English in the United Kingdom Compared to English in the United States

         Language is obviously a huge part of our everyday life, so I have decided to dedicate an entire Blog Post to the language of the United Kingdom. If your primary language is English, like mine, you might feel that this is a bit unnecessary, but I can assure you that reading this post is worth your time.

        To start things off, let's identify the official language of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has declared their official language to be English. With that being said there are a few other languages that are quite custom to specific regions throughout the United Kingdom. According to British Council citizens may be speaking Welsh in Wales, Gaelic and Scots in Scotland, Irish and Ulster Scots in Ireland, and Cornish in Cornwall, England. While the majority of individuals speaking these languages are likely to speak English as well, I thought this would be an interesting fact to include in the post. Another fun fact is that the English language actually originated in what is now England. To learn more about the origins of the English language, click here.

The English language is prominent across all five continents, which is very rare. The disclaimer to this rarity is that even though this particular language is spoken on all five continents, that does not mean it is spoken the same way. For example, if an English speaking American were to visit the United Kingdom, they would certainly be able to navigate throughout the country. Although they may struggle to understand the dialect of some individuals, or even struggle to identify the meaning of certain worlds. This is because the two languages are spoken differently in each of their respective countries.

To give some examples on how dialects differ I will highlight some commonly used terms in the United States and I will list how they may be said in the United Kingdom. For example, in the United States we say hello when we greet someone, but in the United Kingdom one might say “good day” or even “how do you do.” In the United States we use the term “yes” and in the United Kingdom they also say “yes.” Although, an interesting and commonly slang term used in England for the word yes is “sure thing,” click here for more. Other words and terms like, please, thank you, can you help me, I don't understand, and my name is, are all commonly used terms in both the United States and the United Kingdom. To learn a bit more about different terms, watch this video. 

I think a good way to wrap up this blog post would be to consider the phrase “Language influences our view of reality.” In my personal opinion this phrase is very important because it highlights how we move through our own reality in conjunction with language. Imagine if no humans shared language. Our reality would look drastically different. As human beings we often take our language for granite. With that being said, what does this phrase mean to you? Leave your response in the comments. 

As always, I’ll catch you next time!

Xoxo,

Lil