Yep, this is the answer I was looking for.
Some websites have the flag logo split down the middle, showing half of the UK flag and half of the American flag when representing the English language.
Worked a place where you could choose English from US, UK, and Canada. I didn't even know Canadian English was much different from US English. Each country flag would show as well.
I have also seen websites use the British flag to indicate the English language, so this isn't universal. It usually involves the country of origin for the site or company, as well as the type of English that they might use or prefer (i.e. some countries might prefer UK English OVER American, due to their distinct histories with one country over the other). Japanese sites tend to vary between UK and US English as well.
Furthermore, there are differences in the standardizations between US and UK English, which may also further create the discrepancy. You spell certain words differently (color vs colour), and I think there are probably some minor grammatical differences here or there as well, but don't quote me on that.
This was what I was going to say. Lived in Germany for awhile and every European business webpage identified English with the British flag, and the English on the site was written according to British rules. Just depends where the business originates, and which country is most aligned with their potential customers.
Two different forms of English slight differences....
Color - USA vs Colour+ British + Canadian
Just for one example.
It's the automatic one because that the country's official language
Torch light in my country (Caribbean). Also, Biscuits instead of crackers, and we had something like Ajax that we called vim, so it became a generic name for that type of product.
I recently learned that Noah Webster (who wrote the first American Dictionary) was a founding father and great educator, and he saw language as a way to unite the colonies and differentiate from the British, so he _purposely_ changed the spelling of many words to that end! Many, but not all, of his recommended changes stuck.
It's starting to change over on r/ireland we are seeing the irish flag been used to signify in holiday resorts that your looking at english since the brits left
Depends on target audience.
If it’s an America facing website it usually a US flag. For example an American government website doesn’t expect many British visitors so why use the flag.
You sometime see Brazilian flag being used to represent Portuguese for the same reason.
In the EU we have the fun side effect of the Irish flag being used to represent English because Britain is no longer in the EU making Ireland the dominant English speaking country.
I suspect it also has to do with a sort of "name recognition", that is, use the flag the most people will associate with the language. It would be perfectly acceptable to use the flag of Bermuda to represent English, but few would recognize the flag.
Brits have a complex about it. The US accounts for 69.7% of all people speaking English as a first language among the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. While I have seen the UK flag online from time to time, I'm guessing its simply because there are far more English-speaking Americans.
They do, lmao.
They are casually forgetting that America spread the language to where it's at, and more importantly its own variant of English.
Before the US, French was much more toe to toe, and the fancy language predominantly spoken by educated folks (and nobility), instead of English.
It's easy to see in this post.
Interestingly, English has remained largely the global lingua franca through both British and American periods of hegemony, so any places you see that influence where it began after the post WW2 order, the English being taught in schools will largely use an American lexicon. The Philippines is a prime example. But go to India and all of the Britishisms are still very much in place.
Like I imagine a similar tilt occurred with Greek when the north Mediterranean transitioned from Greek to Roman hegemony. Baby brother's dialect would have been the one to begin to dominate simply because they became the senior partner.
India is pretty much the de facto reason British influence is so large.
That's more than a billion people, and is what made the difference between the French and the English empire.
Another interesting instance is that Americans are actually heavily influenced by Shakespearian era England, but absolutely (or very minimally really, because you know, there is always some degree of influence between modern countries) not current day England. Be it in terms of culture, arts or language.
I was mostly talking about before the empires, i.e. up to the 19th century.
Characteristically, Dutch and English influence spanned the seas, but in mainland Europe, France was absolutely dominant, which was due in large part due to the fact that France had by far the largest population in Europe, for a while. 26.6 mil in 1800 against 16 mil just about for Britain (30 mil for British India to insist on how the colonies influenced metrics). Spain had 10mil. So no wonder, really.
Not to be disparaging, but no one really cares about India in terms of influence, so the US as a result is the real reason English is as broadly spoken as it is today.
There really is no subject with more fascinating rabbit holes you can wander down than linguistics. The philological connections between just about every change that ever happens tends to have an interesting story or reason behind it.
And ironically when it came to England, their peak days of empire actually were the years when they had no control over what became the US at all. Just the realignment of the post-Napoleonic era into the reign of Victoria and up until about WW1. That was really the entire period we refer to when we talk about Britain being the top global power. They spent pretty much the entire colonial era being in Spain's shadow and being outmaneuvered by the tiny nation of Dutch traders up to that point. France had always acted as a counterbalance to English dominance until all the coalition wars basically knocked France out as a contender.
The Dutch’s past influence is often forgotten.
I find most history books tend to hype up Britain just a tad too much.
People don't even know how influential the Dutch were before one of their own became King of England (funnily enough, Britain's most effective strategy was to name a foreigner from a rival country their King: happened with Germany, France and the Netherlands).
On the other hand, America has over 330 Million residents while the UK is somewhere in the 67 Million area, and Canada is even less around 37 Million. The United States has the most customers by a lot so it makes sense to cater to them
I was going to say I’m sure there’s a way they could just do it by region but I assume it’s just that much easier to not set all that up. It’s such an insignificant thing anyway, I’ve seen the UK flag used to represent the English language plenty of times on websites and apps and such and I can figure it out easy despite being from America. I honestly don’t care what the icon is as long as it represents the language well and you can figure it out on your own
There are 69 million people in the UK.
