這幾天澳洲酷暑天氣，令人疲乏，寫文章辛苦，錄音比較輕鬆，所以又來一段英語教室囉。
本講內容提要：
英國式英語和美國式英語
香港的傳統是哪一種？ 美語影響無遠弗屆......
發音的分別舉例：shop, scotch, dance, master, can't, water, data, tomato, territory......
拼法分別舉例，英(美)：labour(labor), tyre(tire), colour(color), theatre(theater), centre(center), programme(program) ....
用字分別舉例，英(美)： petrol(gas), tin(can), film(movie), shop(store), anything(nothing)......
美語通用舉例：supermarket, user friendly.......
應該學哪一種，英式還是美式？
(文章允許轉貼，請具作者名字：梁煥松)
............
倘看The Guardian，The Economist,又看The New York Times，英式美式英文豈不是經常混淆分不清！
回覆刪除我們以英文為第二語言的人，更難避免。
刪除Just like using kindle's text-to-speech function to read English books written by British writers. Make me feel like Jane Austen were an American.
刪除*By the way, Chris, I finally bounght the kindle with keyboard. Costing me HK$1530.
我的Kindle裡中文書多過英文書，哈！
刪除Me too. Only those English classics are free. 好讀helps me save a lot of money. Just finished reading 黃仁宇《中國大歷史》.
刪除我以前讀Post Graduate Diploma要寫大概一萬多字的“論文”，就被我老師批鬥說英式和美式不分。最開始學英語的時候我記得都是英國的書籍，像New Concept English, Look Listen and Learn!後來上小學和初中就都變成美國式的教材了，到了高中又變成Oxford English。所以有時候覺得自己的英語拼寫一片混亂⋯⋯
回覆刪除最明顯的，spelling要統一為英或美，不要這裡寫 centre，那裡寫center。
回覆刪除選用字彙方面，就很難純粹了。
我們這些第一、二年的大學生已經半英半美了。我們的老師做了一個簡單的舉手調查，發現有不少英式英文已經被美式英文取代。她又說，回歸以前的大學生則幾乎只用英式英文。
回覆刪除尤其是罵人的美語，特別容易上手。
刪除罵人的 Cantonese，also 特別容易上手. --zpdrmn
刪除這句廣東話是不是罵人 : 「掉那媽！頂硬上！」？
刪除明朝名將袁崇煥用來激勵士氣嘅熱血名句！
也可看 http://chrisleung1954.blogspot.hk/2010/07/blog-post_27.html
這個"最后一堂粤语课（悲情版）" 也可一看
刪除http://wilson871031.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/%e6%9c%80%e5%90%8e%e4%b8%80%e5%a0%82%e7%b2%a4%e8%af%ad%e8%af%be%ef%bc%88%e6%82%b2%e6%83%85%e7%89%88%ef%bc%89/
第一次看，謝謝。
刪除作者在加拿大居住，以前在深圳生活。
他從深圳發展看香港的意見，值得香港警惕。
Chris兄身型高痩,為何怕熱？ 有點似熱窩上的螞蟻 ：）
回覆刪除怕熱不怕冷。
刪除high metabolism rate? --zpdrmn
刪除英文本來就是由德文進化出來,(例如:德文HAUS 英文HOUSE)其實好想知道英式英文是怎樣會變成美式英文.
回覆刪除PNG Sammy
還有welt-world, mater-mother, vater-father, dirigent-director.
刪除其實不止是德語，是吸納幾種歐洲語，如拉丁、法國、希臘加上英格蘭的土語，變成今日的「英文」。
在用「英文」之前，英格蘭有一段歷史，是以法語為當時的官方語言的。
多謝Chris再提供這英文[根源]資料,但目前有甚麽講與寫的英式教材可以参考.
刪除PNG Sammy
如果你對英文的源流有興趣的，下次來澳洲時請到ABC Shop買一套兩隻， SBS 出的DVD：Mel Braggs's The Adventures of English.
刪除講正宗英式英語的書，當然就是我短片畫面的The King' English和它的修訂本Modern English Usage。
另有兩本經典小書，Sir Earnest Gowers的 The Complete Plain Words 和Frederick T. Wood的 Current English Usage.
新一點，牛津大學出版的 The Oxford English Grammar和 The Oxford Guide to English Usage.
