The melting pot

Заняття 13. Американський варіант англійської мови

American English

1. Work with your partner.

What do you know about American English? Who has brought English to North America? When was it?

2. Read the following article and use the information got for your answer
before the class.

The melting pot

Five hundred years ago they didn't speak English in North America. The American Indians had their own languages. So did the Inuits (often called 'Eskimos') and Aleuts in Canada. So did the Aborigines in Australia, and the Maoris in New Zealand.

The English arrived and set up their colonies. And then other people came from all over the world, bringing many different languages and cultures.

The USA has the biggest mixture of all: it is often called a 'melting pot' of cultures. In 1619 a small ship arrived in Jamestown. Virginia, with twenty slaves from Africa. For over two hundred years, the Americans imported, bought and sold African slaves. Today there are over 29 million black Americans living in the USA.

In 1848 the population of the United States was still very small. Then two important things happened: they discovered gold in California and a new law, the Homestead Act, gave free land to farmers. Suddenly millions of immigrants came to America, "The Land of Opportunity".

At first they were English, Irish, German and Scandinavian. Then Italians, Jews, Chinese. Japanese, Russians and Poles came. Most immigrants came because economic conditions at home were bad. But there were also other problems in Europe. About three million Jews came to the USA between 1880 and 1910 because of religious persecution in Russia and other countries.

Today the USA is still much richer than most of its neighbours. Its most recent new citizens are many Spanish-speaking people from Puerto Rico, Mexico and South America.

Speak before the audience on differences between British and American English in

a) pronunciation

b) spelling

c) vocabulary

d) grammar

Where are these differences the greatest and the slightest?

Mind the differences between some common US words and their British equivalents.

Travel and on the street	In the	home
American English	British English	American English British English
gasoline	petrol	antenna	aerial
truck	lorry	elevator	lift
baggage	luggage	eraser	rubber
blow-out	puncture	apartment	flat
sidewalk	pavement	closet	wardrobe
line	queue	drapes	curtains
vacation	holiday	faucet	tap
trunk (of car)	boot	kerosene	paraffin
hood (of car)	bonnet	Scotch tape	sellotape
cab	taxi	yard	garden
freeway	motorway	cookie	biscuit
round trip	return	candy	sweets
railway car	railway carriage	garbage	rubbish
engineer (on train)	engine driver	diaper	nappy
baby carriage	pram	panti-hose	tights

Note also: the fall = autumn, semester = term [semester is becoming common in Britain.]

Here are some words and phrases which can cause confusion when used by Brits and Americans talking together because they mean something different in each language.

when they say:	an American means what a	and a Brit means what	an
	Brit calls:	American calls:
a bill	a (bank) note	a check (in a cafe)
the first floor	the ground floor	the second floor
pants	trousers	underpants
potato chips	potato crisps	french fries
purse	a handbag	a wallet
subway	an underground railway	an underpass
vest	a waistcoat	an undershirt
wash up	wash your hands	wash the dishes

Do the following exercises.

Ex. 1. If you saw words spelt in the following way would you expect the writer in each case to be British or American? Why?

1 labor 2centre 3 hospitalized 4 movie theater 5 favour 6 thru

7 plow 8 programme 9 catalog 10 neighbor

Ex.2. You're going on holiday to the States; which of the words do you think it would be most important for you to know? Which of the words would a person traveling with a baby might well need to know? Make a list.

Ex.3. Translate the following into British English.

1. We've run out of gas.

2. It's in the trunk.

3. We're leaving in the fall.

4. He left the faucet on.

5. I had a blow out.

Ex.4. Try to avoid some of the most common confusions arising between British and American speakers in the following quiz.

1. Where would you take (a) an American visitor (b) a British visitor who said they wanted to wash up – the kitchen or the bathroom?

2. Would (a) an American (b) a Brit be expected to get something hot or something cold if they asked for some potato chips?

3. Which would surprise you more – an American or a British man telling you that he wanted to go and change his pants?

4. You have just come into an unknown office block. If (a) an American (b) a Brit says that the office you need is on the second floor, how many flights of stairs do you need to climb?

5. If (a) an American (b) a Brit asks for a bill, is he or she more likely to be in a bank or a cafe?

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