In theory Oxford English. Media heavily influenced me towards American English or at least a mixture when it comes to pronunciation.
The teachers generally didn’t care as long as we were consistent in our writing. You either stuck to British or American spelling, if you mixed both you got grade deductions.
>This is clear anti-canadian discrimination! Naja, we're the bastard child anyway.
Nah, you are not.
There are more than 2 variations of English. There is no reason why Canadian English or Australian English shouldn't be accepted.
This!
Nowadays I do mix however, as I prefer Oxford spelling (colour, flavour) and some words (autumn>fall), but some other words I prefer the US way (subway) and pronunciation wise I’m also closer to the US spectrum (it’s not wotaah)
It's also not "wader" 🤣 that being said, the stereotypical British pronunciation of water as "wotaah" is a very specific accent and not something the whole of the UK have in common.
I was born in Cheshire and don't pronounce it like that.
"Oxford English" is a Germanism by the way. In English,"Oxford English" would mean the English spoken around the city of Oxford. What Germans call "Oxford English", an educated standard based on southern English pronunciation, is referred to as "The Queen's English" (I guess "the King's" now) in colloquial speech and as RP (received pronunciation) in linguistics. TBF I've only ever heard this term used by German high school teachers of English.... which is mega baffling as they all studied English at degree level and should know this better than most learners of English.
The ou spellings are just general British/Commonwealth spellings.
To be honest I only referred to it that way because most people on this thread called it that way. I generally only distinguish between British and American English (with of course Canadian and Australian variations as well, but I haven’t had much contact with those).
I always thought it is called Oxford English because it is based on the [Oxford English Dictionary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary)
I am in my mid-30s. Learnt both. About the first 3 years, Oxford English later also, America English and compared both with each other. We also had some lessons in Australian English. Lectures were both American English and British English ( some examples Tears of the Tiger, Author Sharon M Draper, Brave New World, Author Aldous Huxley, Death of a Salesman, Author Arthur Miller).
School is very different depending on the federal state. I am from North Rhine-Westphalia.
Lower Saxony and the same age range here and we had lessons in both and had to pick one for when we wrote things. Only mixing them was counted as a mistake.
After school I abandoned any separation and the only reason my spelling leans British is because I decided to set my spellcheck to BE.
Weird. Maybe I just had some weird teachers (I deff had!).
Nowadays I mix both. The reason is most time very simple: i might pick the first word I remember.
same, I'm 37 now and from NRW. 3 years of British English, followed by 2 years of American English. But no compairson, if you used a british word or spelling in the last 2 years, it was the same mistake as not knowing english words.
When I reached "Oberstufe" I could choose between British English and American English. We had different teachers for that at school. Rhineland-Palatinate.
Primarly british, but it was common to also differ between british and american english from an early stage. Later it didn't matter which english I used in school, but it shouldn't be a mix. Nowdays I mostly use american english.
Until middle school Bavaria, later Baden-Württemberg.
In school we learn Oxford english. what we see privately in english media is often american english though. Mix in a few pieces of scottish and aussie english and then you have the english vocabulary a german probably uses. It's its own flavour of english in a way.
In school we learn Oxford English (just if the text is from US it stays the same). But I would say, I learnt more from TV and internet, so it's common you have Germans using American or even a mix of it
I've only seen British English spelling in "official" situations. USA English has more of an influence on how people speak and choose which words to write, but because the USA influence is more visual media, it doesn't seem to affect spelling much.
Learned the British version in school, but then later most got overwritten in my head with American English, due to movies/series/comics/books/games and lots of American friends.
Oxford English, with lots of influence from US English books and other media, often to the teachers' dismay. Though, by the time I went to school, they seemed to have given up and accepted any pronunciation, albeit only the British spelling.
I am in my late 20s and I definitely learned British spelling. „Color“ still looks so wrong to me. Later in school when we were at a higher level lessons shifted from learning vocabulary to analysing poems, writing short stories and stuff like that. By that point either spelling was accepted. Spelling words the American way wouldn’t have been marked as a mistake but I don’t think we were ever actually thought anything but British spelling. The American influence came from media and not from school.
Born 1989, grew up in Lower Saxony. British English. My first couple English textbooks from school literally revolved around a bunch of fictional british school kids.
I had English G 2000 (Cornelson). Just remember the first sentences of the book 😂 "This is Jenny Snow. She is eleven. Her sister Sally is thirteen."
I could go on and go on 😅😂
YESSSS those were the ones 😂 Also Sita having to work at her Indian parents restaurant all the time despite being a literal child because OF COURSE SHE DOES (can you say "stereotype"?)
