As I prepare to spend my last night on the Catalan coast of France before crossing over to the Catalan coast of Spain, the issue of language is at the forefront of my mind. In France we do well because my wife, Sue, speaks a very passable French, but in Spain we will have to resort to pointing at things and hoping the locals speak English. Luckily, many do, at least in tourist spots, which is what most Brits (and Americans to be honest) rely upon.
Bit by bit the world is turning to English as a common language, at least for business, the media and the internet. But even here there are obstacles to be overcome, because there are plenty of versions of English. George Bernard Shaw famously remarked that "England and America are two countries separated by a common language". Not convinced? There's even a blog on the subject. The difference between British and North American English, although subtle, is still one that causes difficulties in the field of learning and development. Training programmes with American voiceovers will not be received well in the UK and the reverse is just as true. Similarly Brits moan about American spelling (even though it is thought that it is the Americans that have held true to the original spelling, while the Brits have changed their minds over the past two hundred years). And one American once complained about the spelling on this blog - don't I proof-read the thing!
I did suggest to Sue that, because two thirds of my readers are from North America, I should use American spelling on my blog. I might as well have suggested surrendering British sovereignty! But I did concede that an American version was the best approach to the 30-minute masters. In building a rapid e-learning course from the script, I used American spelling and, with the help of Cammy Bean, recorded an American voiceover. I'm sure this was the right decision in terms of building interest in the project, but now I have to decide whether to produce a separate British version as well.
Should I be bothered by all this? Aren't we all too grown up and cosmopolitan to worry about such things? I'd be interested in your views.
nope, sorry, but in our cosmopolitan world language seems to be the one thing we think would help us to differentiate ourselves and define our identity. simpel, but still true. how do i know? because i'm swiss speaking the heavy but sweet swiss german dialect. and we have our problems with our fast and perfect speaking german neighbours. depending on the topic you mustn't try to match a swiss german class with a 'high german' speaking trainer. 'a sales speech - of course the trainer is perfect in that, but with our dialect it's a totally different story'. That's what you will hear. Therefore taking language into account while designing learning is crucial.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thought-provoking post and the link to a great blog. I faced the same question in reverse when I started my blog, because most of my writing at that time was done for an EU audience, but I'm American.
ReplyDeleteI went with my native American because I decided that anyone writing in their own voice should indeed use their own voice, including their local spellings.
But I think a course or other "official" communication intended for a European or international audience should use international English, not American.
First, there's the small but real possibility of misunderstanding. But more important is the message sent. Writing in an American accent for a European audience can suggest that you won't make even minor concessions to your audience's viewpoint.
The use of British or other non-American forms of English with an American audience is probably less politically loaded.
I agree with Cathy, although I have limited experience with the EU market. I think Americans (at least me) tend to find British accents "charming"...I don't think the same can be said of Europeans hearing American accents. As Cathy says, way too many political implications, especially in today's world.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in Thomas's comment about German -- I perhaps naively assumed that most e-Learning efforts would be built using High German to reach the broadest possible audience. In the U.S. we mostly use broadcast American (what you hear on ABC Nightly News) rather than a deep southern drawl to narrate a course. Unless, it's for a very specific and regional audience.
Another problem, which my partner, a producer of educational audio, has discovered, is that it's not as simple as just changing spellings. If you change the spellings to American, but use Briticisms without reali{s/z}ing it (as anyone who natively speaks British English would), then it's not only opaque in meaning, but there's no obvious reason why it's opaque. Use British spelling, and your audience will reali{s/z}e that they're reading another dialect, and that'll give them a clue as to how to decode what they're reading.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked the blog...
Interesting thoughts about the British English Language and the American English Language when it relates to instructional design.
ReplyDeleteFound some good ideas in your blog.
ReplyDeleteThnks
Mandy
Lingo24 Translation Services have a fun game on their site which tests your knowledge of the location of European countries. I must confess I found it really difficult. It's at http://www.lingo24.com/educational-games-web-whereabouts.html.
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