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Ethiopia is an interesting case. Most of the signs and billboards use American spellings and people try to emulate the American accents they see in movies. I have only seen two signs that us UK spellings here. One was for a product that was imported from Kenya and the other was at the Ministry of Labor. Oddly enough, both spellings (Labor, Labour) were used on the same sign.
Ethiopians tend to prefer American English for a number of reasons.
1. Ethiopians tend to view themselves as different from other Africans because they were never colonized. Neighboring countries like Kenya and Tanzania were colonized by the UK and prefer British usage. Using American accents & spelling is a way to show that they are different (and by extension better) than other Africans.
2. Young people who have no connection to history or colonialism prefer American English for more practical reasons. American culture is much more pervasive here than British culture. It’s the accent you hear in movies. It’s much more likely that an Ethiopian in Addis Ababa, for example, will encounter an American expat than a British one because of the size of the American diplomatic and business communities here.
3. There are a ton of Ethiopian expats in the US who bring their new Americanized ways back to Ethiopia when they visit. The Ethiopian community in the UK is much smaller.
The one exception to this is that Ethiopians love the English Premier League. Mostly because it is covered on government run TV. No American sports are shown on local TV here.
You are confused dear boy, Ethiopia was invaded and made a Italian colony in 1935.
I blame modern schools for you not knowing that
@LindavG states that "British English is considered the standard English in education (and hence, speaking). If we spoke with an American accent or used American spelling in class, it was simply marked as a mistake and deducted from our score."
In most cases, she is speaking about the past, not the present. U.S. English is slowly becoming the standard English taught as a foreign language throughout the world. American English still meets resistance in Europe, but that is only logical: English originated in England, Britain is a member of the EU, and British influence on the continent is stronger. Elsewhere, though, "World English" is often American English. Even in the last ten years, I've noticed how many Asians and continental Europeans interviewed on the BBC answer the British reporter in American English (with an American accent). The days of British English as the international standard or "reference" are numbered. While there will always be resistance to U.S. English in Europe, especially in France and Russia (both countries that resent American influence and Americanization, for political reasons) and in former British colonies (esp. India, Hong Kong, Singapore), British English as the international reference is fading fast. As for "prestige", Komodo was speaking about the weight of U.S. political and cultural influence in the world. It is huge. The U.S. remains the world's main superpower in spite of recent economic woes. Britain is a former superpower.
Liking (or not liking) the American accent is subjective, not objective. I've lived abroad and met plenty of Europeans and Asians who prefer it to British, Australian or Irish accents. Not always, but often enough. Some Europeans even like an American accent in foreign languages like French or German -- as long as it's not too strong. But who really likes a thick foreign accent in any language?
American(lets not call it English) is not even a standard language in the USA, and no the largest majority of whites in the USA are not Anglo-Saxon but German.
Spanish is rapidly becoming the first and second languages of a lot of US citizens.
American so called English, in what countries, no not China they use standard British English as does the Commonwealth of Nations.
So care to name the countries where so called American has taken over from standard British English ?
American(lets not call it English) is not even a standard language in the USA, and no the largest majority of whites in the USA are not Anglo-Saxon but German.
Spanish is rapidly becoming the first and second languages of a lot of US citizens.
American so called English, in what countries, no not China they use standard British English as does the Commonwealth of Nations.
So care to name the countries where so called American has taken over from standard British English ?
Japan and much of Latin America.
By the way, American English is based on the English spoken when Bill Shakespeare was alive. Are you insinuating that the most celebrated writer in English language history didn't speak English?
By the way, American English is based on the English spoken when Bill Shakespeare was alive. Are you insinuating that the most celebrated writer in English language history didn't speak English?
Argentina speaks American, nope they do not, they speak standard British English as does Chile.
Japan I will give you.
Good god you are not suggesting that William Shakespeare was American are you, shudder ?
@NZRugby. Are you trolling or just simply clueless? I am one of those German Americans you write about (I'm actually 80% German, 10% English, 5% Scottish and 5% Irish), so your post made me laugh. Most all German Americans came to the U.S. in the 18th and 19th centuries, so our mother tongue is American English.
If you were born in the U.S., you speak American English with an American accent. Most Hispanics in this country (98%) speak good or excellent American English, many without any accent. About 15% of Americans are Hispanic and 12% of Americans speak Spanish at home. Their English is quite good however. As for the 85% of Americans who are not Hispanic, they speak little or no Spanish. I do speak Spanish (as well as French and German, which I learned in school). I rarely need to use it, even when I'm walking around in Corona or Norwood, heavily Spanish-speaking neighborhoods of New York City. Everyone there under the age of 25 is speaking English. When I do ask an older passerby of 50 or 60 a question in good Spanish, he or she answers me (with appreciation, of course) in even better English. "Spanish as a first or second language" in the U.S. is not what you think.
P.S. Most Latin Americans speak American English, not British. And if Shakespeare were writing today, he'd probably write a play or two in American English.
Last edited by masonbauknight; 04-12-2013 at 06:08 PM..
Argentina speaks American, nope they do not, they speak standard British English as does Chile.
Japan I will give you.
Good god you are not suggesting that William Shakespeare was American are you, shudder ?
Give them a couple more years and I'm sure they will be!! :-)
Argentina speaks American, nope they do not, they speak standard British English as does Chile.
Japan I will give you.
Good god you are not suggesting that William Shakespeare was American are you, shudder ?
We have one or two Argentine posters on here that use American spelling besides, when I said much of Latin America, I didn't mean only Argentina and Chile. They do not make up Latin America nor have a monopoly on being Latin American, especially since I'm Latin American myself. There's 17 other countries that make it up, with most of them learning American English. Only the so-called Southern Cone prefer to use British English.
Re-read what I said. Shakespeare's English, which is called Early Modern English, is the English that was spoken at the time of British colonization of North America. It is a similar accent to American English and it is the "primitive" form of American English
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besides, when I said much of Latin America, I didn't mean only Argentina and Chile. They do not make up Latin America nor have a monopoly on being Latin American, especially since I'm Latin American myself. There's 17 other countries that make it up, with most of them learning American English. Only the so-called Southern Cone prefer to use British English.
