American vs British English

[Slawete]

Hey people! How do you handle the US-UK language dilemma. I mean when your targetted audience is worldwide and you're not a US-er or UK-er, and especially when English is not your mother tongue, how to determine the right vocabulary for your site. Let's say I like Sport more than Sports but also Program than Programme. I understand that it is recommended to stick with one of them, then what should be the choice?

P.S. Thank God that letters don't have accent!

[WBM]

I always target my mother tongue which is the UK English
Only because the majority of my sites are .co.uk so I would look silly using American English on the site

If you are using a .com domain or non country specific like a .co.uk I would personally use US English

[xecutable]

Test it. I grew up in the States. Naturally when I was writing my own stuff, I had the American vocabulary and way of expressing myself. A few years ago I hired a content writer from the UK. I noticed more user engagement and time on site, perhaps because I was primarily targeting the UK. Unless you are dealing with high amounts of US or UK traffic, I highly doubt the rest of the world would notice the difference.

[Cash Bonus]

Hi Slawete, first and foremost, the only thing that matters is that you can speak the language that you do, and, be it UK or USA accent, that makes absolutely no difference in the world to anyone or anything. I certainly wouldn't be worrying about the small things like that. Trust me, you'll be just fine. There really isn't a very big difference between these two. Yeah, thank goodness that letters don't have accents that you need to worry about.

[TheGooner]

International English for all locations - which is the UK variant.

When writing US previews then I do modify my notes from sports "tips" to "picks" and the format from HOME vs AWAY to AWAY @ HOME but otherwise we continue to use international English.

[wonderpunter]

US Pages I write US style, for UK or EU then UK English, for instance certain casino software which would not accept US players then i write UK english

[Slawete]

International English for all locations - which is the UK variant.

Good answer. Then my question could be turned to this: What English variant is accepted as International English in gambling? Thanks!

But now, let's complicate the things a little bit. Imagine you are building a gambling affiliate programmes directory, one like GAFFG. And you want a page that lists all those programmes. If the content could be updated later the way you want, then it is undesirable to update the slug, because it's part of the page URL. It is unlikely you will create two different URLs, although you know the programmes target different markets worldwide.

In this case, Americans would just type ../affiliate-programs and the British ../affiliate-programmes, but one like me will consider this:
"Well... my server is located in London, Gooner said UK English is the International, too many programmes have US market as restricted one, then why not stop to /programmes/. Wait... why Internet English sounds to me more American and looking at GAFFG they use affiliate-programs, although the first US-Oriented programme found on the list is on #21".

P.S. Somebody told me I like to complicate the things. If this is my case, just tell me.

[wonderpunter]

This thread is all very Chocolate Tea pot, affiliate programs we us programs too but there are few sites that target those and even less generally without a TLD, most UK English will read and understand US English and vice versa I have done both and can really say it does not affect much at all. The readers still understand however for Google SEO purposes then just use the standard EN tag and you will be fine

[Breakout Affiliates]

Hey people! How do you handle the US-UK language dilemma. I mean when your targetted audience is worldwide and you're not a US-er or UK-er, and especially when English is not your mother tongue, how to determine the right vocabulary for your site. Let's say I like Sport more than Sports but also Program than Programme. I understand that it is recommended to stick with one of them, then what should be the choice?

P.S. Thank God that letters don't have accent!

I find UK English to be more recognized professionally