10-22-2013, 09:44 PM | #1 |
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Question re: US, CAN, UK, AUS English editions
While browsing for ebooks, I've often come across different versions of the same English text... i.e. a British version of an American author's Penguin book or a HarperCollins Canada version of a British author. The ebook boom has raised an issue that wasn't so apparent in the paper book era: The fact that publishing rights are still largely established country by country.
My question is whether an English text is modified significantly for each market. I know that the Harry Potter books were "Americanized" for the US by changing some spelling and word usage. But in general, are there differences between the various English versions? |
10-23-2013, 07:16 PM | #2 |
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Other than the obvious boot<>trunk, bonnet<>hood and petrol<>gas(oline) vocabulary changes, the biggest difference I see between British books and North American (USA and Canada) books is the British books use single quotes and North American books use double quotes. The use of the n- and m-dash is different as well but not as consistent. Where an m-dash would be used in a North American book, a space n-dash space might be used in a British book. I have no idea what would be standard for an Australian book. British usage probably.
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10-23-2013, 08:31 PM | #3 |
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Some books by British authors have a whole different introduction for the US edition. This is often used to warn about terms used in the book that have a different meaning in the US.
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10-23-2013, 11:33 PM | #4 |
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There are also a lot of slang, trade name, usage differences.
They even have different names for holidays Personally, I like that, it helps with the flavour of the setting I have been to go 'over the roundabout' a time or two. |
10-24-2013, 02:14 AM | #5 |
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10-24-2013, 02:39 AM | #6 | |
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10-24-2013, 07:26 AM | #7 | |
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10-24-2013, 07:37 AM | #8 | |
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What I don't like, however, is when an American author tries to write a "British" book, and gets it wrong. There are authors who can do it right: Elizabeth George is an example (an American author who writes British detective stories), but there are many others who can't. I'm sure the same must be true of British authors writing "American" books - some succeed (I believe that Lee Child is a reasonably convincing "American"); others don't. |
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10-24-2013, 04:47 PM | #9 |
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American spelling differs from UK spelling - as I discovered to my cost.
My debut novel was published with UK spellings - no special US edition, and let's just say the level of criticism was such that I now use US spelling - even in the UK editions (can't afford to have a US and UK editor! ) |
10-24-2013, 04:52 PM | #10 | |
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10-24-2013, 05:20 PM | #11 |
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Richard Dawkins has ranted about this a bit. Apparently titles are often different for US and UK versions - so he complains that he has often wound up buying the same book twice while traveling, and Amazon.com makes it even more absurd since it often recommends "if you liked X, you'll probably love Y", where X & Y are actually the same book.
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10-24-2013, 05:37 PM | #12 | |
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10-24-2013, 06:22 PM | #13 | |
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UK Spelling is part of the book Here is a question for UK English writers: Your main character is visiting the USA. In the lobby of a High rise Office. They look at the sign "Elevators -> " Do you change that to "Lifts ->" in a UK edition? |
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10-24-2013, 08:36 PM | #14 |
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Of course not. They are in the US, so it should say "Elevators".
ETA: I recently read a supposedly American book by a British author, and they referred to a "hire car". An American would never say that, they would say "rental car". |
10-25-2013, 03:58 AM | #15 | |
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When American actors do try to use British accents, they are rarely convincing. The most atrocious example I can think of is perhaps Dick Van Dyke's "Cockney" accent in the film "Mary Poppins" . |
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