Pupils in Malaysia always get confused in spelling some of the English words such as neighbour (neighbor) and colour (color). Here, we should enlighten them on the two mainstream English spelling they often mistakenly used. However, I'm not going into details for all the differences, like in the wikipedia, or the spelling, like in this link, rather I will make it simple for the pupils to understand it according to my own opinion.
Football (British) vs Soccer (US)
You don't have to be a genius to see that the sport involved is played using foot, with the exception of the goalkeepers. The word 'football' clearly indicates this, while 'soccer' is nothing that we can comprehend.
Toilet (British) vs Restroom (US)
Toil means 'to work; to labour'. We use the word toilet here instead of restroom because we know that in this place we toil a lot, not resting! I can't imagine myself resting while taking a dump; it really needs hard work.
Lift (British) vs Elevator (US)
There is no difference in meaning for both words, as both means 'to carry something from lower to higher position'. However, it will be easier for our speaking when we say 'lift' (one syllable) instead of 'e.le.va.tor' (four syllables), don't you think?
And finally,
England vs America
We are learning English, not Amerish or whatsoever. Thus, we can see that English should be derived from England, and we know that England is part of British soil, not in the United States.
So, to conclude, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, we Malaysians are correct in making British English as our English.
2 comments:
Indeed. My dad was just talking to me about how me loves to listen to a well-educated Brit speak; he mentioned that he loves the way they use words, and prefer them to the way Americans use them. Honestly, I think he just thinks that because of all the years of reading and rereading the Harry Potter series. ;)
I also love how they speak. Especially in the movies.. LOL.. But honestly, I can't understand much what Jamie Carragher (a Liverpool player) said!!
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