The King’s English
Which English do you teach? Do you teach the King’s English or do you teach a more democratic English? By my using the term the “King’s English” I of course mean the English I would consider to be a very strict form of English relative to grammar, syntax, diction etc. By a “more democratic” English I mean using short cuts, allow learners latitude in their syntax and diction, and the like.
For example, I have a favorite lesson I teach entitled, “Landmarks.” It presents ten landmarks, such as Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pizza, Taj Mahal etc. I ask the learners to name the landmark, city, country and year constructed. (I have posters on the walls, to include landmarks written up in the Thai language, as I teach English in Thialand, which the students can consult.) Then I ask the learners to construct sentences combining the information, to include vocabulary, pertaining to each landmark.
Which English should I use? The King’s English or a more democratic one? Specifically, which of the following two sentences would you teach:
“The Eiffel Tower, which is in the city of Paris, in the country of France, was constructed in the year 1889 A.D.”
or
“The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, was built in 1889.”
The former, written more consistently in accordance with the King’s English, is longer, more involved, contains a greater vocabulary and emphasizes the religion of the great majority of native seakers of English. The latter, is more brief, direct and doesn’t specifically involve the mention of religion. (Do you teach “A.D.?” Also, what of the punctuation? Is it “A.D.”?)
I’ve been asked by certain students what “A.D.” means (during this and other lessons). I’ve found that Buddhists and followers of other non-theistic religions usually haven’t any difficulty learning the reason(s). However, I have learned that, for any reason(s), followers of some of the theistic religions can get upset once a Western teacher in their country starts to discuss Christian-related vocabulary or terms, even one such as A.D..
The excellent monthly periodical “English Today,” at Cambridge University, has published the writings of distinguished authors on this question of which English we use and teach. Stephen McGill of Exeter University wrote in ET as long ago as 1998 of a “Double-standard” in Standard English. (McGill’s meaning varies somewhat from the question as I’ve constructed it in this piece.) Further, also writing in ET (January, 2001), David Dalby of the “Observatorie Linguistique” has written of the “Linguasphere” and its “Kaleidoscope of the world’s languages.” Included in the “Linguasphere” and its “Kaleidoscope” are British English and American English; there is an “Australian English” as well.
But let’s come back down from the rarified air to daily reality. For example, in American English it is a “truck,” but in British English it is a “lorry.” (Or, does the punctuation in the sentence conclude by writing “lorry”.?) Whenever I find either word, “truck” or “lorry” in a lesson, I point out the existence and use of the other word that in another English refers (in this instance) to the same motor vehicle. What do you do and why? I teach both words because, sooner or later, learners of English as a foreign language will hear each of the two words used by different native speakers of English. There are many differences of diction, that is, word choice (literally, within the Linguasphere) between users of British English and users of American English. In AmE it is a “cart.” In BrE and AusE it’s a “trolley.” An Aussie once asked me if I’d seen, as I heard the word pronnounced, “tiny,” when in fact I was being asked if I’d seen “Tony,” (Anthony).
I’ll conclude by asking if other teachers of EFL/ESL know whether their learners can identify, by hearing the speech patters of the speaker, whether or not the native speaker of English is speaking British English or American English (or Australian English)? In my exactly ten years of teaching EFL/ESL in East Asia I have found that only rarely does an Asian learner of English distinguish between the English being spoken. To the Asian learner of EFL/ESL, spoken English is exactly that. Whether it’s “Tiny” or “Tony,” the learners I’ve been educating either miss the meaning of the word because they didn’t recognize the sound or, as in most instances, the learners determine the word spoken by its context in the sentence. Also to consider is whether the Asian learner hears the question as “Did you see Tiny?” or “Did you see Tony?”, the learner needs to know the name Tony. Do you teach names and nicknames, or vice-versa? I do. Why? Because learners need to know the name and its nickname.
I love the tongue-in-cheek quote by Winston Churchill that the people of the U.S. and the people of the U.K. “are a common people separated only by a different language.” (And, of course, is it a hyphen or is it a dash? Or, perhaps either!)
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