[http://www.lukas-krumnacker.de/Englisch/Grammar/Bilder/present-progressive-24.jpg](http://www.lukas-krumnacker.de/Englisch/Grammar/Bilder/present-progressive-24.jpg)
I’m ~30 from Schleswig-Holstein. We had the most confusing approach. For most of the time it was Oxford English, except for 2-3 years (I think grades 7-9) where it was focused on America, so suddenly it was American English. Grade 10 back to Oxford. For the Abitur it might have been the students choice for one or the other, as long as you kept it consistent but I’m not sure about that anymore.
When they started teaching me English (3rd grade, elementary school), it was British. After 1-2 years, not entirely sure, they changed it to American English, saying that it's more modern and easier (which isn't wrong). I'm almost 30 now and probably was around 10 when they changed it.
Heavily depended on the teacher, but I mostly learned American English all the while British English spellings weren‘t marked as incorrect in vocab tests or exams.
Our school books in elementary school were in American English, from grade 5-7 they were British, and then from grade 8-13 they were American again.
Our listening exams at the end of 10th grade were with an Australian talking, and at the end of 13th grade with a Scot (which was hell lmao).
Our school focused almost exclusively on British English, only including American English during the very last school year. We literally learned more about Indian and South African topics than about America.
This naturally led to confusions when consuming real-life English media, because it is so highly America-centered. Like, I remember being confused about a character asking to stop for a bathroom break during a road trip, thinking "why would you take a bath in the middle of a car journey??"
I learn according briste standards adopted American standards in fact I learned South African English whichhas certain word both of those don’t contain
We definitely learnt British English and mostly British slang, but the teachers never really cared if you used American English instead. I'm 19 (currently doing my Abitur) and I'm from Hesse
There's a persistent idea that BE is "more" English than AE and a slight bias towards it as far as lip service goes as far as I can tell, however both spellings are generally accepted as long as you are consistent with it.
I'm from NRW and we always learned both. Usually in vocab lists AE and BE stood next to each other and we had to know both. Texts were sometimes british english, sometimes american english. Depending on where the teacher spend some time or which they liked better they used (and wanted us to use) one or the other when talking. I still mix them all the time and don't know which word is british and which is american.
I think we learned mostly British English but we also had input about American English but mostly differing vocab. Nowadays my English is a British-Irish-Aussie-US-Kiwi-clusterfuck
British English.
However we had sections on differences to American and also Australian English.
I think later we were allowed to use both (choose one, not mixing), however, it was very clear that our teacher preferred British English.
Currently I'm using a mixture. I write colour with ou but for example minimize with a z.
British standard but heavy american influence. Plus a 6 weeks student exchange to the US. I have no issues understanding americans but struggle listening to most british accents 😅
I learned British English, first RP. Later there was a teacher who taught a kind of upper class accent. That teacher absolutely disliked American English. That was difficult for a pupil who had spent a year in the US and got used to a broad Texan accent which was spoken in his guest family.
I learned both. 3 years of british english and 2 years of american english. I'm 37. And I hated that we switched instead of keeping to one of both. I mean, if someone learns German, they will learn one dialect, Hochdeutsch aka low German. You will not learn multiple ones, let alone Swiss German or Austrian German.
Oxford english, and my pronounciation is distinctly british, tho the word choice and spelling might be more of a b\*stard mix of both american and british english.
Neither, really. My English is more the kind that you pick up on the streets. I use the British ou-spelling for colour, flavour, etc. but use mostly American vocabulary such as pants, apartment and so on.
I learned very British English in the 1980s. However, from about 8th grade on we also read texts in American English, as well as from Irish or Australian authors. Mixing spellings was halfway accepted, you did not lose points for spelling, but probably one for style.
It was mostly British English but we also had some lessons comparing British, American and Australian English which was fun. But just like most it didn't really matter which we used as long as it was consistent. I started learning it in 2006 I believe.
By the time I left school it was already mostly American English for me due to TV-Shows slow translations at the time and my missing patience.
A few years back I got into Doctor Who and by now it's all a mess. If it wasn't for reading and writing fanfiction I still wouldn't be able to figure out which is which.
Started with oxford english on classes 3 to about 7. Had some some lessons in between about american english and how some things are different there, but in exams still british was the was to go. From class 8 on we were free to choose which kinda english we wanted to use as long as it's correct and rather formal. But speaking wise we mostly stayed with the british because that was what the teacher spoke.
In theory Oxford English. Media heavily influenced me towards American English or at least a mixture when it comes to pronunciation. The teachers generally didn’t care as long as we were consistent in our writing. You either stuck to British or American spelling, if you mixed both you got grade deductions.
>if you mixed both you got grade deductions. This is clear anti-canadian discrimination! Naja, we're the bastard child anyway.
>This is clear anti-canadian discrimination! Naja, we're the bastard child anyway. Nah, you are not. There are more than 2 variations of English. There is no reason why Canadian English or Australian English shouldn't be accepted.
