Just out of interest which spelling system do students of English use in your country, British or American?
I'm afraid I cannot answer this question; alas, it was long ago when I was a student. :-( Back then, the most widely used dictionaries (I think it's safe to say the only English-Hungarian/Hungarian-English dictionaries) were those written by László Országh. (The Hungarian form of his name is Országh László.) I would have liked to give a link to an article on him, but I couldn't find any English article on this excellent scholar. Shame! László Országh (October 25, 1907—Januar 27, 1984) was a linguist, expert of history of literature and lexicographer. He finished his university studies at Rollins College, USA. Later in his career he was a master at University of Debrecen. In 1979, he was awarded with the Honorary Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his role in spreading English language and culture.
Now to the point.
(I hope you didn't mind my little rambling about Mr. Országh.) The dictionaries (written by László Országh) we used favoured ( ;-) ) the British spelling for words like 'honour', 'colour', 'favour' (and 'armour'
), etc. (though the American spelling was also indicated), but followed the "-ize" spelling when it came to words like, 'apologize', 'privatize', 'organize', etc. It's either because of the time Mr. Országh had spent in the USA (but that wouldn't explain why he preferred the '-our' spelling), or it's because (according to
Wikipedia ) he followed the Oxford spelling. ("The suffix -ize has been in use in the UK since the 16th century, and continues to be the spelling used in American English. Since the 1990s, -ise has become more common in the UK, with the result that -ize may be regarded incorrectly as an exclusively American variant.")
Again, I don't know what they teach in schools nowadays. As for me, I use the British spelling when I write to a Briton (I hope it's correct, and not insulting in any way, to say 'Briton' :-? ), and I prefer the American spelling when writing to an American, but sometimes, even then, I tend to use, 'colour', 'favourite', etc. Once I was 'corrected' by an American girl when I asked her to proofread a message of mine; she said, "It's fine as it is, but be sure to correct 'realise', because it's 'realize'. :lol: (She was a well-read, educated girl.) However, I have never been 'corrected' for '-our' spelling. (I assume nobody cares. I usually have to beg those very few native speakers I know to correct me. Their usual standpoint is, 'I understand what you mean.' But that's beside the point.)