還有一本易讀的：企鵝版 David Crystal的The English Language，由BBC的節目材料撮寫而成，鄭重推薦。
刪除簡簡單單地理解英文歷史，可以看這一本：
刪除http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=H8dtjSeWSigC&hl=zh-TW&source=gbs_book_other_versions
另外，想認識World English和World Englishes，也可以看：
Philip Seargeant and Joan Swann (eds.) (2012) English in the World: History, Diversity, Change. Abingdon and Milton Keynes: Routledge and the Open University
David Crystal那本書很厚，但也非常深入。
刪除Chris老師懂古英文及中世紀英文嗎? :P
David Crystal那本書不厚，288頁。
刪除古英文和中古英文我是外行啦。
我想學，但是沒有合適教材，自學了數次也不成功...
刪除可能先從King James Bible 和 Chaucer's Canterbury Tales開始吧。
刪除以前係美國讀書,幾乎冇聽過有人會用supermarket,佢地通常叫grocery store, 簡稱就咁叫store
回覆刪除In everyday conversations, it isn't used much. But sometimes it's used in the news or the like to distinguish it from mom-and-pop stores. --zpdrmn
刪除Clarification:
回覆刪除For “I don't know nothing”: It's true that the double negative construction as such is used by many people in everyday conversations. But it is still seen as incorrect, informal, or improper. If you use it in your classroom writing, it will be marked. (Unless it is in “ ”, as in dialogues or quotes.) Journalists (news reporters etc) in general don't use it in broadcasting.
We don't use a glass that often to serve water. We may use a mug, a cup, a bottle (bottled water), a tumbler, or, of course, a glass (especially in some, but not all, restaurants). We usually say: “Can I have a water?” “I need/want a water.” To be polite, we say “Could I have a water?” But we aren't that polite in many cases.
Similar for coffee: “Can I have a coffee?” is much more often than “Can I have a cup of coffee?” (We usually don't use tumbler, bottle, and glass to serve hot coffee. We still just say “a coffee” often.)
Well, “Can I have a water?” isn't strictly grammatically correct. Should we use “Can I have some water?” then? But “a water” is what we use usually, especially in restaurants or the like.
Omission may happen in some cases even when there are no uncertainty (unlike in the above case, it could be a cup, a mug...) For example, we usually say “a scissors” instead of “a pair of scissors” and “a pants” instead of “a pair of pants.” When they're “glued” together as a pair, we are too lazy to say "pair of".
It's true that we say store instead of shop, when we say shop (as a noun) we usually mean something related to mechanics. For example: My car is in the shop. (Shop here means the workshop of the mechanic. In this case we don't use store. Mechanic or car mechanic means car repairman, but we just say mechanic most often.)
But we don't use store as often now, because chains of supermarkets have replaced many small stores, sometimes called mom-and-pop stores. The word grocer (or grocery store) is not used as often now because of, again, the supermarkets. Walmart is the biggest chain here. Its supercenters have so many merchandises, from “traditional” grocery to clothes to school and office supplies to vacuum cleaners to some furniture to electronics (TVs, cell phones, etc). Even the word supermarket isn't used as often because these supercenters aren't just the old supermarkets. We often just say Walmart, Target etc. ("Center" is bigger than "market"?? LOL.) Even when we go to supermarkets, we would say Kroger, Ingles etc. We still say store, grocery store, and supermarket, especially when we don't specify a particular chain, we just say them less often.
By the time I finish uploading this comment, a new Walmart pops up in the neighborhood. (Just kidding)
--zpdrmn
老兄是花旗國人，果然內行人語，比我隔靴搔癢強多了，十分感謝。
刪除one tea, two coffees....的說法，倒是正式英國口頭語。one water我就比較少聽見。
刪除好多好資料，多謝Chris兄及眾多博友，衰就衰在自己資質愚蠢，真係有排學。
回覆刪除何出此言？我都是知少少，扮代表，引高手出山指點吧了。
刪除color, center這些字是韋氏大字典的Webster先生所做的改革實驗，他認為美國應該有自己更合邏輯的國語。但他改革的字只有少部份被受落，流傳至今。
回覆刪除像簡化漢字的建議。
刪除Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson is a very fun book looking into the History of English. It was written with humor and facts. I highly recommend this book for High School Students and anyone interested in History of English.
回覆刪除As for “I don't know nothing”. I think it's a good example to explain meanings override grammar. Grammar is just way to describe the usage, real world usage need not to confirm to gammar. "I don't know nothing" means more than "I don't know anything". The former carries a sense of frustration. Similarly, "it don't matter" is often used to show stronger emotion, calling listeners to pay attention. Say, if you boss tells you "it don't matter," you better not argue otherwise with him.
像中文的「吃飯前先要洗手」和「未吃飯前先要洗手」，意思是一樣的。
刪除不過我儘量會用前者。