English or American? Although like most Americans I am aware that there are some variations in the English spoken here in the States and that spoken abroad in the UK, it didn't truly hit home until my semester abroad in Lille, France. Among the courses offered was translation from French to English. The professor was a native Londoner, though she had spent the last two decades living in France. It was not uncommon to be called to the blackboard to translate sentences into English. I had a very basic sentence, Les fleurs sont une belle couleur, which I translated as The flowers are a pretty color. The prof then proceeded to step up behind me and insert a "u" into colour, the traditional British spelling.