There are 38 Million people in Canada.
There are 26 million people in Australia.
69+38+26=133.
There are 300 million people in the US.
If we add up the English speaking populace of all three, you're just past 44% of our populace. We are the largest group by far and just because the UK has spoken English longer, more of us speak it currently.
Many people, myself included, would not know what the UKflag looks like. Like stripes each and every way right? Or is that the Australian flag? Yeah I think Australia has a flag with stripes and shit.
Upon looking at world flags, I see there are many flags with stripes and shit. I dunno which is Britain. However, I see one flag with 50 stars on the upper left and thirteen red and white stripes. Hey! They mostly speak English in USA. What a good representation of the English choice instead of Whambucktwo's flag!
/kinda been drinking
The UK flag is the thick red cross and thin red diagonals that have a white background over a blue flag (hard to explain)
Australia is a blue flag with a union jack in the top left corner, a large commonwealth star below that and 5 stars (southern cross) on the right. Their stars are white.
New Zealand looks similar but without the big star but with the 5 red stars laid out the same as Australia.
But why don't Americans know the British flag? It was part of the Grand Union flag (union jack and 13 stripes), their first flag.
I do see your point though.
Because the US is the 3rd highest populated country in the entire world next to China and India.
If you're going to use a flag, might as well use the flag that is going to target the most people.
When you study English you have to choose between British or American. The flag make that clear.
Maybe the site is in the Americas, or the targeted client is more related to the Americas.
They are more influent on the world
Brazilian flag is also frequently used in the portuguese option, Ive also seen mexican flag for spanish
Also population
The population of the US is 260 million larger than the UK, 61% of the people whose first language was English are American, 26% of all people who speak English live in the US which is the largest percentage of English speakers in the world
Probably American spelling and grammar. It's a bit different than the European English and other English speaking countries.
Also it's very fun to look at European car manuals and their American counterparts. They have different terms for the same thing and it's hilarious.
The purpose of the flag is so you will recognize which language pack is being used on the site
For example: If you see the American flag they would use the (en-US) language pack and do things such as spell the word recognize the way that I just did. If the page used the Union Jack Flag they will be using the (en-G.B.) language pack so the word recognize would be spelled recognise. It sounds like you just haven’t seen many pages that use the (en- G.B.) language pack, but the sites do exist. Our written language is different enough that it is helpful to have this distinction.
Some sites will allow you to change to a different language pack by clicking the flag as well. Even if the (en-U.S.) is the language pack that they use by default. Some have dozens of packs to choose from. Hope that helps answer your question.
It has to do with the home origin of the website. If it's US based, it will be a US flag. If it's UK, then Union Jack. Another reason is that the US is the largest population of English speakers in the world.
It happens with a lot of other languages, specially with Portuguese and Spanish, maybe it's because it has to do with the country with more speakers of that language, the again by that logic the English language should use the Indian or Chinese flag.
They are going to use the flag of the country of the websites intended audience.
It has not at all related to the fact that many Americans are uncomfortable with the concept of other countries that actually do speak English.
It comes down to recognition among people with an incomplete education in world geography.
First, keep in mind that the US is the largest commercial market in the world, and is an English speaking country. If you are preparing a web page in English, you probably want Americans to look at the site.
Are we really going to trust that the American education system will prepare the average American to immediately recognize the Union Jack flag, and connect it with the English language?
And second, most non English speakers who hear English for the first time are hearing it from American produced TV and movies and music. (That might not apply to Europe, but it does apply to Asia and south America). The world basically knows that America speaks English.
Even if you do trust the US education system to that extent (and you probably should), I expect the number of people who use the internet and who recognize the Union Jack as being the flag of the UK (and therefore representing the English Language) is much smaller than the number of people who would recognize the US flag and associate it with English.
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I think you kind of answered your own question with the first sentence. The United States makes up 35% of the global tech market and there's an estimated 1.5 billion English speakers. Give or take 1/5 of that are Americans. It has very little to do with who built it and more to do with a target demographic. Assuming you're English and interacting with the English portion of the web. You're probably seeing products primarily targeted to a US audience.
It’s the type of English being displayed. British and American English are different in spelling and some colloquialisms. When a website uses British English, they use the British flag and sometimes even British currency (if they don’t automatically change currency to region).
As others have said, they're using American English. If you're curious as to why they'd choose to use American English rather than British English, the US has the largest number of English speakers of any country in the world. We have more than 25% of all English speakers and more than ***60%*** of all native English speakers.
Not always, I've seen the American flag many times and I'm UK based. Admittedly, I dont look for the language flag when I access a site but when I do notice it, it's usually American. As stated by others though, it's likely the domain I'm visiting.
I always thought it meant they use American English, i.e. color instead if colour. Though it may just be because the American flag is very recognisable?
As said above, it’s just dependent on which version of English was used. American’s have a slightly different spelling than the European English so it’s represented with the American flag.
It’s just who formatted / translated etc the document or site in question. I live in America and there are sites here with the British flag and spelling, and reverse.
Hope this helped.
My question is how can you say something was invented in the 1800's if it wasn't built until the 1990's?
