The Use of British English and American English by English Department Students

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1  Background

Language as a cultural product has always progressed. One of language that widely used in the world is English. As the international language, English is the language of diplomacy and international communications, business, tourism, education, science, computer technology, media and Internet.

English is used in many countries as a mother tongue or as a second language. It is spoken as the first language by the majority populations of several foreign states, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and a number of Caribbean nations. English is also spoken as a second language in many Commonwealth countries and the United Nations and world organizations. That's why English has developed in many variations. The types of English that most commonly used are the British English and American English.

British English and American English have some differences which can enrich the varieties in communication. The differences both of them are the pronunciation, lexical, vocabulary and grammatical. According to Priyasudiarja (2006:126) The differences in spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar is often confusing for those who are learning English. One of the differences is vocabulary. British English and American English vocabularies differ significantly each other. There are the same words which have different meanings or different words with the same meanings.

Over the time, the presence of technology like internet and globalized of the world, the kind of vocabularies both of them become more developed. Generally, the use of British English is commonly used for education and business. Otherwise, American English is commonly used by people in daily communication because of its simplicity and its frequency in trend society.

The use of American English and British English can make confuse the students in choosing the vocabulary. Sometimes, they use American English or British English in their daily communications. Based on the explaining above, the writer raised the title “ The Use of American English and British English by English Department Students of State Polytechnic of Sriwijaya” in the context analyzing the use of British English and American English by English department Students, especially the difference of vocabularies both of them.

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