Which English: American or British?

aemathenge · Nov 11, 2014

Which version of the English Language do you use when working with your products and services online?

A number of my articles have been sent back to me for re-writing because I have written them in British English as opposed to "native English"

Please enlighten me about your personal preference.

aemathenge · Nov 19, 2014

I will respond. I'll respond.
You have to go. You've to go.
I am willing. I'm willing.
Do not read this. Don't read this.
We are going. We're going.

I like to think that all the above are correct, but which format do your customers prefer?

Which one works for you?

Joseph_Hill · Nov 20, 2014

aemathenge said:
Which version of the English Language do you use when working with your products and services online?

A number of my articles have been sent back to me for re-writing because I have written them in British English as opposed to "native English"

Please enlighten me about your personal preference.

I prefer American language for articles on my blog because it has more traffic from US than UK. It's a reason why we should care factors that relate to our sites than standard things for others

Just my 2 cents,

Am I right?

TejasWebHosting · Nov 20, 2014

American English is going to give you the wisest audience. But it depends on who you are trying to target.

abhishekbt · Nov 20, 2014

I think the article should be in American english and should not be written as shortcut as given in the example. Traffic does get effected based on the english version, but definitely users will not come if they are not comfortable with it.

HostNurse · Nov 20, 2014

It depends to whom you are writhing for and what are their requirements which must be met, if you are writing for your customers. If you writing on your blog, then it depends on your targeted audience.

brotherZ · Feb 16, 2015

Depends on your target audience. If your website is US-based and has a bigger american audience, then use American English. If your website is UK-based and cater to a british audience, then use british english. It's a no-brainer.

Nancy G · Nov 20, 2017

There is no better English language to promote your products and services online. In fact, how do you really easily distinguish British English from American English except the accent?

Most important consideration is being able to communicate your message in a simple English language and organized presentation, easily understood by your readers or audience.

No matter how good is your English or grammar, if your content cannot relate to your target market and draw positive reactions from them like leads or sales conversions, then your efforts are meaningless.

Hazelting · Nov 20, 2017

aemathenge said:
Which version of the English Language do you use when working with your products and services online?

A number of my articles have been sent back to me for re-writing because I have written them in British English as opposed to "native English"

Please enlighten me about your personal preference.

English is our second language here in my country. I am happy that somehow, I know English even I am not perfect on that. In relation to your question, I think, as long as it is with right grammar and could be understood, there is no problem with that. However, it is the company whom you work that requires. So, just follow what is needed.

MaryBryanne · Nov 20, 2017

Personally, I think American English is much more common than British English. Americans love to blog and they have a huge presence on the internet. I am more familiar with American English in terms of accent, spelling, vocabulary, etc. So, I would prefer to use it in making content but that doesn't mean I'll shut off British English completely. I would love to read fresh content written by people in the UK using the good old British English. Hence, as a language none is better than the other although each would claim otherwise. For me, it's just a matter of national pride. As George Bernard Shaw puts it, The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.â€ They're two sides of the same coin. They're different but the same.

Localnode · Nov 21, 2017

American English is more popular on the web. I forget where the source was, but there was a rather large gap (1,220,605,000) between them.
I have the numbers saved, but the source I could not find. That statistic was from 2015. US English is becoming more and more common - even in Australia. It was only the other day I heard the newsreader say a number without "and" - an example being "one thousand one" whereas in Australia it's "one thousand and one".

Myself - my website content, and blog is written in British English. I'm a stickler for those sorts of things. While my company is mostly USA based (most of my servers are in the USA), my customers are from all over. Date formats are DD/MM/YYYY, and my US clients have no troubles with that.

My suggestion - use whatever you want to. I find it easier to use British English as that's the way I was taught, and it would make it harder for me to write blogs using the US English spelling - I'd have to spell it that way explicitly.

joey_2tep · Nov 21, 2017

It doesn't really matter whether you wanna use either US English or UK English. In my opinion, most of the people would not care. All they would care about is the content of your writings. There is not much difference. As long as it is clear, concise and direct to the point then there shouldn't be a problem. Content is what matters.

junrose123 · Nov 21, 2017

TejasWebHosting said:
American English is going to give you the wisest audience. But it depends on who you are trying to target.

Yes I agree with you Tejas webhosting, American English is going to give you the wisest audience because it is the most common language used by most of the people around the world. But it would really differs to the audience that you are trying to convey your message. I find also American English language to be simple and easy to understand compare to other English languages that are very slang in its pronunciation.

Hazelting said:
English is our second language here in my country. I am happy that somehow, I know English even I am not perfect on that. In relation to your question, I think, as long as it is with right grammar and could be understood, there is no problem with that. However, it is the company whom you work that requires. So, just follow what is needed.

Yes I agree with you Hazelting, it really doesn't matter if you are really good at English speaking as long as you provide accurate and correct grammar and most of all it can easily be understood by everyone. But of course, if we are into a job sometimes the company that we applied for requires us to follow specific language standard. Just go with flow and everything will be okay, as long you are doing the right job.

jaymish · Nov 21, 2017

I think it would depend on who your writing for. If your writing for your own blog, I would use American English. I think that's the standard, use of English around the world. If you think about it Google, Yahoo e.t.c are all American companies and brands. I also don't think this is a major point of concern. From what I have seen only people from the Uk are specific about what English to use. Other people around the world often use American English. Normally when you are writing for a client I think they should specify what type of English. If they don't, you should ask.

trendjing · Nov 23, 2017

Choosing American English or British English depends on which audience you are catering to. There are differences you can encounter with these types of english like the spelling, the terms itself, and even how they interpret the meaning of the specific word. If your viewers are from Europe, you can choose British English, but if most of them are American and Asian, you can select American English instead.

If you want to attract other foreign nationalities, you might prefer to use American English, because of the simplicity of the language, which is easier to comprehend.

Another thing, be careful not to mix both American and British English, to avoid confusion, making it looks chaotic.

CookieRunner · Nov 23, 2017

If that's the case. you should use American English since its the normal norm plus it is more known to everyone. I believe its the Universal Language. But still, it depends with so many factors or things lets say for example with the audience, another one would be the rules and regulations or policies of the company that you work on. You have to consider this things and all because it really depends.
But if you ask me I am more knowledgeable with the American English, spelling and accent.

Which English: American or British?

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