Different flavours of English on Kobo?

[scrapking]

I'm a Canadian Kobo owner, and I haven't been able to help but notice that all the e-books I purchase are in U.S. English. I would love to read them in Canadian English, or at least in the Queen's English in a pinch. "Colour", "manoeuvre", etc.

Is there a way to choose?

[taming]

The English you get inside of the books is the English the publisher provides. Kobo doesn't change that.

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by taming

The English you get inside of the books is the English the publisher provides. Kobo doesn't change that.

I figured that. I guess what I was speculating was that they might provide, for example, UK English editions in the UK (and Australia and NZ?), and American English versions in the U.S. and Canada. If this is true, I would rather read the UK edition if I could somehow select it and/or trick the Kobo into providing it.

Do the publishers seriously provide only American English editions to Kobo in the UK, Australia, NZ, etc.? I remember when I used to work at the public library that we would sometimes get North American editions, and other times get UK editions, of the same book.

[taming]

Publishers don't seem to want to make one decent digital edition most of the time--so regionalizing probably doesn't happen much.

[DrNefario]

I must admit, I don't really notice. I think it's normally the case here in the UK that a book written in the US will be in US English, and a book written in the UK will be in British English. I don't believe there's any attempt these days to anglicise the spellings.

[paulsalter]

I prefer it if the book is written in the language used where the book is set, the only book I can think of with variations is Harry Potter, I looked at the US version and it just seemed wrong.

[DrNefario]

I can kind of understand why they'd do it with children's books. Don't want to be breaking the rules before you know what they are.

[Bookpossum]

I'm in Australia where we use UK English, and I haven't noticed American spellings in the books I have bought. I know the Kobo website I look at is specifically for Australia as the prices are in $A, there is a reference to the books on a TV programme called "The First Tuesday Book Club", and so maybe the books are UK English editions.

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

I prefer it if the book is written in the language used where the book is set, the only book I can think of with variations is Harry Potter, I looked at the US version and it just seemed wrong.

When I worked for the public library here in Canada, I saw both American English and UK English editions of David Wingrove's "Chung Kuo" books. There were other authors, but I remember that one more distinctly than the rest.

The setting of the book doesn't effect my desire for the use of language. In the spoken portions of the book perhaps, but not the narration.

[paulsalter]

Originally Posted by scrapking

The setting of the book doesn't effect my desire for the use of language. In the spoken portions of the book perhaps, but not the narration.

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)

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

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

[ltr]

Yeah, "boot" is a UK giveaway for sure.

I always get a kick when I see the word "tucker" for food. Let's you know where the author is from - mate.

ltr

[Sharkus]

As said by others, really depends on what the publisher provides. They may have different geographic versions of the book, for example; US / Canada and UK versions, and so the UK version gets UK English (or proper English, depending on you viewpoint ) and US / Canada gets the US English. You may also find that different publishers are used for different countries, and that may also mean different "English" versions of the book.

Again as mentioned, Harry Potter is a good example of where US / Canada gets the US English version, and UK gets the British English version. Booger vs Bogey was a good example of differences in the language.

[VirgoGirl]

Being here in Canada, we seem to get an odd mixture of English books, particularly in the library books we get. Many of the UK cookbooks my library stocks are UK versions - grams, mls, C - but if I go to the bookstore the same book is the US version - oz, lbs and F.

BUT, that being said, I get fiction books in UK English that my family in the US doesn't get, but only if they were UK books originally.

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

[paulsalter]

Originally Posted by VirgoGirl

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

just read the preview of da Vinci Code (first 2 chapters), didnt notice anything specific to UK English in it

It has made me want to buy the book though

[frddgls]

The Canadian versions of Harry Potter use UK English. Not US English.