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Hello to the lovely Etsy community! My name’s Brittany. I’m the newest member of our Product Team, and I’ve been known to eat bangers and mash on occasion. We have some big news today for all our Etsians with those beautiful accents from the Australian Outback, Canadian Rockies, and British Isles. We’re excited to continue expanding our language capabilities to include British English, making Etsy more comfortable for our English-speaking members from outside the U.S. This is just one more step in our commitment towards making Etsy a truly global marketplace.
How will this language update improve your day to day on Etsy? Sellers can now tag listings in their native English and have them show up in search results for both the British and American words. Likewise, buyers are able to search for items using their native tongue and see more relevant results. Tag that “watercolour” painting you just finished and rest assured it’ll automatically pop up in search results for “watercolor” as well. With easier-to-find listings, we think the whole community will be even happier come tea time.
We’re growing leaps and bounds in Australia, Canada, and the UK and are busy helping you build up those markets. Come spend time with us at our Seller Symposium in Sydney, our Community Meetup in Vancouver, and at the Queen’s Jubilee Festival and Clerkenwell Design Week in London. And make sure to get to know our fabulous community managers: Angela in Australia, Nada in Canada, and Amity in the UK.
It’s all cracking news. We agree!
101 comments
Sign in to add your ownMadi from OnceUponAGem says:
Thanks....
1 year ago
Brad from CasualInvertebrates says:
yes etsy the spelling of color is your sellers #1 concern right now, thanks.
1 year ago
Kelly from KikuPaper says:
I like it. As a Canadian, I was taught that the correct spellings of certain words followed the British example rather than the American. It was only with word processing and spellchecks that my "British" spelling always seemed to come into question. So yeah for colour, flavour... (of course I can only think of 2 examples right now!)
1 year ago
popko from PoPkO says:
Etsy- Can you tell us all the words that are applicable?
1 year ago
Veronica from VeronicaRussekJoyas says:
I'm so happy you are making these changes... With so many changes to make it more regionalized last year, I am glad you are working towards the site's globalization with this. This is a worldwide site and it is important that Etsy recognizes this! Thank you so much from Mexico, even if these changes don't quite apply to me. :)
1 year ago
Kate from essentialimages says:
This is a favourite now! Thanks Etsy!
1 year ago
Debby from BrownIrisCreations says:
This is great, thanks!
1 year ago
Jacqueline Swann from JacquelineSwann says:
This is fantastic. This will allow me to free up so many of my tags for additional words. A huge thanks!
1 year ago
Susie Morrow from SusieMorrowJewelry says:
About time! (She says in her northern English accent, also known as Geordie) Dont suppose you'll be doing dialects too?
1 year ago
Laura from IndulgentDesigns says:
This is great, thanks!! Now my 'jewellery' will still be relevant as 'jewelry' :)
1 year ago
Michaela-Elizabeth from ButtonsandYarnOhMy says:
Wow, this is totally what sellers are thinking about right now ... thanks .....
1 year ago
Bijoux Laudine from BijouxLaudine says:
Wonderful ... excellent for those selling jewelry / jewellery / etc , thank you!
1 year ago
Channie Johnson from LuluLamore says:
oh yeah this is just so international and totally what everyone needs right now! sarcastic eye roll!
1 year ago
Stormy Peterson from StormyPeterson says:
Right now it tastes like grubby, little soccer ball sewing hands.
1 year ago
Jane Duke from janedukeartist says:
Just a hunch, but I'm guessing those who don't think this is a big deal maybe use American English and so haven't had any trouble with this issue. Believe me, for those of us whose native tongue is 'Queen's English', this is very important and VERY welcome. I would point out though, that on at least two occasions in the few months I've been here, admin have chimed in on threads on this issue to reassure us that British spellings were always picked up anyway so we didn't have to double-tag with both spellings. This sort of looks like those of us who said they WEREN'T were right after all ;).
1 year ago
Cindy from cindylouwho2 says:
yea! this is fabulous! The recent search change to seeing "jewellery" & "jewelry" as the same word is a big improvement for buyers & sellers (especially those American sellers who had no idea how many sales they were losing b/c they were spelling jewellery the wrong way. I must note that we of course do not have an accent in the Rockies, however ;)
1 year ago
KC Bird from BirdhouseDesigns says:
This is awesome!!!! I sell tons internationally and am so pleased that they will be able to find my items without me having to use several tags for each version of certain words!!
1 year ago
Susannah from HandmadeBySusannah says:
great stuff!
1 year ago
Thomas from SensualScentsations says:
Awesome!
1 year ago
Cindy from cindylouwho2 says:
despite the title of the article, "flavour" is not working.
1 year ago
Heather Buckman from TataniaRosa says:
Great. Thank you.