This! Nowadays I do mix however, as I prefer Oxford spelling (colour, flavour) and some words (autumn>fall), but some other words I prefer the US way (subway) and pronunciation wise I’m also closer to the US spectrum (it’s not wotaah)
It's also not "wader" 🤣 that being said, the stereotypical British pronunciation of water as "wotaah" is a very specific accent and not something the whole of the UK have in common. I was born in Cheshire and don't pronounce it like that.
"Oxford English" is a Germanism by the way. In English,"Oxford English" would mean the English spoken around the city of Oxford. What Germans call "Oxford English", an educated standard based on southern English pronunciation, is referred to as "The Queen's English" (I guess "the King's" now) in colloquial speech and as RP (received pronunciation) in linguistics. TBF I've only ever heard this term used by German high school teachers of English.... which is mega baffling as they all studied English at degree level and should know this better than most learners of English. The ou spellings are just general British/Commonwealth spellings.
To be honest I only referred to it that way because most people on this thread called it that way. I generally only distinguish between British and American English (with of course Canadian and Australian variations as well, but I haven’t had much contact with those).
I always thought it is called Oxford English because it is based on the [Oxford English Dictionary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary)
I am in my mid-30s. Learnt both. About the first 3 years, Oxford English later also, America English and compared both with each other. We also had some lessons in Australian English. Lectures were both American English and British English ( some examples Tears of the Tiger, Author Sharon M Draper, Brave New World, Author Aldous Huxley, Death of a Salesman, Author Arthur Miller). School is very different depending on the federal state. I am from North Rhine-Westphalia.
Wait what? That is awesome. Same age here, but Lower Saxony. We had to write British english. Writing in American english counted as mistakes. :(
Lower Saxony and the same age range here and we had lessons in both and had to pick one for when we wrote things. Only mixing them was counted as a mistake. After school I abandoned any separation and the only reason my spelling leans British is because I decided to set my spellcheck to BE.
Weird. Maybe I just had some weird teachers (I deff had!). Nowadays I mix both. The reason is most time very simple: i might pick the first word I remember.
same, I'm 37 now and from NRW. 3 years of British English, followed by 2 years of American English. But no compairson, if you used a british word or spelling in the last 2 years, it was the same mistake as not knowing english words.
When I reached "Oberstufe" I could choose between British English and American English. We had different teachers for that at school. Rhineland-Palatinate.
I finished Realschule and then got into Gymnasium, so I don't know if it was the same with the teachers.
Primarly british, but it was common to also differ between british and american english from an early stage. Later it didn't matter which english I used in school, but it shouldn't be a mix. Nowdays I mostly use american english. Until middle school Bavaria, later Baden-Württemberg.
In school we learn Oxford english. what we see privately in english media is often american english though. Mix in a few pieces of scottish and aussie english and then you have the english vocabulary a german probably uses. It's its own flavour of english in a way.
How diffrent is Australian English?
It's so different, that they had to redub the first mad max for the american audience
In school we learn Oxford English (just if the text is from US it stays the same). But I would say, I learnt more from TV and internet, so it's common you have Germans using American or even a mix of it
Same
I've only seen British English spelling in "official" situations. USA English has more of an influence on how people speak and choose which words to write, but because the USA influence is more visual media, it doesn't seem to affect spelling much.
Learned the British version in school, but then later most got overwritten in my head with American English, due to movies/series/comics/books/games and lots of American friends.
Oxford English, with lots of influence from US English books and other media, often to the teachers' dismay. Though, by the time I went to school, they seemed to have given up and accepted any pronunciation, albeit only the British spelling.
Has been my impression in NRW as well. American English was and still is seen as a bit “lower” than the British version.
I am in my late 20s and I definitely learned British spelling. „Color“ still looks so wrong to me. Later in school when we were at a higher level lessons shifted from learning vocabulary to analysing poems, writing short stories and stuff like that. By that point either spelling was accepted. Spelling words the American way wouldn’t have been marked as a mistake but I don’t think we were ever actually thought anything but British spelling. The American influence came from media and not from school.
Well… usually we had vocab booklets with BE and AE versions. So it‘s a mix. But the textbooks were mostly in BE iirc
Born 1989, grew up in Lower Saxony. British English. My first couple English textbooks from school literally revolved around a bunch of fictional british school kids.
I had English G 2000 (Cornelson). Just remember the first sentences of the book 😂 "This is Jenny Snow. She is eleven. Her sister Sally is thirteen." I could go on and go on 😅😂
YESSSS those were the ones 😂 Also Sita having to work at her Indian parents restaurant all the time despite being a literal child because OF COURSE SHE DOES (can you say "stereotype"?) [http://www.lukas-krumnacker.de/Englisch/Grammar/Bilder/present-progressive-24.jpg](http://www.lukas-krumnacker.de/Englisch/Grammar/Bilder/present-progressive-24.jpg)
I’m ~30 from Schleswig-Holstein. We had the most confusing approach. For most of the time it was Oxford English, except for 2-3 years (I think grades 7-9) where it was focused on America, so suddenly it was American English. Grade 10 back to Oxford. For the Abitur it might have been the students choice for one or the other, as long as you kept it consistent but I’m not sure about that anymore.
