Different flavours of English on Kobo?

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

spoken portions is mainly what I was meaning, but even sometimes the narration seems wrong, if I am reading a book by a US author it would seem odd to me if it started using UK terms (car boot instead of trunk as example)

Again, I guess it would depend on the circumstance. If it was in dialogue, I would expect them to stick to the character's background in such situations. But in the narration, all bets are off. I brought the issue up less concerned with local expressions/words, and more with spellings of common words ("realise" vs. "realize", "maneuver" vs. "manoeuvre", etc.).

another odd one I found, book I read recently based in UK not sure where the author was, but when driving in the car it was using KM/H, that didnt feel right in a UK book

Yes, that is an interesting one. Almost as interesting as the fact that you haven't switched to KM/h yet! It's fascinating to me how different parts of the former British Empire have metricised to different degrees. Like in Canada we still measure a person's height in feet/inches, and their weight in pounds. Yet we buy our gas/milk/juice/etc. in litres, we drive in KM/h, and the temperature is usually discussed in celsius. It's a real mish-mash. And from talking to people in the UK, Australia, and NZ, what units of Imperial Measure are still common, and what units of metric have become common, are different in each place.

I am re buying some books I have in paperback at the moment, so when I come to some US terms I will check the paperback to see what that has in it

Thanks, I would really appreciate that!

[Bookpossum]

We have switched everything over officially, but the one people have trouble with is metres and centimetres versus feet and inches. So if the police are looking for someone who is described as, say 165 cm tall, you sometimes see (5' 6") in brackets if it's a newspaper report.

But we are fine with Km/h and Celsius temperatures. The only time Fahrenheit is ever mentioned is where the temperature gets up to or beyond 100 degrees F - it somehow justifies our feeling so hot!

[LuvReadin]

Originally Posted by VirgoGirl

Do US written books, such as Dan Brown's books, get translated to UK English for the British market?

Not generally, no - UK publishers (at least for books) tend to leave the language alone, whereas US publishers usually insist (even for major sellers like Rowling) that the language is changed to US English, even when it makes no sense whatever to do so. The same thing tends to happen with TV programmes - US shows will appear as the original in the UK, but the US execs will insist on remaking the UK ones. I'm still trying to work out whether these people are control freaks, or whether they believe their audience too dumb to cope with different versions of the language.

[murg]

Originally Posted by LuvReadin

I'm still trying to work out whether these people are control freaks, or whether they believe their audience too dumb to cope with different versions of the language.

It's the accent. American TV doesn't like shows where every one talks funny.

[MacEachaidh]

Things can get a little schizophrenic here in Australia — it's anyone's guess, even from the same publisher, whether we'll get a US or UK imprint of a book. In fact, I was recently given a copy of an urban fantasy, "The Traveller" by John Twelve Hawk, to read ... and the title is spelt "The Traveller" on both front and back of the cover, but "The Traveler" throughout the text; the impress details don't match either, between cover and copy, so it would seem the components came from different sources.

I have come across examples of fiction books (other than Harry Potter) where there seem to be different versions of the actual text between the US and UK, but I can't bring specific examples to mind right now.

I'm guessing Kobo can't really cater for different versions of its books, though, without raising the dread spectre of geo-restrictions on purchases. (This can be a significant issue with Amazon; why haven't I encountered it so far with Kobo? Or is it actually there anyway, lingering silently in the background, deciding which books I can even see?)

[paulsalter]

Originally Posted by murg

It's the accent. American TV doesn't like shows where every one talks funny.

I find the british accent very strange on US tv, they talk like Hugh Grant, not many people talk like that now (for abut 50 years)

[murg]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

I find the british accent very strange on US tv, they talk like Hugh Grant, not many people talk like that now (for abut 50 years)

Even stranger is the American accents on British shows, for exampe Wooster & Jeeves.

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by LuvReadin

The same thing tends to happen with TV programmes - US shows will appear as the original in the UK, but the US execs will insist on remaking the UK ones. I'm still trying to work out whether these people are control freaks, or whether they believe their audience too dumb to cope with different versions of the language.

You mean, like David Attenborough's BBC nature documentaries being dubbed, with Attenborough's narration being replaced by Oprah Winfrey?

That boggled my mind when I first encountered it. I guess the people selling these into the US market know what people respond to, but I think of David Attenborough as a Living Treasure, so I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to hear him presenting his own programs.

[CaptainCrash]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

You mean, like David Attenborough's BBC nature documentaries being dubbed, with Attenborough's narration being replaced by Oprah Winfrey?

That boggled my mind when I first encountered it. I guess the people selling these into the US market know what people respond to, but I think of David Attenborough as a Living Treasure, so I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to hear him presenting his own programs.

Wow, I had no idea they did this. Unbelievable.

IMHO David Attenborough is one of the greatest communicators of our time. His narration can make the life cycle of a sea slug seem like the most spellbinding story you've ever heard, even today, when his diction has become a little less distinct with advancing years.

Does the American audience really find a "standard" (non-regional) English accent that objectionable, or difficult to understand?

[Danger]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrash

Wow, I had no idea they did this. Unbelievable.

IMHO David Attenborough is one of the greatest communicators of our time. His narration can make the life cycle of a sea slug seem like the most spellbinding story you've ever heard, even today, when his diction has become a little less distinct with advancing years.

Does the American audience really find a "standard" (non-regional) English accent that objectionable, or difficult to understand?

Yup, I've watched some nature docs with a British commentator and then the ones with Oprah... If I had a choice I'd go with the British accent. The guy was so much better. But the American's love Oprah I guess.

[kumaryu]

Shaw once wrote: 'England and America are two countries divided by a common language'. Regardless of the differences in word usage, spelling and editorial styles, US English and British English still share what is essentially a common language.

The divergences between the two are so insignificant that apart from some changes in word usage, a reader in one country would have no problem in understanding a body of text from another. Most major languages have dialects. For a spoken language to be considered a dialect, the differences must be far greater than that between British and US editorial styles.

The US publishers' habit of enforcing spelling and editorial practices of one country on works from another is disingenuous and ought to be recognised as what it is, vandalism. It goes against the intent of the authors and hide from the readers the variety and richness of modern English that such differences in these works represent.

[CNL]

I've never heard of that before, that's terrible. Oprah I mean.
In Canada we seem to get a strange mix, but luckily I haven't seen any americanized nature shows.

[murg]

Originally Posted by CNL

I've never heard of that before, that's terrible. Oprah I mean.
In Canada we seem to get a strange mix, but luckily I haven't seen any americanized nature shows.

How do you know that those are real Canadian Polar Bears in the doco and not border-jumping American Polar Bears?

[taming]

The Real Canadian Bears have Canadian Tire money in their wallets and get their fish from Superstore.

[PeterT]

And their Double Doubles from Timmies