1 year ago
Laura from compassionmalas says:
So many word differences and spelling differences! This is a good thing. Will grey come up as gray? Programme as program? Huge list.
1 year ago
Cindy from cindylouwho2 says:
I have found that a lot of words don't work - I started a thread with a partial list here: http://www.etsy.com/teams/7718/site-help/discuss/10206018/
1 year ago
Andrew Peterson from AndrewMPeterson says:
Thanks Cindy! We don't have every word but we'd love to have a list we can chip away at going forward.
1 year ago
Bijoux Laudine from BijouxLaudine says:
Nice of Americans who only sell to other Americans to not give a damn about the rest of us on Etsy that sell to non-Americans that use "non american english".
1 year ago
Karen and Tina from FallenAngelBrass says:
Jane, sellers are not discounting the importance of recognizing the different ways of English spelling. If you look in the frum, several hundred sellers are asking for answers from admin about the new definition of "collectives" here. This admin post is the only response we have heard after many, many thoughtful posts and questions, so some of us are more than a little put off by that. Admin really needs to address the very pressing problem at hand.
1 year ago
Terri from Untwistedsister says:
I think this is a great idea. I've always included the word 'jewellery' in my tags and now it should leave open another tag for me? I too would like to have a list of words that will show up either way. Thanks.
1 year ago
Andree Anne M from rosemauve says:
Good news!
1 year ago
Cindy from cindylouwho2 says:
Thanks Andrew! Flavour & chequebook might be a good place to start, as they seem to have a huge gap between the two spellings
1 year ago
Sally B from ChronologieVintage says:
Thank you. I have a lot of international customers and I'm sure this will be helpful. Could you please also put in a request for a feature that will translate "handmade" and "collective" so everyone, in every country, knows what they mean.
1 year ago
Chris Costa from CTCostaPhotography says:
Good to know, thanks.
1 year ago
Jennifer from livjewellery says:
This is great - no more tagging with "jewellery" just so my fellow Canucks can find me. :) Thanks!
1 year ago
newhopebeading from newhopebeading says:
Very cool improvement! Thank you Etsy
1 year ago
Naomi Morgan from BabaMoon says:
Absolutely wonderful what a fab change! I'm really looking forward to it, it's very difficult to decide on keywords at times for reasons such as native spelling so this should be really positive for everyone :)
1 year ago
Sarah from CAMPandQUARRY says:
Canadians appreciate this move, too! Hopefully we'll be seeing more people "favouriting" with a "u"!
1 year ago
crochetgal from crochetgal says:
Thanks for the announcement. But will there be a complete list published at some time or will we be left to figure this one out for ourselves as to which words will be included?
1 year ago
Nelleke from HandcraftedorVintage says:
Hm, now that I am used to it to write a lot of words "the wrong way" on Etsy, because I have learned The Kings English, I have to choose how to tag from now on again. Like crochetgal I would like to know how I can know which words to choose.
1 year ago
ZenBrush from ZenBrush says:
Thanks!
1 year ago
KoutureCrochet from KoutureCrochet says:
This is great news!
1 year ago
Daria Ausenak from LaLaShoes says:
Nice! Meanwhile, I've learned quite a bit of American spelling (a win-win for me)
1 year ago
GoddessOfJewelry from GoddessOfJewelry says:
As a Canadian, I have often removed the "u" in words like colour and flavour so that I wouldn't miss out on my American customers, who make up a large percentage of my client base. This is great news for me. Thanks Etsy!
1 year ago
Molly Spilane from UniqueArtPendants says:
Does this just work for spelling or is it for whole different words with the same meaning too? for example, In the US we say "sweater" but it's called something else in England (? jumper ? I think??).
1 year ago
tigersanddragons from TigersandDragons says:
I think it's only about spelling Molly. This is great, because I prefer the spelling jewellery over jewelry, but have to use both so that more buyers can find me. I've even had American Etsians tell me that my banner is spelled wrong :)
1 year ago
Jade from strikingkittens says:
Yeah, Molly it's a jumper (it's the same here in Australia) ^_^ I'm so happy this has been done, it will make things so much easier for searching and listing on Etsy. :D Thank you Etsy tech-team!
1 year ago
Tracy from HeyHarriet says:
That's great news! I really appreciate this change! Thank you!
1 year ago
thememorygallery from TheMemoryGallery says:
Brilliant change! 'Personalized' and 'Personalised' was always a tricky one for me ;)
1 year ago
jcbees from JCBees says:
Greatly appreciated!! Thank you so much!!
1 year ago
Greg Patt from WoodBoneAndStone says:
Good move! Some Americans don't realize we are the aberrant ones in the English speaking world.
