Prompt Proofing Blog Post: Demystifying International Spelling

Do you write for an international audience? Ever wonder about spelling?

2011-09-02

VANCOUVER, BC, September 02, 2011 (Press-News.org) Do you write for an international audience? Ever wonder about spelling? At Prompt Proofing we offer spelling in Canadian English, American English or British English depending on the location of our clients, or our clients' target audience.

This week, we try to give a simplified guide to the main differences between Canadian, US and British spelling. That said, even each respective country's dictionary allows for variations!

Canadian
1. colour / neighbour/ flavour
2. recognize / organize
3. travelling / traveller
4. jewellery
5. practice (noun) / practise (verb)**
6. licence (noun) / license (verb)**
7. defence / offence
8. theatre / centre / metre
9. programme ***
10. catalogue
11. tire (on car or bike)

American
1. color / neighbor / flavor
2. recognize / organize
3. traveling / traveler
4. jewelry
5. practice (noun) / practice (verb)
6. license (noun / license (verb)
7. defense / offense
8. theater / center / meter
9. program
10. catalog ****
11. tire

British
1. colour / neighbour / flavour
2. recognise / organise *
3. travelling / traveller
4. jewellery
5. practice (noun) / practise (verb)
6. licence (noun) / license (verb)
7. defence / offence
8. theatre / centre / metre
9. programme ***
10. catalogue
11. tyre

The asterisks explained:

Sorry, but it's not always cut and dried - for explanations of asterisked spellings please see below:

* recognise / organise etc. This is the accepted norm in British spelling, also extending to nouns: organisation, civilisation, etc. However, interestingly the Oxford English Dictionary offers only the ize spelling, no alternative. Despite this, British media and most British educational institutions still use ise and the vast majority of British people will consider ize to be incorrect or an 'Americanism'. Go figure!

**Canadians (being the accommodating people they are well known to be) also accept the ce spelling for the verb form of these words (as an alternative)

*** programme is spelled with the mme ending in both Canadian and British English when it refers to a theatre or concert programme. However, when referring to a computer program, American spelling is always used.

**** catalog is widely used in American English; however, catalogue is also used and both are acceptable!

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