English languages: Webster and the Americanization

As a non-native English speaker (French is my first language), I had to go through the arduous process of actually learning Shakespeare’s language from scratch. In school, most of my teachers were trained in the UK (it’s the closest English speaking country, obviously) and spoke British English with a polished British accent. In the face of our complaints (why do we need to learn another language, can’t people just speak French? Well, we will just mime then) they used to…