Question time: Is Australian English more like British English or American English?

Wie spricht man eigentlich in Australien? Ähnelt die Sprache mehr dem britischen oder amerikanischen Englisch? Unsere Redakteurin erklärt es Ihnen in diesem Auszug aus der Read On.

Is Australian English more like British English or American English?

By Siobhan Bruns

1 Because Australia is part of the British Commonwealth you might think the language there is very close to British English. In some ways it is, but parts of it are like American English.

2 Like the British, Australians mostly spell words like ‘colour’ with a ‘u’. But there are some exceptions. Instead of ‘labour’ they write ‘labor’ the American way, without a ‘u’. Their political party is called the Australian Labor Party. Australians use the ‘ise’ ending for words like ‘realise’ and not the Americanised ‘ize’ (realize). But other words are written the American, not British, way. They write ‘program’ rather than ‘programme’ and ‘inquire’ not ‘enquire’.

3 Australians are also like Americans when using collective nouns. Both Australians and Americans would say “the team has scored a goal”, whereas in British English, they would say “the team have scored a goal”.

4 And Australians use some American words instead of British ones. They often say ‘soccer’ instead of ‘football’ and ‘overalls’ instead of ‘dungarees’. They also say ‘pants’ instead of ‘trousers’ and say ‘truck’ not ‘lorry’.

5 But there are many common words in Australia that aren’t used in either Britain or America. You can see some of them in the Language corner below.

Language corner: Australian slang

These are a few of the words and expressions Australians use in casual conversation which aren’t normally used in either British or American English.

Vocabulary

0 – 2 Commonwealth (of Nations) loser Staatenbund, der das Vereinigte Königreich u. seine ehemaligen Kolonien umfasst – in some ways in mancher Hinsicht – mostly meist – exception Ausnahme – instead of statt – labour Arbeit; Arbeiter- – political politisch – party Partei – to realise erkennen; verwirklichen – rather than statt –  to enquire sich erkundigen; untersuchen

3 – 5 collective noun Sammelbezeichnung – to score a goal ein Tor erzielen – whereas wohingegen – overalls; dungarees Latzhose – truck; lorry Lastwagen – common gebräuchlich

expression Ausdruck – casual conversation h.: Alltagsgespräch  – ankle biter (lit) Knöchelbeißer – genuine echt – terrific großartig – utility Nutz-