how's your own spelling?
By flagella08
@flagella08 (5065)
Philippines
November 28, 2010 4:26am CST
i am not an english major but i am proud of spelling a lot of words correctly. many people find themselves confused regarding the spelling of even basic words used daily. most people would just love to utter words and never mind jotting them down because they find difficulty in writing the correct spelling. in my case, i read a lot of books and i noticed that some words are spelled differently depending on how they are being used: american or british.Although the differences between American and British spellings are often subtle, they are still significant.here are few of those words i am talking about:
# apologize - apologise
# behavior - behaviour
# canceling - cancelling
# center - centre
# check - cheque
# color - colour
# encyclopedia - encyclopaedia
# favorite - favourite
# fiber - fibre
# fulfill - fulfil
WHAT's your side on this?
4 people like this
30 responses
@ivanmarginal (675)
• Indonesia
28 Nov 10
Hi, I'm a student of English Department. I choose American since it is easier for me. I write in American English and speak in America accent. I once tried British, and it s very hard. My computer dictionary is American, so as my microsoftwords. American accent is widespread. I love the way American speaks in English. That's cool.
3 people like this
@flagella08 (5065)
• Philippines
7 Dec 10
that's nice. speaking in american accent is my dream. im planning to hire someone to teach me that or enroll myself in an english class using american accent. it's really cool hearing that accent and not those usual english speakers taht i often hear in our place.
@ganeshprabhuk (1722)
• India
28 Nov 10
Even I am not an english expert but I manage to spell most of the words correctly. I really get confused when we are writing an email and automatically some words are automatically replaced when we are typing. But still manage to jot down the correct words. I am proud of it. I totally agree unless we jot it down we cannot spell the correct words.
2 people like this
@Sir_bobby88 (8231)
• Singapore
28 Nov 10
well my spelling is really bad , guess that why you had a 10 star yea !!
@flagella08 (5065)
• Philippines
7 Dec 10
thanks pal. i am not a native english speaker. i just love using it at home and in anywhere and with anyone.
@gunagohan (3414)
• India
28 Nov 10
In my country, schools and colleges adapt British English format and i get used to it.
I'm not a Native speaker and i'm using British English format in almost all the time.
But whenever i log into any Internet website, i have to change to American English format.
First, Microsoft Windows Vista, an American application and that is my operating system and i have to use American format.
.
So, the Internet world has been working with American English format.
There are some variations in the spelling and my Browser allows me to rectify those mistakes..
.
So, the Internet world has been working with American English format.
There are some variations in the spelling and my Browser allows me to rectify those mistakes..2 people like this
@visavis (5934)
• Philippines
28 Nov 10
Your definitely correct even in a simple and basic spelling sometimes I'm confusing like the spelling of friend, believe, receive (sometimes I interchange the i and e). you sometime I cannot believe the spelling given by word in microsoft some are mispell
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
5 Dec 10
flagella08 my spelling is pretty good but I also use sp elling checket
on firefox Mozella to be sure and have everything right as it pays better when you have no misspelled words.I am an American and use the american words for what you have listed. sometimes I do use the British spelling and my spelling checker redlines it.Yet technically both spellings are correct.
Mozella to be sure and have everything right as it pays better when you have no misspelled words.I am an American and use the american words for what you have listed. sometimes I do use the British spelling and my spelling checker redlines it.Yet technically both spellings are correct.
@gracefuldove (1668)
• Malaysia
28 Nov 10
Yes, American spelling differed from British spelling. We have a lot of problems of written English here in Malaysia. If our boss is US trained, then he expects us to use the American way of spelling. If he is trained in the United Kingdom, he expect perfect UK English. So we have to play by ear here.
1 person likes this
@agonyaunt69 (343)
• Hong Kong
29 Nov 10
Hi flagella08,
I usually do not have problems on spelling of English words. I sometimes get confused on some nouns and verbs, like advice - advise, and some singulars and plurals, like memorandum - memoranda. In most cases, I spell correctly. If I know how to pronounce a word, I don't have much problem to spell it out. Oh, names sometimes are hard to remember, too. As westerners got several spellings on some names but pronounce them in the same way, like Cristi - Kristy, Vivian - Vivien - Vivienne, Michelle - Michele. As they are names of persons, I have to remember them correctly for avoiding any mistakes, especially when writing formal letters to people.
Have a nice week!
agonyaunt69
(11:43pm 29 Nov 2010, Hong Kong time)
@chinkai28 (114)
• Philippines
29 Nov 10
My spelling is not that bad though, just like you I also noticed these differences in American/British English. So it confuses me and I end up consulting Mr. Webster ;) better be sure..
@rijovjohn (429)
• India
29 Nov 10
I also have problem with the spelling of certain words. I use to make same mistake with certain words. Also when i am writing i find that i dont know the correct spelling of certain words. After i am typing in my lot i think my spelling is improved a bit. Here wrong spelling will have a red underline and it help me in correcting certain mistakes.
@jeanneyvonne (5501)
• Philippines
30 Nov 10
I prefer the American version when I am writing though I will admit that I also get confused when I read a British book or anything by a British author. As you said, the changes are subtle and harmless when you're reading them but it becomes a major issue when it comes to writing (because of the spelling). There are also times when I do mix some British words and American ones in the same sentence due to confusion and sometimes, over-exposure to reading British material. Thank God for spell check and a trusty editor.
@derek_a (10874)
•
29 Nov 10
Yes, being from the UK myself, I have noticed all the subtle differences between UK and USA spellings of different words. I must say that the USA seems to make more sense because take colour and color for instance... Colour (UK) is not pronounced "col-ower" but more like the USA's color, pronounced exactly how it's spelled! So I think perhaps their language makes a little more sense. _Derek
_Derek
@kai9999 (1700)
• India
29 Nov 10
me to, i prefered language is telugu (native language) and national language is hindi.
third language is english and i do lot of spelling mistake, so i need to install spell checker in my firefox and also grammar checker too. now i am not using grammar checker but spell checker is always enabled.
@AjaySinghBaghel (5506)
• India
29 Nov 10
Mine is not too bad and able to manage daily communication although English is not primary language for me. We have to communicate in English with our US and UK clients and I find myself ok for that.
Thank You for sharing.
@junil_jk (496)
• India
29 Nov 10
well, i'd like to say i'm one of those better persons when it comes to spelling. i'm not an english major either. when i was a kid i had this habit of repeating and memorizing new words that i come across, or words with difficult and uncommon spellings, etc. i don't know why...u know, it was just kinda habit and not that i wanted to improve on my spelling or english. also i read a lot of novels, story books, magazines,...whatever i came across that interests me. and that helped a lot in improving my english as well as spellings. in fact, i learned more from them than what i learned in school, lol!
also i've learned to gradually distinguish between British and American spellings, different accents like American, British, Australian, etc. i'm still learning and will keep on learning 'cause there's no end to it, u know.
@thanks1961 (7035)
• India
29 Nov 10
Hi dear,
US English is the accepted way of usage in our area. However, the words you have mentioned are common and using both words in common. Normally we ignore the words like SPECIALIZE, instead of specialise, color in place of colour etc. Also there are many words which are common and using both depending on which one they likes and it did not consider as a mistake, because these words are used commonly and widely accepted.
Thank-s
@punk151551 (5)
• United States
29 Nov 10
I find it to be kind of annoying... but that's just personal
