was really "American" to do so? What drives me mad is how many people are starting to say 'cell phone' rather than mobile phone or 'pants' as opposed to trousers, or - worst - 'sneakers' rather than trainers! I really do wonder where British English is going :mtongue:

Wow! Thanks! Now I'm really embarrassed...

That was certainly not my intention! I don't know what your native language is (I gathered from what you said, not how you said it, that it's not English), but your English is excellent. I'd be proud if I could read and write any other language that well. Besides, if I thought you were a native speaker, I would have just assumed it was a typo. :)

I am really impressed with fileO's command of written English. also many others from other lands who also write in English. All of their efforts are good. I truly admire them all.

Here in UK I feel that we can be lazy about learning other languages-- when we know that ENGLISH is taught in many other countries.


I have a few Scandinavian friends-- and their English is almost perfect.


Perhaps it is time that here in the UK Languages should be taught from early years when it is easier to assimilate them.

Re listening to AMERICAN tapes: I believe that Americans speak very differently from the British.

We see many American films and it is very noticeable how they speak so differently from English.

then again also depending which STATE they live in.

UK has so many different dialects and accents- so it can be really hard to understand many of them.


I certainly cannot understand Liverpudlian-- and lots of Scottish accents etc.

anyway I admire all of you who have or are studying English and taking part inforums such as this one.


My japanese progress is so slow because I feel I need someone to practice with.

I am always making typos.


It would be interesting comparing the differences in describing things.

English (British or American) are pretty much idendtical spoken.

Although there are different rules as to how it is written, in this day and age of mass media each English speaker is well aware of what the others mean.

Of course slang can be a bit hard and accents even worse but really you just need to hear them and get used to them same as anyware else.

so really both are correct.

I couldn't agree with this more. In the US, you don't usually get language courses offered until high school. This year a school was offering Chinese to grade school students and the right wing nutjobs went crazy (crazier), claiming they were trying to indocrinate their children in Communism. Oy. They seem to think learning another language is un-American or something.

I know what you mean about accents. I've always found it amusing that some interviews in documentaries have subtitles when the people are speaking English. :) But what's really interesting to me is the connections between American accents and UK accents. Until I saw The Story of English (riveting - highly recommended, both the book and the series) I would never have guessed or heard the roots of Scots Irish in the American Appalachian accent. There are many more accents and ways of speaking English than most Americans are even aware of.

Dictionaries are good sources of information about word roots which can help in remembering the words and how they're used (just threw that in to be on topic ;) )

I agree, but I think maybe it should be a new thread? Go for it. :)