Canadian English

[stewacide]

Is there a Canadian English dictionary available for Office 2004? (I
only see US, UK, and Aus). I know there's one included in Office for
Windows. UK seems to be closest (e.g. it isn't on a search-and-destroy
mission for the letter 'U') but trips up on a lot of the Americanisms
in the Canadian form (e.g. Aluminum vs. Aluminiminimumum or whatever
the Brits say). Is one available for download anywhere? Would
Australian English be any closer to the Canadian?

Thanx.

p.s. Apple was nice enough to include a Canadian dictionary with
OSX/Cocoa-service apps

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Stew,

There isn't a Canadian English dictionary for Office 2004.

I understand that any regional Microsoft office can request one, and that
the Australian dictionary happened (quite a long time ago) as a result of
the local corporate and government people pointing out that it would be a
bit hard to sell it if it couldn't spell for the locals.

I'm quite familiar with US and UK usage in addition to Australian (I live in
Australia). I hardly ever write in Canadian English, but through Canadian
friends I know broadly the usages that distinguish Canadians from those
misguided souls below the border (e.g. a Canadian fighter pilot who sat next
to me for a year on an Air Force Command and Staff College course -- apart
from discussing geopolitics and strategy, if it wasn't sex, religion or
political correctness we were talking about it was oddities of English
usage).

I suspect the pros and cons with your using UK English or Australian English
are about the same; both have idiosyncrasies (e.g. Brits use "programme" in
non-IT parlance; the Nomenklatura now require Australians to use -ise /
-isation endings always, regardless of the word, whereas Brits have a mix of
-ize/-ise, albeit tending towards more -ise than before). I *suspect* that
some US-originating terms are, as in Canadian usage, more likely to be
accommodated via the Australian English dictionary. Both UK English and
Australian English dictionaries reject "color" etc equally, which is
important for you. The approved place names in UK and Australia will be
equally unhelpful.

Hmm, on further thought, maybe the Australian dictionary would be closer.

Did I hear correctly last week that the latest upgrade of Tiger had a
dictionary? Would that have a Canadian variant?

Paul Berkowitz, who is Canadian, will no doubt come by soon and comment too.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 7 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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[stewacide]

Seems like a pretty odd oversight, especially in light of the
Australian dictionary (there are more English speakers in Canada than
Oz, and a good number of them work at Microsoft).

As a general rule I'd say Canadians have mostly American vocabulary,
pronunciation, and grammar, but largely preserve British spelling where
it doesn't contradict the spoken language. E.g. colour, aluminum, tire,
cheque, organize, zed, and manoeuvre, are all perfectly fine together
(and the Canadian English dictionary in Tiger agrees), but either a UK
or American spell-check would throw a fit. Throw in a bunch of
localisms (e.g. a lot of French words and expressions) and it becomes a
real mess.

This is especially annoying for me since I do a lot of political
science writing for school, where it's expected that proper Canadian
spelling and usage be followed, as well as a large number of
Canadianisms used (the Canadian political lexicon is very much its
own).

How hard would it be for the Mac Office team to import the Canadian
dictionary from the Windows version?

 

[stewacide]

I should say the Canadian English SPELL CHECKER dictionary in Tiger has
Canadian English. The Oxford English dictionary-dictionary in Tiger in
fact does not contain Canadianisms (which is disappointing since
there's a Canadian Oxford Dictionary in print that does: how much more
work would it be to incorporate that?)

 

[Clive Huggan]

Seems like a pretty odd oversight, especially in light of the
Australian dictionary

Not odd, really -- Aussies took the initiative and achieved an outcome;
maybe it's time for a few Canadians to approach Microsoft Canada, start
beating it up as an issue, take to the streets etc... ;-)

there are more English speakers in Canada than Oz.

If population had anything to do with it, we would immediately have an
Indian English dictionary ...

As a general rule I'd say Canadians have mostly American vocabulary,
pronunciation, and grammar, but largely preserve British spelling where
it doesn't contradict the spoken language. E.g. colour, aluminum, tire,

Interestingly, "tire" was the spelling in UK when the US was settled; the
spelling changed in UK subsequently.

cheque, organize, zed, and manoeuvre, are all perfectly fine together
(and the Canadian English dictionary in Tiger agrees), but either a UK
or American spell-check would throw a fit. Throw in a bunch of
localisms (e.g. a lot of French words and expressions) and it becomes a
real mess.

This is especially annoying for me since I do a lot of political
science writing for school, where it's expected that proper Canadian
spelling and usage be followed, as well as a large number of
Canadianisms used (the Canadian political lexicon is very much its
own).

How hard would it be for the Mac Office team to import the Canadian
dictionary from the Windows version?

Ask Microsoft; no-one here will know that. But be prepared for an argument
based on cost-benefits.

CH
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