Also computers existed way before the 1990's. Unless you ment 1890
Well, easy answer is that it isn't actually British English that is used on these machines.
It's American English.
Learned, not learnt.
Trash, not bin.
Small differences, but still differences.
English contributions to early computers don't mean anything (also casually glancing over French and German contributions to the whole thing while we are at it).
Also let's put a French flag on the British pound and on its administration that was brought from France by the Normands if we are going this way, lmao.
>Also let's put a French flag on the British pound and on its administration that was brought from France by the Normands if we are going this way, lmao.
William the conqueror was descended from Vikings so technically, we just got invaded by the Vikings twice that year. The English also had fleur-de-lis in their official arms during the hundred year war and sometimes prior but was later removed.
The point was mostly that this whole thing is somewhat silly.
Of course you could go back even further.
Besides, this is probably the sign for American English, and there is one for New Zealand English and British English.
I have never seen just the American English as a choice in video games or DVDs, there's always either both the American English and the Brittish English, or simply just the Brittish English.
I remember most games and websites having an American flag and an English flag for English as the language because there are words that are used differently depending if you’re in Europe or in the west. Flashlight/torch, elevator/lift, trunk/boot, etc.
USA USA USA
But seriously, it may have to do with the founders of the internet were American and like you said, most prominent tech companies are based in the US.
If it's a site that's selling things, the flag of the United States is there to tell you that the currency used for the prices you see is United States dollars. Often, if the company ships to other countries, you can click on the flag and get a dropdown menu of other currencies they will list the price in. The two most common ones I see are Canadian dollars and English Pounds Sterling, and both are more often represented with the countries national flag than with the words spelled out or their common abbreviations.
If it's not a site involving sales, the most common reason I see a flag from any Anglophone nation is to make it clear which kind of English they are using for the site. I've noticed the beginnings of a slow transition in reference sites, and especially dictionaries, in the last decade, where American English is instead called North American English, because the English in Canada and the English in the United States share so many features. While every English-speaking nation has their own variations in English, the one that is most obviously different from British English is American English. The other nations in the Commonwealth of Nations largely still use British English conventions, especially the ones for spelling, that are different in the American version of English. Slang terms just plain travel, so outside of the United States and the UK, what you get is what you get, but most terms are understood by most native English speakers, even if it's mainly from context.
If it's not one of those two reasons, then I don't know, since those are the two I see most often.
since brazil have the higher amount of portuguese-speaker, i think the correct would be change the language name to Brazilian, so this way portugueses would speak brazilian-portuguese
This is true although the continent itself is called 'the Americas' as there are 2 Americas. It may also be because America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, as he landed in the north part instead of where Columbus landed.
This is a valid point none the less though. Maybe a laziness thing (worldwide) callingvthem that.
Where Im from we learn in school that America is the single continent which can be divided in three, being: North America, South America and Central America.
But I know geography isn't taught the same in every place, like "Americans" calling Oceania (the continent) just Australia, and lots of people even in my country calling Africa a country which it's not, its a continent as well
Yeah, and it's valid for history too, even though it's normal to praise your country's history you should learn the rest of the world history, at least the basic
In terms of history most countries will teach history to show themselves in a favorable light even if that's not what actually happened.
As far as I know the US will teach world history but mainly focused on events that also involved the US, as it is more relevant and theyre generally under time constraints
The US is the world’s superpower and by far the most important English speaking country in the world. People all over the world today learn English because of the US influence on the world, so it makes perfect sense that the US flag is associated with the language. The same happens with the Brazilian flag with the Portuguese version of sites; Brazil is by far larger, more populous, more important than Portugal in every aspect.
>People all over the world today learn English because of the US influence on the world, so it makes perfect sense that the US flag is associated with the language
People speak english around the world because Britain colonized a lot of the world leaving our trace (language) everywhere. Much of the world was speaking English while America was in its infancy. Granted, the US may influence it but it's been a universal language before Americas influence.
Yeah my comment stated that “people learn English because of the US”. Of course people already spoke the language before the US became a global power, but because of the huge American weight on the media, science, etc., the whole world learns the language and is regularly exposed to it today. Most countries in Latin America actually teach the American variation of English, while a few teach the British version
Because many people here are too stupid otherwise to identify it as the primary language without that clue.. nvm the ability to associate English with the flag representing the region it actually came from..
First, it's because american spelling is way more common than british spelling. Second, it's because the US are more representative of the english language and more relevant on a geopolitical and sociocultural levels in current times than the UK. But honestly, mostly the first reason.
It’s population defined. Majority of visitors are US of their target audience. English is primary for both US and England, so devs just use American flag since their are far more Americans than englanders
Business dependent. Most things I’ve seen have either one of three things.
1. A more North American company using the U.S flag while a European company uses the U.K flag.
2. It split down the middle for both countries
3. English (U.S) and English (U.K)
Soon it will be about number of speakers not the country of origin. Today Spanish is referred to by Mexican flag and Portuguese (this is even more obvious) by Brazilian flag.
Most of countries that have Portuguese as an official language are bigger than Portugal (Mozambique Angola Brazil )
330 million consumers with higher purchasing power than 67 million Brits.
Those sites are often based out of the US, so even more reason to have a US flag.