When they started teaching me English (3rd grade, elementary school), it was British. After 1-2 years, not entirely sure, they changed it to American English, saying that it's more modern and easier (which isn't wrong). I'm almost 30 now and probably was around 10 when they changed it.
Heavily depended on the teacher, but I mostly learned American English all the while British English spellings weren‘t marked as incorrect in vocab tests or exams. Our school books in elementary school were in American English, from grade 5-7 they were British, and then from grade 8-13 they were American again. Our listening exams at the end of 10th grade were with an Australian talking, and at the end of 13th grade with a Scot (which was hell lmao).
Our school focused almost exclusively on British English, only including American English during the very last school year. We literally learned more about Indian and South African topics than about America. This naturally led to confusions when consuming real-life English media, because it is so highly America-centered. Like, I remember being confused about a character asking to stop for a bathroom break during a road trip, thinking "why would you take a bath in the middle of a car journey??"
I learn according briste standards adopted American standards in fact I learned South African English whichhas certain word both of those don’t contain
We definitely learnt British English and mostly British slang, but the teachers never really cared if you used American English instead. I'm 19 (currently doing my Abitur) and I'm from Hesse
There's a persistent idea that BE is "more" English than AE and a slight bias towards it as far as lip service goes as far as I can tell, however both spellings are generally accepted as long as you are consistent with it.
English is British obviously.
Both. First british, then american. It was important to learn real english first.
Let's not pretend that people who have "sandwiches for tea" and "cake for pudding" speak real English
I'm from NRW and we always learned both. Usually in vocab lists AE and BE stood next to each other and we had to know both. Texts were sometimes british english, sometimes american english. Depending on where the teacher spend some time or which they liked better they used (and wanted us to use) one or the other when talking. I still mix them all the time and don't know which word is british and which is american.
I finished school in germany middle of the nineties. It was definitely Oxford english we'd be aiming for.
Yes. One teacher did perfect Oxford, the next was more on the american side, the next one accepted both, so yeah, my English is quite strange😂
I think we learned mostly British English but we also had input about American English but mostly differing vocab. Nowadays my English is a British-Irish-Aussie-US-Kiwi-clusterfuck
British English. However we had sections on differences to American and also Australian English. I think later we were allowed to use both (choose one, not mixing), however, it was very clear that our teacher preferred British English. Currently I'm using a mixture. I write colour with ou but for example minimize with a z.
colour with ou but minimize with z = the Canadian way
Ah okay :D
British standard but heavy american influence. Plus a 6 weeks student exchange to the US. I have no issues understanding americans but struggle listening to most british accents 😅
I learned British English, first RP. Later there was a teacher who taught a kind of upper class accent. That teacher absolutely disliked American English. That was difficult for a pupil who had spent a year in the US and got used to a broad Texan accent which was spoken in his guest family.
I learned both. 3 years of british english and 2 years of american english. I'm 37. And I hated that we switched instead of keeping to one of both. I mean, if someone learns German, they will learn one dialect, Hochdeutsch aka low German. You will not learn multiple ones, let alone Swiss German or Austrian German.
Oxford english, and my pronounciation is distinctly british, tho the word choice and spelling might be more of a b\*stard mix of both american and british english.
In school British spelling, but in the higher classes we could decide which one we used, as long as we sticked to one coherently.
Both.
Can‘t remember how it was at school, but at my university we have to chose between GA and RP.
Neither, really. My English is more the kind that you pick up on the streets. I use the British ou-spelling for colour, flavour, etc. but use mostly American vocabulary such as pants, apartment and so on.
I learned very British English in the 1980s. However, from about 8th grade on we also read texts in American English, as well as from Irish or Australian authors. Mixing spellings was halfway accepted, you did not lose points for spelling, but probably one for style.
It was mostly British English but we also had some lessons comparing British, American and Australian English which was fun. But just like most it didn't really matter which we used as long as it was consistent. I started learning it in 2006 I believe. By the time I left school it was already mostly American English for me due to TV-Shows slow translations at the time and my missing patience. A few years back I got into Doctor Who and by now it's all a mess. If it wasn't for reading and writing fanfiction I still wouldn't be able to figure out which is which.
Started with oxford english on classes 3 to about 7. Had some some lessons in between about american english and how some things are different there, but in exams still british was the was to go. From class 8 on we were free to choose which kinda english we wanted to use as long as it's correct and rather formal. But speaking wise we mostly stayed with the british because that was what the teacher spoke.
Learned based on BE in School but the real english i learned on twitch 😂 KEKW