Many years ago, I travelled to Gallipoli and used local buses to cross Turkey to get there.
On the journey, I met some other Australians who were on a similar pilgrimage. We soon got chatting.
A young Turkish man joined our conversation.
“If you are all Australian”, he asked, “why are you speaking English?”
We laughed and explained that we speak English in Australia but we have our own accent.
When in Rome
When you are writing, you need to ensure that you are writing with your accent.
In Australia, that means you should use Australian spelling.
Governments and companies in Australia all use Australian English.
If you are trying to get a message across in person and you have an accent, people may listen to your accent rather than what you are saying.
The same thing happens with your writing.
If you are using American or British in your writing, people will be distracted but your spelling mistakes rather than reading your message.
Same, same but different
Australian spelling generally follows British spelling, but not always.
The easiest way to ensure you do this is to set your spell check default to Australian English.
Otherwise, make sure you look out for:
Words ending in ‘our’
honour, colour, labour (work), behaviour, neighbour (Australian)
not honor, color, labor, behavior, neighbor (American)
The exception is the Australian Labor Party.
Words ending in ‘ise’ or ‘yse’
customise, recognise, organise, analyse (Australian)
customize, recognize, organize, analyze (American)
Words ending in ‘re’
centre, metre, litre (Australian)
center, meter, liter (American)
Words with double ‘l’
Enrol, enrolment, fulfil, fulfilment (Australian)
Enroll, enrolment, fulfill, fulfillment (American)
The exceptions to this are traveller and fuelled, which have double ‘l’ in Australia and British spelling.
Other tricky words
program (not the British version programme)
cheque (not the American version check)
judgement, acknowldgement (not the American version judgment, acknowledgment)
paedophile, paediatrician, anaesthetist (not the American version pedophile, pediatrician, anesthetist
Use an Australian dictionary
If you have any doubts about your spelling, check with Australia’s own dictionary, the Macquarie Dictionary.
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