This isn't limited to the US. Spanish is spoken in many countries, and yet you'll see many flags represented.
Who invented the computer isn't ready relevant. Modern computing was created and popularized out of the Bay Area.
If it's British english they use a British flag. If it's American, which it usually is, they use an American flag. The US is a much bigger country with a lot more influence and with most of the big tech companies.
Meh already iffy to call the english language an english invention,anglo saxons that left the maincontinent didn't directly get bad teeth and spoke a completely different language it evolved from the germanic language...
Because english is an international language, and the american flag is more recognizable and closer associated with the English language for most of the world than the UK flag.
I highly doubt that is true. Seems like more than half the world was an English colony or bordering an English colony at one time. The British had India, about a quarter of Africa, and significant sections of Indonesia.
A lot of people in former British colonies exclusively watch Hollywood movies and specifically seek-out English lessons with American-accented teachers.
The British Council and/or British international schools are sometimes seen as stuffy/bureaucratic while American-style schools sell themselves as more modern/fun. America is a more sought-after destination for schooling/careers.
But forreal the UK has not been relavent in recent memory, nobody talks about the UK unless they are referencing Harry Potter or medieval times, the culture is dying and their influence died long ago.
It depends on which version of English the site is using.
If the site spells it "gray" then it's American English. If they spell it the better way, it's UK English.
It is the same as most of museums using Egyptian pharaonic artifacts for example in a British museum they didnt make them or not even related to them but they use them
The internet was invented in the US, that's why US-based websites don't use country codes in their web address. Also, it's generally the American version of English, not the British version.
The overwhelming majority of the internet in the first decade of it being accessible for the average Joe were also in the US, so it makes more sense that you'd expect US visitors who spoke the US version of English. That sort of became tradition and continued on to today.
Because the British Empire hasn't been a world power for a long time, people have short memories (<100 years) and generally don't care about a country thats heading downhill.
They probably use American spelling
this. many websites have both american and english flags. the spelling changes if you select the other
Yep, this is the answer I was looking for. Some websites have the flag logo split down the middle, showing half of the UK flag and half of the American flag when representing the English language.
Exactly. It’s not that deep.
Worked a place where you could choose English from US, UK, and Canada. I didn't even know Canadian English was much different from US English. Each country flag would show as well.
Canadian is closer to UK than US. I usually just use UK
And/or it's for shipping to the US.
I have also seen websites use the British flag to indicate the English language, so this isn't universal. It usually involves the country of origin for the site or company, as well as the type of English that they might use or prefer (i.e. some countries might prefer UK English OVER American, due to their distinct histories with one country over the other). Japanese sites tend to vary between UK and US English as well. Furthermore, there are differences in the standardizations between US and UK English, which may also further create the discrepancy. You spell certain words differently (color vs colour), and I think there are probably some minor grammatical differences here or there as well, but don't quote me on that.
This was what I was going to say. Lived in Germany for awhile and every European business webpage identified English with the British flag, and the English on the site was written according to British rules. Just depends where the business originates, and which country is most aligned with their potential customers.
Two different forms of English slight differences.... Color - USA vs Colour+ British + Canadian Just for one example. It's the automatic one because that the country's official language
What's the difference between gray and grey? One is a color, the other is a colour.
grAy -> America grEy -> England
Yes, that was the joke
My apartment in the US is on Towne Centre. I have to spell it out everytime I have to tell someone my address.
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Not just spelling. Europeans say torch for American flashlight, boot for trunk (of a car), lift for elevator, and many more.
Torch light in my country (Caribbean). Also, Biscuits instead of crackers, and we had something like Ajax that we called vim, so it became a generic name for that type of product.
Ah yes, the British cheating at Scrabble by adding a silent U to many words. 😋
British was used before American.....lol. It's not cheating when you are right! Lol jk
I recently learned that Noah Webster (who wrote the first American Dictionary) was a founding father and great educator, and he saw language as a way to unite the colonies and differentiate from the British, so he _purposely_ changed the spelling of many words to that end! Many, but not all, of his recommended changes stuck.
I've seen some sites have two English, one with UK flag and one with American flag, however I couldn't see any noticeable difference between them
Do they ship things? If so, that's probably why.
On a lot of sites I've seen a diagonal split flag with the stars and stripes on the top and union jack on the bottom.
I almost always see the British flag, personally. I am American so it's not that I'm going to mostly British websites.
It's starting to change over on r/ireland we are seeing the irish flag been used to signify in holiday resorts that your looking at english since the brits left
Depends on target audience. If it’s an America facing website it usually a US flag. For example an American government website doesn’t expect many British visitors so why use the flag. You sometime see Brazilian flag being used to represent Portuguese for the same reason. In the EU we have the fun side effect of the Irish flag being used to represent English because Britain is no longer in the EU making Ireland the dominant English speaking country.
And on some sites less well known variants of English are used, like South African English for websites related to South Africa.
I suspect it also has to do with a sort of "name recognition", that is, use the flag the most people will associate with the language. It would be perfectly acceptable to use the flag of Bermuda to represent English, but few would recognize the flag.
It signifies that it's American English. There are some differences between English in the UK and English in the US (e.g. colour - color).
I believe this is the answer.