1 year ago
Greg Patt from WoodBoneAndStone says:
I do think, as with other American innovations, many of the changes improved the language by streamlining it.
1 year ago
herflyinghorses from herflyinghorses says:
Thank you, this is really helpful!
1 year ago
Gwen Delicious Jewelry Designs from GwenDelicious says:
Brilliant - thank you from Canada!!!
1 year ago
Deidre Wicks from WaterInMyPaint says:
Hurrah!!!!
1 year ago
Kimberlee from GracefullyGirly says:
Great news!!! Thanks so much. The majority of my international sales are from Australia, Canada, and the UK. Now I no longer have to waste tags trying to appear in search terms that are the same thing, only spelled slightly differently from the way I spell it. Yea!
1 year ago
NaturalGorgeous from NaturalGorgeous says:
I'm glad the change is happening. Its important. But with an IT engineer at the helm, you'd think this would have been a no-brainer. Why did it take so long to acquire functionality that is commonplace elsewhere? This is less an achievement and more fixing a mistake that's been malingering way too long.
1 year ago
M. Basile from RinnovatoVintage says:
This is important....love my International customers!
1 year ago
EstherNkinga says:
nice posting.........................................
1 year ago
Susanne Major from LineaLina says:
This is great even for somebody like me! I'm from Germany, so it is hard enough to get the right words and spellings anyway! Thank you!
1 year ago
Sarah Franklin from EyeshootPhotography says:
This is a great improvement - thank you!
1 year ago
Mary Richmond from maryrichmonddesign says:
as someone who often adds watercolour to my watercolor tags this is great news
1 year ago
Dee Lovegrove from TamedMiniatures says:
Good news! Will this work for dollhouse (us) and dolls house (uk)?
1 year ago
Lizette Venter from Clovetree says:
Oh, hoorah! International spelling - I never thought about how this would affect the search on products, and though knitting is still knitting - with two school age children, nitting comes up far too often in our household... However, bugs aside, as a South African, I spell like the Britts, and have long been stumped by a friend (fellow Etsyan) who makes jewlery in my opinion, she has always made jewellery - and really beautiful too. At last we can agree now, as this was wearing on our friendship! Thanks Etsy!
1 year ago
Ele from minouette says:
Thank goodness! This is a major issue for a very large number of Etsians and we really appreciate this upgrade. It should be noted that there are lots of small differences and it will be a challenge to be complete (though dealing with colour - which I refuse to spell without a 'u' - and jewellery with make a huge difference to people). British English is not the same as Canadian English or Australian English, so good luck with this; I hope it's an on-going process, with additions made as needed.
1 year ago
Eve Geisler from EvesLittleEarthlings says:
Gray is a color Grey is a colour I always add both versions of these words and others to get around this problem. Glad I don't have to do it or think about it any more!
1 year ago
Hannah from BananaOrangeApple says:
An ANZAC day front page for 25th April 2013 please. (Just while you're thinking of the land down under and our brothers from the land of the long white cloud.)
1 year ago
Jane from memake says:
Finally! Thank you.
1 year ago
Laura George from LauraCGeorge says:
It would be really helpful if we got a list of the words you've updated thus far so we know which ones we don't need to worry about. Great change, though! So excited to move forward with this update!!
1 year ago
Marg from MaigretLampwork says:
S'funny, I thought I'd read that the grey/gray issue had already been dealt with... good to know that this upgrade is coming!
1 year ago
TheSewingGin from TheSewingGin says:
Good to know.
1 year ago
The Bosun and Sarita Li Johnson from TheLandlockedSailor says:
Oh! Yay! I thought it already did that. The other day I was tagging an item and considered using both the British and American spellings of a tag but thought I didn't have to. Good to know that *now* I don't have to!
1 year ago
Sarah King from BayHouseButtons says:
Good news - I've often repeated a search with different spellings and I've really noticed it this month, with 'Mom', 'Mum' ...! Less tags needed, too. Well done Etsy! Maybe an international diary of important dates could be included too, so we can make our item listings super-relevant. Thanks Etsy!
1 year ago
Nicole from TallRabbit says:
Now I'll have a few more spare tags! It would be good to know all the words covered though and if it also includes things that are called different names in different countries e.g. diapers and nappies.
1 year ago
Barbara from ionesAttic says:
Perfect...when ya'll gonna add a southern drawl to my Fargo accent?
1 year ago
Ember from ShabbyRoad says:
This is super awesome, I've been known to tag in my native tongue (British English) I live in Canada and am married to an American ) I feel I have the best of all 3 worlds LOL so to have it on etsy too is a plus plus. Thanks etsy for being 'on the ball' with this. much appreciated Ember ps: Barbara above me, I once visited Fargo ) what a lovely place you live.....
