American or British Spelling?

Knowing which English to use for me can be very confusing.  I was raised and taught British English all my life being Canadian, however since the invention of the computer, everything is American English.

I know when I was teaching Grammar over seas, there were jobs where they insisted on American and other places they insisted on British so as it turns out, doing my Teaching English Over Seas training in American English came in handy.

There are not so many differences really however one place is with the spelling.  

When I bought my first computer, I, in my ignorance, was asked what language I wanted to set up my keyboard in as my default.  Not knowing any different, being Canadian, I chose Canadian.  What that meant was that the red sub characters and letters on my keyboard became active...in other words, it was ALL GEARED TOWARDS FRENCH!  I could not believe it! So the next issue was my training in tying had the keys set in the traditional places and not where these red letters were!  And not being very tec. savvy I could not figure out how to do a proper change to American English which was the only option I was sure of. Needless to say, my son got a new laptop while I still had none.  This taught me a huge lesson in different types of English.

Since I know both, and since my Mac is set up in American, I am fine with this (better than French-not to put down French but I have no need for it!).  In writing this novel, since the character is an older middle aged woman who was raised in rural Nova Scotia, it would not make sense for me to write it in American English.  I am just a stickler for detail however seeing color instead of colour just does not sit well.

So the good news is, you can change your spelling editor and select any language you want the spelling and grammar to be in that you want!  I wanted to go from American to British.  Most of my writing drafts are in British but from time to time I have slipped in American spelling sometimes.  I just go back with the spell check set to UK English and any inconsistencies are fixed.  I can do this chapter by chapter and only takes a few minutes.  And the other good thing is, I can make it the default so it will be the same with anything I write on my Mac until I change it.

For the later versions of Word, go to review and find your spell check. Next to it there will be another box that says "Language".  You can scroll down and choose whatever language you want.  You may have to highlight or do it in a few places but just keep clicking and it will come together!

If it is an earlier version, just google it.  Easy peasy!  

Hope this helps and the writing goes along nicely!
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