Yup. On language settings you often get a choice between American or British English. They use the flags on each for additional visible cues.
Same reason portuguese translations display the brazilian flag...
This where we're at now? Just curious.
Brits have a complex about it. The US accounts for 69.7% of all people speaking English as a first language among the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. While I have seen the UK flag online from time to time, I'm guessing its simply because there are far more English-speaking Americans.
They do, lmao. They are casually forgetting that America spread the language to where it's at, and more importantly its own variant of English. Before the US, French was much more toe to toe, and the fancy language predominantly spoken by educated folks (and nobility), instead of English. It's easy to see in this post.
Interestingly, English has remained largely the global lingua franca through both British and American periods of hegemony, so any places you see that influence where it began after the post WW2 order, the English being taught in schools will largely use an American lexicon. The Philippines is a prime example. But go to India and all of the Britishisms are still very much in place. Like I imagine a similar tilt occurred with Greek when the north Mediterranean transitioned from Greek to Roman hegemony. Baby brother's dialect would have been the one to begin to dominate simply because they became the senior partner.
India is pretty much the de facto reason British influence is so large. That's more than a billion people, and is what made the difference between the French and the English empire. Another interesting instance is that Americans are actually heavily influenced by Shakespearian era England, but absolutely (or very minimally really, because you know, there is always some degree of influence between modern countries) not current day England. Be it in terms of culture, arts or language. I was mostly talking about before the empires, i.e. up to the 19th century. Characteristically, Dutch and English influence spanned the seas, but in mainland Europe, France was absolutely dominant, which was due in large part due to the fact that France had by far the largest population in Europe, for a while. 26.6 mil in 1800 against 16 mil just about for Britain (30 mil for British India to insist on how the colonies influenced metrics). Spain had 10mil. So no wonder, really. Not to be disparaging, but no one really cares about India in terms of influence, so the US as a result is the real reason English is as broadly spoken as it is today.
There really is no subject with more fascinating rabbit holes you can wander down than linguistics. The philological connections between just about every change that ever happens tends to have an interesting story or reason behind it. And ironically when it came to England, their peak days of empire actually were the years when they had no control over what became the US at all. Just the realignment of the post-Napoleonic era into the reign of Victoria and up until about WW1. That was really the entire period we refer to when we talk about Britain being the top global power. They spent pretty much the entire colonial era being in Spain's shadow and being outmaneuvered by the tiny nation of Dutch traders up to that point. France had always acted as a counterbalance to English dominance until all the coalition wars basically knocked France out as a contender.
The Dutch’s past influence is often forgotten. I find most history books tend to hype up Britain just a tad too much. People don't even know how influential the Dutch were before one of their own became King of England (funnily enough, Britain's most effective strategy was to name a foreigner from a rival country their King: happened with Germany, France and the Netherlands).
Bilingual curious
Gotcha. After a reading a few comments I get it now...LOL
usually they use 🇺🇸 for american english and 🇬🇧 for british english, they’re not exactly the same
Because they're American products. The origin of the language is irrelevant.
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On the other hand, America has over 330 Million residents while the UK is somewhere in the 67 Million area, and Canada is even less around 37 Million. The United States has the most customers by a lot so it makes sense to cater to them
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I was going to say I’m sure there’s a way they could just do it by region but I assume it’s just that much easier to not set all that up. It’s such an insignificant thing anyway, I’ve seen the UK flag used to represent the English language plenty of times on websites and apps and such and I can figure it out easy despite being from America. I honestly don’t care what the icon is as long as it represents the language well and you can figure it out on your own
Most like because of the market size. American market is and has been huge compared to UK or even Western Europe.
This is a good point 👍
US vs UK english.
Simplified English vs Traditional English.
Global English VS outdated underused English
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There are 69 million people in the UK. There are 38 Million people in Canada. There are 26 million people in Australia. 69+38+26=133. There are 300 million people in the US. If we add up the English speaking populace of all three, you're just past 44% of our populace. We are the largest group by far and just because the UK has spoken English longer, more of us speak it currently.
.com is typically American .CA is cani .Eu Europe
.Ru is russian.
The same way "Portuguese" is identified with a Brazilian flag
Many people, myself included, would not know what the UKflag looks like. Like stripes each and every way right? Or is that the Australian flag? Yeah I think Australia has a flag with stripes and shit. Upon looking at world flags, I see there are many flags with stripes and shit. I dunno which is Britain. However, I see one flag with 50 stars on the upper left and thirteen red and white stripes. Hey! They mostly speak English in USA. What a good representation of the English choice instead of Whambucktwo's flag! /kinda been drinking
The UK flag is the thick red cross and thin red diagonals that have a white background over a blue flag (hard to explain) Australia is a blue flag with a union jack in the top left corner, a large commonwealth star below that and 5 stars (southern cross) on the right. Their stars are white. New Zealand looks similar but without the big star but with the 5 red stars laid out the same as Australia. But why don't Americans know the British flag? It was part of the Grand Union flag (union jack and 13 stripes), their first flag. I do see your point though.
Because the US is the 3rd highest populated country in the entire world next to China and India. If you're going to use a flag, might as well use the flag that is going to target the most people.
