Re: [Lingo] British English

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Niels Kobschaetzki writes:

 > I spoke about learning foreign languages, not native
 > languages. There is no standard in US-education for the spanish
 > they learn?

Of course not! :-)

There are textbooks, but in the U.S. the largest market share is
whatever the State of Texas specifies, and varies by subject but is
typically about 15%, IIRC.  Unlike Texas, most states (including the
biggest ones in population like California and New York) don't specify
a text, but specify minimum standards (usually quite minimal), and
local school districts make their own choices.  Thus the market tends
to be quite fragmented except for the big chunk in Texas.

Then, if you're lucky (I was), your teacher is a native speaker.  But
that still leaves you with a minimum choice of American Spanish (which
isn't all that unified, especially if you consider Brazilian Spanish,
a second language to Portuguese in that country) and Castellano.  At
least in New York State[1], there was no specification of which
dialect was to be taught.  And even in New York, American Spanish is
more likely to be useful than Castellano, although standards bigots
in Northeast states are likely to choose Castellano as the "standard".

    When I think back on all the *crap* I learned in high school,
    It's a wonder I can think at all!
                -- Paul Simon, "Kodachrome"

So apt!  Aren't you glad you didn't go to school in New York?[2] ;-)

Footnotes: 
[1]  In the U.S., educational standards are determined by the states
... where they exist at all. :-P

[2]  Actually, I had a great time and learned a lot.  But it wasn't
easy. :-)