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US English vs. UK English
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Saturday, 15.09.2012, 09:57 | Message # 1 |
 Cosmic Curator
Group: Administrators
United States
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| Which type of English would you rather see used in SpaceEngine? UK English has long been more common internationally, but in recent years US English has started becoming increasingly common as well. My question is: which would you rather see?
I particularly want to hear from non-native speakers of English.
If English is not your first language, use one of the first poll options. If English is your native language, use the poll options that say "I am a native speaker...".
If you're not sure what the difference is between US and UK English, I will provide some examples below. All examples are in UK : US format.
grey : gray
colour : color
disc : disk
aeroplane : airplane
realise : realize
defence : defense
aluminium : aluminum
criticise : criticize
metre : meter
analyse : analyze
catalogue : catalog
encyclopaedia : encyclopedia
programme : program
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 14:36 | Message # 31 |
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Cosmic Curator
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| Quote (SpaceEngineer) Is English have an other word to name an space nebulae?
No, English only has 'nebula', which is Latin for 'cloud'. Similar is 'nova' for 'new' (referring to a "new star" as the ancients called them). Other astronomical terms, like 'galaxy' and 'planet' come from Greek words.
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| Antza2 | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 16:33 | Message # 32 |
 World Builder
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Finland
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| Quote (NeapolitanBoy) Russian uses word "туманность" - metaphrase "foggy".
Finnish uses "tähtisumu", which would mean "star mist" if translated literally.
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 16:36 | Message # 33 |
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Cosmic Curator
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| Quote (Antza2) Finnish uses "tähtisumu", which would mean "star mist" if translated literally.
I like that one 
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| Ayceman | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 19:05 | Message # 34 |
 Space Tourist
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Romania
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| I guess nebula derivatives or translations are used in many European languages - Romanian uses nebuloasă (nebuloase - pl) which really means foggy/unclear, but it's an 19th century neologism.
English, being that it's not a Romance language kept the Latin spelling on these loans, so nebulae would be correct in any local variant of English.
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 19:26 | Message # 35 |
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Cosmic Curator
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| Quote (Ayceman) English, being that it's not a Romance language kept the Latin spelling on these loans, so nebulae would be correct in any local variant of English.
English is somewhat peculiar in that although it is not a Romance language, it does contain mostly Romance vocabulary (60% of English vocabulary is Romance in origin). So it is somewhat of a hybrid language, an evolved fusion of Anglo-Saxon (a Germanic language) and French (a Romance language) - a consequence of the Norman conquest of England in the year 1066.
Nebula of course was borrowed from Latin wholesale more recently.
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| RAF_Blackace | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 19:54 | Message # 36 |
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Astronaut
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| Don't forget the Scandinavian influence on the English language, the Normans were in fact Vikings who invaded France and settled there and were given the land of Normandy after the French realised it was better to let them have their way rather than try to fight them. When they invaded Britain much later, their language was mostly of French origin but still retained many Scandinavian terms which became part of the English Language.
The British Raj in India also added numerous Indian words and phrases to the English Language as have many other cultures throughout the world.
As it has developed over thousands of years and from many cultures, no modern variation can claim to have a better vocabulary than UK English. The modern US variant tends to be more of a young upstart rather than a significant variant, although unfortunately it seems to be spreading alarmingly (probably mostly due to Bill Gates).
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 19:59 | Message # 37 |
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Cosmic Curator
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| Quote (RAF_Blackace) As it has developed over thousands of years and from many cultures, no modern variation can claim to have a better vocabulary than UK English. The modern US variant tends to be more of a young upstart rather than a significant variant, although unfortunately it seems to be spreading alarmingly (probably mostly due to Bill Gates).
I don't see how any variant can claim to have a "better" vocabulary, since trying to determine a best vocabulary would be a subjective assessment.
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| RAF_Blackace | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 20:14 | Message # 38 |
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Astronaut
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| Better = More refined and cultured
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| Antza2 | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 20:23 | Message # 39 |
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World Builder
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Finland
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| Quote (RAF_Blackace) Better = More refined and cultured
How do you define how "refined" and "cultured" a language is?
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 20:36 | Message # 40 |
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Cosmic Curator
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| Quote (Antza2) How do you define how "refined" and "cultured" a language is?
Apparently by how many extraneous letters and non-phonetic spellings its words have, and by how many people think of it as superior 
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| RAF_Blackace | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 20:38 | Message # 41 |
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Astronaut
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| Well, which of these languages would you consider to be refined and cultured ?
1. Esperanto.
2. Sanskrit.
(Hint. the literal translation of the word Sanskrit is "refined or cultured")
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| HarbingerDawn | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 20:40 | Message # 42 |
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Cosmic Curator
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| Quote (RAF_Blackace) Well, which of these languages would you consider to be refined and cultured ?
I don't have an opinion between the two, and even if I did it would not mean that one really was more "cultured" than the other, only that I had that opinion. Again, it's mostly a subjective assessment.
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| Solaris | Date: Tuesday, 18.09.2012, 20:41 | Message # 43 |
 World Builder
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France
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| Quote (RAF_Blackace) Better = More refined and cultured
This could be bad interpreted by some people, I think in this domain, judging which is the better is quite "dangerous" and essentially subjective as mentioned by Harbingerdawn.
Quote (Antza2) How do you define how "refined" and "cultured" a language is? |
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| Glorymajor | Date: Monday, 24.09.2012, 11:53 | Message # 44 |
 Space Tourist
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Brazil
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| I am not a native English speaker.
I prefer US English. I got used to it.
Voted the pool.
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| werdnaforever | Date: Thursday, 18.10.2012, 20:51 | Message # 45 |
 World Builder
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| Quote (RAF_Blackace) So called US English (Or American as I like to call it) is just another variant of the mother tongue, there are many around the world.
This is a very important point.
I'm from the US; US English is my only language.
I agree with the fact that the less unnecessary letters a language has, the better. I suppose if someone really wanted to, they could take a huge list containing all the differences between US and UK English, count the number of silent letters in each list, and choose the language with the fewest.
There's no way anyone can say one dialect is superior to the other- both are equally capable. SpaceEngineer should have the final say, since he's developing the program. ...or programme. Any other way will just perpetuate a discussion with no actual answer- one that will remain in the gray area. Oh, wait, I mean grey area! Will this catastrophic confusion never end!
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ENG
New site
United States 
Finland 
Romania 
United Kingdom 
France 
Brazil 
Pirate