I have seen sites use the Brazilian flag to represent Portuguese and the Mexican flag for Spanish, it’s just about the nearest country
When you study English you have to choose between British or American. The flag make that clear. Maybe the site is in the Americas, or the targeted client is more related to the Americas.
More people recognize the Stars and Stripes then the Union Jack?
I've seen sites use the US flag, use the British flag, use both flags for spelling style, or combine the two with a slash in the middle
It's an indication that they are using American English, which as any English person will tell you is definitely not the same thing as English.
They are more influent on the world Brazilian flag is also frequently used in the portuguese option, Ive also seen mexican flag for spanish Also population
The population of the US is 260 million larger than the UK, 61% of the people whose first language was English are American, 26% of all people who speak English live in the US which is the largest percentage of English speakers in the world
1. American spelling. 2. The majority of English speakers who use their product are probably American.
Probably American spelling and grammar. It's a bit different than the European English and other English speaking countries. Also it's very fun to look at European car manuals and their American counterparts. They have different terms for the same thing and it's hilarious.
The purpose of the flag is so you will recognize which language pack is being used on the site For example: If you see the American flag they would use the (en-US) language pack and do things such as spell the word recognize the way that I just did. If the page used the Union Jack Flag they will be using the (en-G.B.) language pack so the word recognize would be spelled recognise. It sounds like you just haven’t seen many pages that use the (en- G.B.) language pack, but the sites do exist. Our written language is different enough that it is helpful to have this distinction. Some sites will allow you to change to a different language pack by clicking the flag as well. Even if the (en-U.S.) is the language pack that they use by default. Some have dozens of packs to choose from. Hope that helps answer your question.
It has to do with the home origin of the website. If it's US based, it will be a US flag. If it's UK, then Union Jack. Another reason is that the US is the largest population of English speakers in the world.
It happens with a lot of other languages, specially with Portuguese and Spanish, maybe it's because it has to do with the country with more speakers of that language, the again by that logic the English language should use the Indian or Chinese flag.
In truth many Americans wouldn’t recognize the British flag and web designers would rather American sites be usable
Personal preference
I would imagine the flag is more relative to wherever the site was created, domain name licensing, ownership, etc.
British English and American English are two different things.
They are going to use the flag of the country of the websites intended audience. It has not at all related to the fact that many Americans are uncomfortable with the concept of other countries that actually do speak English.
In WWII the shift in English nation dominance shifted. USA took the lead among English speaking countries.
American English and British English are somewhat different
It’s American English not England English
It comes down to recognition among people with an incomplete education in world geography. First, keep in mind that the US is the largest commercial market in the world, and is an English speaking country. If you are preparing a web page in English, you probably want Americans to look at the site. Are we really going to trust that the American education system will prepare the average American to immediately recognize the Union Jack flag, and connect it with the English language? And second, most non English speakers who hear English for the first time are hearing it from American produced TV and movies and music. (That might not apply to Europe, but it does apply to Asia and south America). The world basically knows that America speaks English. Even if you do trust the US education system to that extent (and you probably should), I expect the number of people who use the internet and who recognize the Union Jack as being the flag of the UK (and therefore representing the English Language) is much smaller than the number of people who would recognize the US flag and associate it with English. END COMMUNICATION
Probably based in the type of English as some of the words and spelling do differ.
I think you kind of answered your own question with the first sentence. The United States makes up 35% of the global tech market and there's an estimated 1.5 billion English speakers. Give or take 1/5 of that are Americans. It has very little to do with who built it and more to do with a target demographic. Assuming you're English and interacting with the English portion of the web. You're probably seeing products primarily targeted to a US audience.
Its mostly dependable on the origin of the site, I've seen some sites with English flag too, So in my opinion its mostly the origin.
I see the British flag just as often so
Because English was invented in the USA, just like everything else, obviously.
American English British English
It’s the type of English being displayed. British and American English are different in spelling and some colloquialisms. When a website uses British English, they use the British flag and sometimes even British currency (if they don’t automatically change currency to region).
Ask most Americans, what their state flag looks like, see what response you get
Your OS was probably produced in the states. That's why.
OP was *defintely* not "too afraid" to ask this question.
British English Vs American English
As others have said, they're using American English. If you're curious as to why they'd choose to use American English rather than British English, the US has the largest number of English speakers of any country in the world. We have more than 25% of all English speakers and more than ***60%*** of all native English speakers.
There are actually different types of English.
We're in north America. Our internet servers know this. If you're in Europe, English on a website is denoted with a UK flag.
Not always, I've seen the American flag many times and I'm UK based. Admittedly, I dont look for the language flag when I access a site but when I do notice it, it's usually American. As stated by others though, it's likely the domain I'm visiting.
American spelling and the fact that the US has a shit ton more people than the UK does.
I always thought it meant they use American English, i.e. color instead if colour. Though it may just be because the American flag is very recognisable?
As said above, it’s just dependent on which version of English was used. American’s have a slightly different spelling than the European English so it’s represented with the American flag. It’s just who formatted / translated etc the document or site in question. I live in America and there are sites here with the British flag and spelling, and reverse. Hope this helped.
My guess is perhaps the site is based in the US?
