Differences between American and British English. Are they so similar?

There are many varieties of English and no one version is correct. Today we are going to speak about the differences between American and British English.

The first and probably most obvious difference is our accents and how we stress and pronounce both vowels and consonants.

Take a look at the chart below and notice that even a lot of our spelling changes:  

British English	American English
Colour	Color
Favour	Favor
Centre	Center
Realise	Realize
Theatre	Theatre
Modelling	Modeling
Fulfil	Fulfill
Offence	Offense
Sizeable	Sizable
Ageing	aging

Many differences are found in the vocabulary used, in particular, phrasal verbs. The British would say; lift, film, biscuit, petrol, anti-clockwise, path... and the Americans would say; elevator, movie, cookie, gas, counterclockwise, sidewalk...

There are also words which exist in both language varieties but have completely different meanings, for example biscuit and bill. An American understands bill as money and English person, as an invoice. Biscuit for an American is what an English person calls a scone, and a biscuit for an English person is what Americans call a cookie. Now it is becoming clear why foreigners say the English language is so hard to learn!

Just to add to the confusion, the British “fill in” forms and the Americans “fill out”. Thus, even some of the prepositions change.

Now we are on the subject of verbs, the Americans use the present tense to express what a British person would express in the present perfect tense, for example:

-          American English: I lost the bus this morning.

-          British English: I’ve lost the bus this morning.

In conclusion, I would say that the key to writing English correctly is to decide which type of English you want to use and stick to it! Good luck! 

Babies begin to learn their native language in the womb!

DID YOU KNOW THAT…

Babies begin to learn their native language in the womb!

It was thought that babies were born without any knowledge about the outside world, but this is now being questioned and investigated. Many psychologists today believe that babies in fact comprehend inside the womb and can remember after they’re born.  They even go as far as saying that they actually recognize their mother’s voice!

It turns out that babies are capable of producing different cry melodies which are typical for the ambient language. This means that a Chinese baby will have a different cry melody to a French baby. Scientists believe that it is in fact during the last stage of pregnancy when the fetus begins to develop sensory and brain mechanisms.

If we take into account all of this information, babies can not only hear what you say, but listen to the same music and films as the mother does!

Research was carried out on 40 babies born in Stockholm and Tacoma. The babies listened to vocalic sounds from their mother language and in other languages. The interest that the babies showed was measured by giving the babies a dummy which was connected to a computer which at the same time measures the time the babies were sucking for.  The suction varied depending on the sound they heard. They sucked on their dummies for more time when listening to foreign sounds.

After learning about this latest discovery, I realized that there is so much more to learn about the mysteries of the human brain and its workings. 

Emma Milnthorpe

Navidad en España

En España la celebración de la Navidad empieza el 8 de diciembre con la fiesta de la Virgen Inmaculada y llegan hasta el 6 de enero. Ya desde noviembre, las calles de las ciudades españolas se llenan de adornos navideños y se respira un aire que hace presagiar la llegada de la Navidad.

Aún así la verdadera Navidad empieza el 22 de diciembre, el día en que se realiza el sorteo de Lotería de Navidad, llamada también “Gordo” por los españoles. Es el nombre que se le da al primer premio, con un valor de 4 millones de euros por décimo.

Este sorteo es uno de los más populares e importantes del mundo. Todos pueden comprar un billete y participar. Generalmente, tiene lugar en Madrid, en el salón de sorteos de Loterías y Apuestos del Estado y forma parte de los sorteos de la Lotería Nacional.

Una de las tradiciones principales de la Navidad española es el belén, que representa en miniatura a la Sagrada Familia, acompañada por los pastorcitos, los Reyes Mago, etc. Algunos de estos belenes se pueden considerar como verdaderas obras de artes, por lo cuidado de los detalles. Tradicionalmente, el día de Navidad los niños y los mayores se acercan al belén para cantar los cantos de navidad o villancicos, acompañados de música hecha con instrumentos como panderetas y zambombas y todos cenan en una atmósfera familiar.

La comida es muy variada e incluye casi siempre mariscos o aves (pavo, capón...) y los postres suelen ser turrones y mazapanes, ambos dulces de tradición árabe.

Los más católicos asisten a la misa de las doce de la noche, es decir la Misa del Gallo; los niños recorren las calles cantando y pidiendo el “aguinaldo”, es decir dulces o algunas monedas, como en la noche de Halloween pero sin disfraces. Esta tradición se ha perdido un poco en las grandes ciudades pero se conserva en los pueblos. Por otros lados, los jóvenes salen a festejar la entrada del Año Nuevo con sus amigos, son los famosos cotillones.

El 28 de diciembre es el “día de los inocentes”.  Hace referencia, en realidad, a la matanza de todos los niños menores de dos años nacidos en Belén, ordenada por el rey Herodes con el fin de matar a Jesús de Nazaret.

En Hispanoamérica y en España este es el día en que se gastan bromas a la gente. También los medios de comunicación hacen bromas, las noticias parecen reales y se publican noticias cómicas y falsas, como la que salió una vez en Granada donde se publicó que el 28 de diciembre se iban a vacunar todos los perros en la plaza del ayuntamiento… ¡y todos se encontraron con sus perros víctimas de una broma!

Elena Saracino

Superstitions in Britain

     Superstitions are part of most cultures and the British are a really superstitious lot!  Even the most cynic will probably find themselves touching wood and avoiding ladders! 

     A superstition is an irrational belief or notion that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome. 

     Here are just a few of the most common ones:

-        -  It’s unlucky to walk under a ladder. The bad-luck can be avoided if you cross your fingers until you see a dog or lick your finger or mark a cross on the toe of your shoe and not look at it until it has dried.

-       - It is unlucky to open your umbrella in the house. It will bring misfortune to the person that opened it or somebody in the household.

-          - It is lucky to see a black cat.

-          - Friday 13^th is considered an unlucky day so if you are superstitious, stay indoors!

-          - 7 years of bad luck if you break a mirror.

-          - Touching wood is thought to bring good luck.

-          - Cross your fingers for good luck

-          - New shoes under no circumstance can be put on the table. It will bring bad luck!

-          - You should not cross someone on the stairs.

-          - A horseshoe over the door brings good luck.

-          - It is unlucky to see one magpie, and lucky to see two.

-          - It is unlucky to spill salt. If you do you must throw it over your shoulder.

-          - The Bride and Groom must not meet the day of the wedding except at the alter.

-      -  For good luck, brides should wear “something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new”

-          - If your right hand itches your will receive money and if your left hand does, get prepared to pay out!

-          - If your right ear burns, people are speaking about you.

-          - If you a pick a penny, all day you will have good luck. 

     As it is Christmas, I would like to point out that it is also bad luck to avoid a kiss under the mistletoe, to blow a candle that is lit on Christmas Eve before Christmas day and to cut in to mince pies.  

Merry Christmas!