English around the World:

LOCAL AND GLOBAL

COMMUNICATION IN
MULTICULTURAL SETTINGS

“Every country has its own way of saying things. The

important thing is which lies behind people’s words.”
-FreyaStark

Cultural differences result in misunderstanding, and

“language more than anything else, is the heart of
culture.” -Stevenson in Lee (2017)

The British first introduced the language to Americans

when they reached these lands by sea between the
16th and 17th centuries (British Council, 2020).
Although these two have commonality as a variety of
English, they are still quite distinct from one another in
few aspects.

-another in few aspects. As can be seen, vocabulary is

one of the aspects where these two varieties of
English differ. It can be observed that these words
pertains to some of the everyday objects however,
different words were used depending on the form of
English used

American English British English

First floor Ground floor
Second floor First floor
Apartment Flat
Eggplant Aubergine
Hood Bonnet
Trunk (of a car) Hood (of a car)
Drugstore Chemist’s
Garbage can Dustbin
Parking lot Car park
Elevator Lift

AmE and BrE also differs in pronunciation

They also differ in spelling
Lastly, AmE and BrE also have grammar differences