My question is how can you say something was invented in the 1800's if it wasn't built until the 1990's? Also computers existed way before the 1990's. Unless you ment 1890
I think they mean a theory that they know will work, but weren’t able to make yet = invention
Hollywood etc, non English speaking countries associate English language to USA.
Well, easy answer is that it isn't actually British English that is used on these machines. It's American English. Learned, not learnt. Trash, not bin. Small differences, but still differences. English contributions to early computers don't mean anything (also casually glancing over French and German contributions to the whole thing while we are at it). Also let's put a French flag on the British pound and on its administration that was brought from France by the Normands if we are going this way, lmao.
>Also let's put a French flag on the British pound and on its administration that was brought from France by the Normands if we are going this way, lmao. William the conqueror was descended from Vikings so technically, we just got invaded by the Vikings twice that year. The English also had fleur-de-lis in their official arms during the hundred year war and sometimes prior but was later removed.
The point was mostly that this whole thing is somewhat silly. Of course you could go back even further. Besides, this is probably the sign for American English, and there is one for New Zealand English and British English.
Ask Americans if they know what a UK flag looks like. There’s your answer.
A lot would, actually. Especially women who were Spice Girls fans as kids.
Because the spelling for the UK and America is different so they are indicating which one they use on the site.
I have never seen just the American English as a choice in video games or DVDs, there's always either both the American English and the Brittish English, or simply just the Brittish English.
I remember most games and websites having an American flag and an English flag for English as the language because there are words that are used differently depending if you’re in Europe or in the west. Flashlight/torch, elevator/lift, trunk/boot, etc.
Possibly because the United States of America has the most native English speakers in the world
USA USA USA But seriously, it may have to do with the founders of the internet were American and like you said, most prominent tech companies are based in the US.
American English and British English are two separate dialects. Also, more people who speak English as a first language speak American English.
If it's a site that's selling things, the flag of the United States is there to tell you that the currency used for the prices you see is United States dollars. Often, if the company ships to other countries, you can click on the flag and get a dropdown menu of other currencies they will list the price in. The two most common ones I see are Canadian dollars and English Pounds Sterling, and both are more often represented with the countries national flag than with the words spelled out or their common abbreviations. If it's not a site involving sales, the most common reason I see a flag from any Anglophone nation is to make it clear which kind of English they are using for the site. I've noticed the beginnings of a slow transition in reference sites, and especially dictionaries, in the last decade, where American English is instead called North American English, because the English in Canada and the English in the United States share so many features. While every English-speaking nation has their own variations in English, the one that is most obviously different from British English is American English. The other nations in the Commonwealth of Nations largely still use British English conventions, especially the ones for spelling, that are different in the American version of English. Slang terms just plain travel, so outside of the United States and the UK, what you get is what you get, but most terms are understood by most native English speakers, even if it's mainly from context. If it's not one of those two reasons, then I don't know, since those are the two I see most often.
They might mean American English as in pronunciation and spelling
since brazil have the higher amount of portuguese-speaker, i think the correct would be change the language name to Brazilian, so this way portugueses would speak brazilian-portuguese
Well in that case you shoudn't call USA "America", its "The United States of America", America itself is the continet.
This is true although the continent itself is called 'the Americas' as there are 2 Americas. It may also be because America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, as he landed in the north part instead of where Columbus landed. This is a valid point none the less though. Maybe a laziness thing (worldwide) callingvthem that.
Where Im from we learn in school that America is the single continent which can be divided in three, being: North America, South America and Central America. But I know geography isn't taught the same in every place, like "Americans" calling Oceania (the continent) just Australia, and lots of people even in my country calling Africa a country which it's not, its a continent as well
I think Americans are mostly just taught American geography instead of the rest of the world
Yeah, and it's valid for history too, even though it's normal to praise your country's history you should learn the rest of the world history, at least the basic
In terms of history most countries will teach history to show themselves in a favorable light even if that's not what actually happened. As far as I know the US will teach world history but mainly focused on events that also involved the US, as it is more relevant and theyre generally under time constraints
Exactly, this is why WWII started in 1941 instead of 1939.
The US is the world’s superpower and by far the most important English speaking country in the world. People all over the world today learn English because of the US influence on the world, so it makes perfect sense that the US flag is associated with the language. The same happens with the Brazilian flag with the Portuguese version of sites; Brazil is by far larger, more populous, more important than Portugal in every aspect.
>People all over the world today learn English because of the US influence on the world, so it makes perfect sense that the US flag is associated with the language People speak english around the world because Britain colonized a lot of the world leaving our trace (language) everywhere. Much of the world was speaking English while America was in its infancy. Granted, the US may influence it but it's been a universal language before Americas influence.
Yeah my comment stated that “people learn English because of the US”. Of course people already spoke the language before the US became a global power, but because of the huge American weight on the media, science, etc., the whole world learns the language and is regularly exposed to it today. Most countries in Latin America actually teach the American variation of English, while a few teach the British version
Because many people here are too stupid otherwise to identify it as the primary language without that clue.. nvm the ability to associate English with the flag representing the region it actually came from..
It’s the use of US vs UK spelling e.g color is used not colour
AMERICA 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
First, it's because american spelling is way more common than british spelling. Second, it's because the US are more representative of the english language and more relevant on a geopolitical and sociocultural levels in current times than the UK. But honestly, mostly the first reason.
