@mattbrowne Interesting that comanies choose American English because it pisses off fewer people. That’s ridiculous. So much ego bullshit in America if that is indeed true, and I don’t doubt what you are saying. Spelling, since both are correct, should not be a big deal in my opinion for documents, the real trick is when other countries use different words for different things, or when a word actually means something different depending on what English speaking country you are in. My husband used to translate documents for his company from English to Spanish, and he had some troubles when he was in Colombia since he is Mexican. It isn’t just the English speaking world.
I understand why Europe would us British English when teaching English in schools for proximity reasons, but I do wonder if you total up all the populations of the countries that speak English as a primary language, and by primary it does not have to be their first language, but used in government and taught in a compulsory way in schools, what the total population is that uses British English vs. American? Broken down further we can look at the more prosperous nations that are significant in the world market, business, research, etc. Seems logical that those countries would be catered to in terms of what English to use, since they are the consumers and the producers.
For me, I could care less which English is used when I buy a product and the directions are translated, as long as it is easily understood. I don’t expect anyone to adjust their spelling when conversing with me in writing, but for official documents, legal documents, probably they should be written in the proper dialect of the nation it is being used by.