Writing In "English"

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   posinfoposted 11 years ago

   I am based in the UK and such I would use British spellings for words eg I would spell "flavour" rather than "flavor" . When writing Hubs that are aimed largely for the US market, should I use US spellings for words? I do want to come across as phoney , but at the same time want to use language and spellings that my target audience is comfortable with.
   
   Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
   
   Best wishes
   
   Mark

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      Lesleysherwoodposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have just recently changed my stance on that solely for the search engines and a hint from hubpages title tuner saying I would have more views with the spelling color, not colour.  I don't feel comfortable with it though, as Simone says the unique flavour adds.

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         posinfoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         thank you for following me and your helpful observations.

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      galleryofgraceposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Articles that do not follow the rules will be flagged. Below is straight from the rules.
      
      At this time, HubPages only allows articles written in English. If you have written a Hub that is primarily written, titled, or tagged in a language other than English, your Hub will be unpublished. Because the HubPages community uses English as its common language, we require Hubs to be published in English so that they are readable by all of our users. Please translate your writing into grammatically correct English...........

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         MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Um...  Both UK and American English ARE English.  It could be argued that UK English is technically the most correct English since that's where England actually is.

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            posinfoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks.

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            kohuetherposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I would hope galleryofgrace didn't entirely read the thread - otherwise it seemed like a silly thing to share with us!

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         kohuetherposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         He's writing in English! Thanks for sharing, though.

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   Simone Smithposted 11 years ago

   Most UK Hubbers stick with British spellings and I've never heard of their being a problem with that.
   
   Personally, I like the unique flavor it adds!

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      snakeslaneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      This is good to know. I've been using US spelling, but sometimes I slip. Guess it's best to be consistent.

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      posinfoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks.

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   2uesdayposted 11 years ago

   Simone can I ask you,  will the English spelling be OK when the hubs are checked by Mechanical Turk Q.A. workers?

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      MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I don't dock for it...  I have a feeling most MTurk raters wouldn't either.

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         2uesdayposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks Melissa, this is something that I have never been sure about and I know that there are more spelling difference than the few that I am aware of.

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   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   I write in "American" just because most of my readers are in the US.  But I doubt it matters much either way.

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      posinfoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks

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   Anonymous00posted 11 years ago

   Write in whichever style best suits you. Looking forward to reading it.

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      posinfoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks

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   Jennifer Angelposted 11 years ago

   Actually, writing the Queen's English is more intriguing than an British based writer; writing American English. Then again, it depends on who you want to attract to your hubs. If you are selling something, then most definitely try to capture us American's by using the proper American English, but if you are talking about Holiday destinations from a British stand point, I would rather read your own English. The genre you write with, depends on the audience you want to attract. I would say, start a few in UK English and then do them in American English, watch your analytics and see who goes to which one the most. You may have to watch for a 3 month period to get enough information on your hubs to generate a true direction, but may be worth it. :-)
   
   Hope this helps!

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      posinfoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks that is very helpful.

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   freecampingaussieposted 11 years ago

   Interesting question as I always write & spell words how we were taught to at school in New Zealand . It would seem weird deliberatly changing how we spell them !

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      posinfoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks

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   StegToDifferposted 11 years ago

   Honestly, a lot Americans don't know the correct spelling anyhow.

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      posinfoposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thankyou.

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   Abbyfitzposted 11 years ago

   That's sad but true

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    psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

    ...arguably the most English English there is. LOL.

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    bluevineposted 11 years ago

    I sort of have the same problem, but since I type in MSWord before transferring to my hub, I tend to accept the American English spell-check recommendations.
    
    Frankly, I'd say you stay true to yourself regardless of whether people might think you phoney or not. And if you do decide to continue with British spellings, be rest assured that it couldn't possibly undermine your articles (hubs) as the average American is abreast with all manner of English spellings and the quality of your hubs hinges more on the quality of the content and not the type of English.

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    LindaSmith1posted 11 years ago

    Flavor  Flavour who cares. If somebody can read, they will know what the word means. The only stumbling block is that there are UK words which Americans may not know, and there are those that the UK meaning is totally different than ours.

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       MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Most times those few words with different meanings will be picked up through context for normal readers.
       
       As far as MTurk raters go HP has been remarkable effective at "training" us to look up any word we don't know the definition of.

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