How to correct Inconsistent Spellcheck for US English Words in UK English Setting in InDesign?

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
May 25, 2023
3 replies
1290 views

UK English spellcheck doesn't pick up US spelling of words like 'authorized' or 'standardized'.

Dictionary language preference set to UK English. All text boxes are set to UK English. No exceptions added to user dictionary. Spellcheck set to search entire document. Latest version of InDesign installed (18.3).

Any ideas?

How to

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Correct answer Brad @ Roaring Mouse

I tested the AU dictionary myself just to see if the installation instructions worked and they did, although it's not for the faint of heart. That being said, it DID work, however the Australian file did not come with a hyphenation database, so if you opened an existing file that has hypehantion, then applied the en_AU dictionary to it, all your text will reflow.

Brad @ Roaring Mouse

Community Expert

I did a deeper dive on this and checked the available Hunsell dictionaries that can be installed, and although there are a couple of different ones for en_GB, all of them have both spellings included, and the release notes for them all mention the inclusion of both "on purpose". There IS, however, an Australian English dictionary (en_AU) that does not include the -ize.

https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/indesign/kb/add_cs_dictionaries.html

Brad @ Roaring Mouse

Community Expert

You are mistaken in that the spellings you refer to are solely US English. They are also used in the UK, although the "s" spellings became more predominent in the more recent century. So it comes down to style usage. Some British press style guides, and even the OED, list the "z" spellings in addition to the "s" spellings, so the dictionary InDesign is using will still find the version with "z" as correct whether that's the one you want or not.

C

Caroline30054753scxkAuthor

Participant

Well that explains everything but I find it a bit crazy to have two spellings of a word in the same dictionary! What if my client has used specialized and specialised in the same document? Anyway, I'll give the AU dictionary a shot. Thanks Brad.

Brad @ Roaring Mouse

Community Expert

I understand your dilemma.

As a Canadian, we're in even a weirder place as we tend to use British and American spellings intergangeably on a regular basis "depending on how one feels". Hunspell also has an en_CA dictionary for us (as we tend to have a mosaic of British, Irish, Scottish here more so than the States). It will, say, include both defence/defense, and will honour only the "u" spellings of most words, but not all (e.g. colour / coloration), and in some case ignores certain "American" spellings, while at the same time rejecting British "-ise" spellings.

We also have a Canadian Press Style here which tends to used as the default guide for most writers here, especially if you are writing for government agencies, which is a whole other thing!

Willi Adelberger

Community Expert

US English and UK English are technically differend language. Additions to the User Dictionaries are bound to the selected language as you see in the dialog.

E.g. in German we have German 1996.German 2006, German Prereform (Reform 1904), German Austria, German Austria 1996, German Austria 2006, German Austria Prereform, German Switzerland 2006, German Switzerland 1996, German Switzerland Prereforms. All are different languages in the technical senxe, even if they are 99% the same. So you have to add a word in all languages.

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