I have not been very good about blogging since I moved to Australia. It’s not that I don’t have plenty of interesting things to share… I do… It’s just that the course I’m taking is all encompassing. It’s a master’s course, and they definitely pile on the work to suit the degree. I’m not complaining, because I’m really enjoying it and learning a ton, but I just have no time to do much else but read, write and study!
Right now though, I am starting a brief holiday, and have much more free time! During these little breaks from the rigor of course work, I’ll try and post some musings and adventures of our time here in the land down under.
Obviously there are many more similarities between Australia and America than Japan and America, but I am finding many small things tripping me up.
Take the picture above… besides just being old and nasty, is the light switch on or off? Well, if you’re reading this in America, you would say that the lights are off. When a switch is in the up position, it’s on, and when it’s in the down position, it’s off. Well, in Australia the opposite is true. I don’t know why, but maybe because Australia and America are on opposite sides of the earth? Are other things upside down too? Also, as a side note, in Japan the light switches flip from left to right… mind blowing right!?
While screws turn the same way in America, Japan and Australia, the faucets don’t. For some reason you have to twist the faucet left to turn on the water and right to shut it off. The opposite is true in America and Japan. Why?
Another thing that has me confused at times is Australian English. It’s 99% the same as American English, but that 1% just throws me when I encounter it. I have put some examples below, written as American English = Australian English:
1. Math = Maths & Sports = Sport
For some reason Australian’s add an “s” to the end of math, but take the “s” away from the word sport!
2. How are you doing? = How are you going?
How am I going? What!? I’m not going anywhere! When you think about it though… does the word “doing” make any more sense? I’m not doing anything either… maybe we should both agree to say something like “How are you feeling?”
3. Raisins = Sultanas
I’ve gotta look for a box of Sultana Bran – with two scoops of sultanas!
4. Chips = Crisps & Fries = Chips
Since Australian’s call French Fries, “Chips,” they had to find another name for the potato chip. Their solution, “Crisps.” Not a bad idea… I kind of like that name!
5. Trunk = Boot
I wonder what they call boots? Trunks?
6. Mommy = Mummy
I wonder what they call a mummy from Egypt? A Mommy?
7. Marker = Texter
I guess I can understand this one. You can make a mark with it or you write text with it… ok, but it still sounds strange to me. Plus, many of the texters here say “marker” right on the package! I’m just saying…
8. Period = Full Stop
I find this one a bit strange. I’m teaching kids to write sentences and I’m forced to say that at the end of each sentence they need a “full stop.” Are they writing a sentence or driving it down the page?
9. Eraser = Rubber
Imagine my face when a 6-year-old boy came up to me in class and asked for a rubber. “Wow, kids reach sexual maturity quite early in Australia!”
I’m going to stop with 9 for now. I’m sure that over the two years Chiz and I will be here we will find plenty more oddities and differences. That’s part of the fun of living in a new country and experiencing a new culture!
while it must be easier to be working in a language based on the same letters and fundamentally similar – it must also make it harder in some cases (like these) where you could inadvertently be saying something you don’t mean to be because of a misuse of a word with culturally different means.
A lot of those are Britishisms. Maths is easy to explain. It’s short for mathematics, which is also plural. Hope you’re leaving yourself time for fun!