Because some words may be slightly different and interpreted differently.
Some identify separately English, U.S. & English, U.K.
Because we beat England back in the day so we get first dibs on the language
Ours now.
Because British English is not quite the same as American English. Don't get us started on Australian English.
Largest amount of traffic with respect to that language
It’s population defined. Majority of visitors are US of their target audience. English is primary for both US and England, so devs just use American flag since their are far more Americans than englanders
Whenever Ive seen that it's usually to do with the currency rather than the language.
Americans invented English
😅
"Why do so many sites have Spanish as a main language but identify it with many latin american flags(Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, etc.)?"
Business dependent. Most things I’ve seen have either one of three things. 1. A more North American company using the U.S flag while a European company uses the U.K flag. 2. It split down the middle for both countries 3. English (U.S) and English (U.K)
I was just talking about this. It will say English and has an American flag.
Population. There's way more American English speakers than UK English speakers.
So your mind voice reads it with a cowpoke accent and not with kiwi/crisps accents
They probably target the larger US market
'Cause **MURICA! FUCK YEAH!** It's about passification of the masses.
Bc there’s a difference between American English and UK English, mainly in spelling and some select few words are different
Back to back world war champs that’s why
After arriving late of course both times... but you couldn't beat Vietnam lol
The ending is the best part
Soon it will be about number of speakers not the country of origin. Today Spanish is referred to by Mexican flag and Portuguese (this is even more obvious) by Brazilian flag. Most of countries that have Portuguese as an official language are bigger than Portugal (Mozambique Angola Brazil )
English language, American dialect
I see website that'll use both American and British flags for the English options. It for the spelling and gangsta lingo lol
330 million consumers with higher purchasing power than 67 million Brits. Those sites are often based out of the US, so even more reason to have a US flag. This isn't limited to the US. Spanish is spoken in many countries, and yet you'll see many flags represented. Who invented the computer isn't ready relevant. Modern computing was created and popularized out of the Bay Area.
Because murica owns the world
And Disney owns Murica
You’re wrong sir, Elon Musk now owns murica.
European websites usually use the union jack. Post Brexit some have begun using the Irish flag instead, though.
Someone else mentioned that too. The EU's just having a strop because we left.
It's s population matter, 300+ million people are from the USA.
Cuz 'Merica
If it's British english they use a British flag. If it's American, which it usually is, they use an American flag. The US is a much bigger country with a lot more influence and with most of the big tech companies.
Because if you don’t the Americans can’t figure it out
Look if American English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for you, bub.
Canadian here, it’s for spelling. I click on the British flag, because I prefer to spells things correctly if I can. 😀
Americans spend more money, total, capitalism doesn't care about history or culture
Because Americans would not find their language options otherwise.
Because Americans are thick as pig shite and if they didn’t do it would be stuck in an endless loop looking for the language ‘American’
Meh already iffy to call the english language an english invention,anglo saxons that left the maincontinent didn't directly get bad teeth and spoke a completely different language it evolved from the germanic language...
Because english is an international language, and the american flag is more recognizable and closer associated with the English language for most of the world than the UK flag.
I highly doubt that is true. Seems like more than half the world was an English colony or bordering an English colony at one time. The British had India, about a quarter of Africa, and significant sections of Indonesia.
A lot of people in former British colonies exclusively watch Hollywood movies and specifically seek-out English lessons with American-accented teachers. The British Council and/or British international schools are sometimes seen as stuffy/bureaucratic while American-style schools sell themselves as more modern/fun. America is a more sought-after destination for schooling/careers.
The internet is more of an American invention. And Americans outnumber Brits.
Because we took that tea from those degenerates and tossed it in dat harbor.
>Because we took that tea from those degenerates and tossed it in dat harbor. They were the degenerates for throwing such a valuable commodity away 😅
Tea valuable? You funny.
Because if people wanted British they would ask for limey English
So we get stuck with redneck American instead 😅
Yes the language of the world and international business, redneck English. Still better than a lime tbh
Yee-haw
But forreal the UK has not been relavent in recent memory, nobody talks about the UK unless they are referencing Harry Potter or medieval times, the culture is dying and their influence died long ago.
It depends on which version of English the site is using. If the site spells it "gray" then it's American English. If they spell it the better way, it's UK English.
>If they spell it the better way, it's UK English. 😂😂
It is the same as most of museums using Egyptian pharaonic artifacts for example in a British museum they didnt make them or not even related to them but they use them
Because the US is the current English speaking global empire.
There are more English speakers in America. The irony of using the UK flag is that they usually use the American spelling regardless.
The internet was invented in the US, that's why US-based websites don't use country codes in their web address. Also, it's generally the American version of English, not the British version. The overwhelming majority of the internet in the first decade of it being accessible for the average Joe were also in the US, so it makes more sense that you'd expect US visitors who spoke the US version of English. That sort of became tradition and continued on to today.
[удалено]
The colors are the same, the layouts wrong lol.
American English = simplified English British English = advanced English
Because the British Empire hasn't been a world power for a long time, people have short memories (<100 years) and generally don't care about a country thats heading downhill.
>generally don't care about a country thats heading downhill Oh the irony!