10 ms·
Maybe people can just deal with books having regional differences in the same way authors do. Is it so scary for F. Scott Fitzgerald to write about the color of
by adhesive_wombat 3y ago
Maybe people can just deal with books having regional differences in the same way authors do. Is it so scary for F. Scott Fitzgerald to write about the color of the light, but Rowling to talk about the colours of the school houses?
- RheingoldRiver 3y agoAs someone who reads fantasy fiction a lot, honestly I'd prefer if I read everything in American English. The biggest thing that gets me is e.g. "defence" instead of "defense" and other places where British English uses a 'c' instead of an 's'. It seriously diminishes the immersion for me, even if I've read probably 50+ books with the version I'm not used to by now. It's never stopped me from reading a book before, but it does diminish my enjoyment quite a bit. For nonfiction, I don't care, I'm reading actively regardless. But when reading passively for enjoyment, it's noticeable and irritating.
- I_am_uncreative 3y ago...what? Why would this make a difference?
- OJFord 3y agoA differense, please, GP's reading.
- lmm 3y agoI've found this jarring only in one case: the dub of Mary and the Witch's Flower, where the setting was an emphatically English-style public school, the lead character's VA had (or was using) a strong Home Counties accent, but the lines were full of US-only terms like "Somophore". It just felt horribly fake (even in a fantasy story!) because you'd never see those things together in real life.
- dragonwriter 3y ago> but the lines were full of US-only terms like "Somophore" “Sophomore”, maybe?
- adhesive_wombat 3y agoSomophore is the same thing but they carry flags with them everywhere.
- lmm 3y agoOh probably, I don't really speak American and it was a while ago.
- adhesive_wombat 3y agoFor fantaſy, eſpecially, I diſagree. When I'm in charge, the long-ſ will be mandatory in any ſtory involving magick, to better ſhew the hiſtorical baſis of the mythology (unleſs, of courſe, a ſkinwalker were to be involved, in which caſe American ſpellings are indeed preferred)
- tazjin 3y agoФор бетер іммерсіон, ол тектс ін сторіес И ред шѵд бе урітен уіþ олд сирілік летерс, регардлес ов þе лангѵадж.
- adhesive_wombat 3y ago𐡅𐡉 𐡍𐡕 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡊
- Lex-2008 3y agoᚳᚫᚾ᛫ᛁ᛫ᚫᛞᛞ᛫ᚫ᛫ᛒᛁᛏ᛫ᚩᚠ᛫ᚱᚢᚾᛖᛋ᛫ᛏᚩ᛫ᛏᚻᛖ᛫ᛗᛁᛉ?
- weregiraffe 3y agoפור טקסטס סט ין אנשיאנט טיימס, אונלי עברית וילל דו.
- names_are_hard 3y agoIncredible. I sent that to Google translate and it translated fairly well. (For those who can't read it - the text is English transliterated into Hebrew script, not actually Hebrew. I'm impressed that Google managed to make sense of it)
- dullcrisp 3y agoI think you’re on to something
- sk0g 3y ago> уіþ Was the thorn really a part of old Cyrillic? Would make some sense given the shared history, but still. > И I struggled for a bit with this one, but I don't know of a better way to represent it other then "ai" in Cyrillic I guess. The "ѵ" is interesting too, never seen that before since you can make do with the sorta B-looking letter instead.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> seriously diminishes the immersion for me Upvoting because this is seriously interesting. I can see old or Tolkien English being a hurdle, so I relate to what you’re saying. But small changes in diction tend to draw me into the world, by othering it from the familiar.
- RheingoldRiver 3y agoI think it might be partially because I've done & currently do some copyediting work. So I'm pretty trained to see any grammar or spelling mistake. To be clear, it's not the difference in language that bothers me, just words that are spelled differently from American English. I literally can't not see them.
- celu 3y agoFor me, it's reading words like 'centre' and 'colour' or 'practise' because I can't help but read them as 'sen-trey', 'col-ore' and 'prac-tize'
- cvoss 3y agoThat example isn't scary, of course. The -or/-our spelling difference is only the simplest example of what's different between American and British English. I think it's pretty clear to someone who's never even encountered the other spelling to infer what the word means. But there are difficult examples, even in Rowling. She uses "revision" in a way that American readers don't know ("studying") and might have a hard time piecing together from context. It's not like the reader will be prompted to open a dictionary, since "revision" is a common word in AE. It just makes for a poor reader experience.
- girvo 3y agoThat's the most ridiculous thing I've come across in a while. It absolutely doesn't make for a poor reader experience, and that's some US Defaultism if I've ever heard it. And I'm neither British nor American! US writing is basically never localised to Australian English, why in the world must the converse be true?
- dylan604 3y agoIf this is what the level of education has become in the US, well, I guess it kind of explains a lot
- adhesive_wombat 3y agoDoesn't quite have the same ring to it: > Righto, mate, gimme a shout as Ishmael. Few donkey's years ago—don't get your knickers in a twist 'bout when exactly—findin' me wallet as dry as a dead dingo's donger, and not a bloody thing worth a squiz on the land, reckon I'd chuck a U-ey on life, put a bit of water under me bridge. Wanted a stickybeak at the wet half of this great wide world, didn't I? (With ChatGPT assist!)
- ChrisRR 3y agoDonkeys years ago means a long time. You don't prefix it with a few.
- friendzis 3y ago
- mr_toad 3y agoI think the sort of people who read books can probably cope. It sounds like the publishers are making allowances for the sort of people who don’t do much reading anyway.
- slowmovintarget 3y agoUhh... People who count listening to the audio book as "reading."
- pjmlp 3y agoAt least it is the full book, unlike movie adaptations, also a nice way to "read" while driving.
- seanhunter 3y agoWell people listening to the audio book: - can’t hear the differences in spelling between American and British English - are listening to someone read. That person probably is able to read either American or British English. That said, some words really are different and could cause confusion/disconnect so probably are potential candidates for being changed even in audio books. - the one he gave “apartment” vs “flat” is a good example. I think British people would all be fine with “apartment” whereas I think “flat” might confuse some Americans who hadn’t heard that usage. - “pavement” means the road surface in the US vs it means the pedestrian path on the side of the road in the UK (that in the US you would call a “sidewalk”). “Sidewalk” wouldn’t confuse a British person but it’s not a word a British person would use. “Pavement” meaning the road surface does confuse British people. - “jumper” in the UK vs “sweater” in the US - Don’t even ask about “pants” - etc
- ndsipa_pomu 3y agoMy favourite anecdote is when an english bloke goes to the U.S. and asks if he can "bum a fag" from someone, meaning "ask for a free cigarette" in British.
- b800h 3y ago
- slowmovintarget 3y agoThis. Stop dumbing things down (like my browser's dictionary that apparently doesn't know the word "dumbing"). Let the readers find and delight in the differences of diction and usage.