American / English?

Although there are language assistants in Spain that have come from places such as America and Australia, UK English is the version of the language that is taught in Spanish schools. Of course, from my point of view that is a good thing as I don't have to worry about inadvertently teaching my students something that might be deemed "incorrect" by an exam board.

However, despite UK English being used as the standard in schools, there are occasional signs of US English creeping in. This is probably inevitable given the global importance of America and its unparalleled ability to project itself culturally across the world, but it is nonetheless irksome.

The two most obvious "Americanisms" that keep cropping up are the use of the term "high school" and the pronunciation of the word "tomato".

Partly, of course, this is down to the teachers. Indeed, I've heard some of the English teachers here saying both of these things. But it is also partly down to the widespread presence of American cultural products. The use of "high school" instead of "secondary school" (despite the Catalan equivalent - "escola d'educació secundària" - being closer to the UK English term) is quite probably reinforced by the great popularity here of the "High School Musical" films. As students are naturally more likely to be influenced by their favourite films, books, music, etc than by me telling them something in a classroom, I suspect that it would be very hard to get them to use the term "secondary school" instead. And if this is what their teachers are telling them as well, it is probably best not to give them a different version and cause confusion. So I think I will largely let that one pass.

With the pronunciation of "tomato", however, I am determined to have my way and encourage students to use the common British pronunciation of "tom-ah-toe" instead of "tom-ay-toe". Today I ended up standing at the front of one of my classes and getting students to repeat it until I was satisfied. ("It's pronounced 'tom-ah-toe'. 'Tom-aaaah-toe'.") They probably thought I was quite strange.

These things are not "mistakes" as such. And even within the UK there are variations, making the concept of encouraging a "correct" version of something a bit dubious. So perhaps I shouldn't be doing so at all. On the other hand, since the syllabus is in UK English I feel I have some justification for correcting Americanisms!

What I found more surprising was the apparent blurring of the distinction between British and American culture. More than once in my classes I've heard both Madonna and Hannah Montana described as being English. They are, of course, both American.

Given that American culture is dominant globally, it struck me as a bit odd that some students are assuming that American cultural icons are British rather than the other way around. Perhaps it is something to do with the geographical proximity of Britain? I honestly couldn't say.