1 year ago
Miss Retro Nest from myretronest says:
This is great, being a new seller I didn't realise this was a problem. I can't imagine how many tags would be taken up from different spellings of the same word.
1 year ago
Stitch from TheStitchAndFold says:
Fantastic, thanks!
1 year ago
Aya from Aya1gou says:
Great! In the future, I hope we can tag in Japanese
1 year ago
Yvonne from Kitschychoo says:
thumbs up! Communication is key.=)
1 year ago
A. Nichelle from MonCherPug says:
AWESOME!!
1 year ago
Kylie Jackson from Wallfry says:
This is awesome news for international sellers (and those who want to sell internationally). When does it go live? I just searched 'personalised children and got 30,000 results and 'personalized children' got 150,000 results. I thought this would be one of the main ones so maybe it is not active yet?
1 year ago
Peta from petrafanella says:
This is really helpful. Thanks Etsy - great to have the extra tags free.
1 year ago
Davina from fluidinkletterpress says:
Great news!
1 year ago
LuAnn Poli from PaisleyBeading says:
This is exciting to hear! Etsy is constantly on the move toward the next big step to reach the whole world! Thank you for being so proactive and forward-thinking. I feel well taken care of here at Etsy! Wonderful to know it!
1 year ago
Kathy Lindemer from BayMoonDesign says:
Thank you for your work in helping us compete in a global market.
1 year ago
Som from SomsStudio says:
This is awesome! Thanks so much! A list of such words would be great!
1 year ago
Cathy Cullis from cathycullis says:
very welcome changes - thank you!
1 year ago
Mrs Goozeberry from Goozeberryhill says:
That's fantastic news! Hoping the S/Z debate will be included too :)
1 year ago
Alison Fennell from eastwitching says:
An interesting and fresh post! Love it - thanks!
1 year ago
Olga from OVGilliesDesigns says:
Finally! I've been translating to US Eng. all these years .... & now I can switch back to UK Eng., all 400-odd listings ... HAHA :D But it's great to know that search on Etsy will take into account the different spellings from different part of the world Eng.
1 year ago
mazedasastoat from mazedasastoat says:
I can't believe it's taken your techies this much time to work out that English is what English people speak & it's the rest of you that get it wrong! Many other sites do this kind of "translation" as a matter of course, so it's nice to know Etsy has caught up... & would be nice to think that now it's officially an international site it will be slightly less US-centric.
1 year ago
Skullbag from Skullbag says:
I never could bring myself to spell "colour" incorrectly. ;-P
1 year ago
Joanna Barltrop from thedovestop says:
Hoorah!! One certainly does appreciate it...thank you so very much ;))
1 year ago
Kate and Sidney Pie from MorningtonCrescent says:
Hooray! Great news! Our shop is very much about being British so, like Skullbag, we could never bring ourselves to spell colour, or favourite, or jewellery 'incorrectly'! (Very amused that even as I type, the spellchecker is highlighting all three of those words!)
1 year ago
greatestfriend from greatestfriend says:
thank you!
1 year ago
Julie from purposedesign says:
As a Canadian who uses the Queen's English, I adapted all my listings from the start to use US English as most of my business is stateside. Made sense to me. Believe it or not, I was criticized for this a few months back. Happy to see this change rolling out.
1 year ago
Sarah-Jane Egan from sjegan says:
Yay absolutely fantastic! I can stop wasting tags on jewellery and jewelry! Wooohoooo! Great news guys thanks!
1 year ago
Sally-Ann Livingston from TheNavigatrix says:
Every positive change, however seemingly insignificant (to some) is greatly appreciated. Thankyou Etsy!
1 year ago
Mirjam Cole from fitzroyandcole says:
That is good news, will significant events in the European calender also be listed , we don't tend to do Thanksgiving but do have the Olympics and a Jubilee ?! Perhaps a more flexible occasion drop down bar would help, just a suggestion. Cheers !
1 year ago
Georgina Sapiano from sapritas says:
There is no such language as American English, there is just the English language, Americans speak English with an American accent, English people just speak English, there is no such thing as US English or UK English (there are dialects, but that's a whole different story) Colour, favour and jewellery are all words that are part of the English language and we tend to spell words with an s not a z for example personalise. It is not the English who cannot spell correctly. Wouldn't it be a lot easier if we all understood the correct grammar of the English language then none of this would be relevant.
1 year ago
ev from WaveSong says:
what about the word 'fibre'?
362 days ago
Clare Davidson from skadijewellery says:
This is brilliant, thank you so much! Does it apply to shop searches too? I know when I try to search for my store by entering 'skadi jewlry' or 'jewelry' it doesn't come up.
289 days ago
Pearl from pearlatplay says:
This is just awesome! Thank you so much!
268 days ago