: Re: Do publishers really need to translate between UK and US English? Is there really a need for a book to be translated from UK to US English? I'm nearing completion on my own great work, and

@Vandalay250

And then of course, there's all the rest of us who don't live in the US or the UK. I'm South African. I've grown up reading American and British books (and Irish, Canadian, Australian, South African, etc.). I learned that there are different varieties of English, and gained an understanding of them all.

I recently read the Hunger Games series, and the edition of the second book (Catching Fire) happened to be for the UK market. I didn't twig when it came to spelling (I guess I really don't notice colour vs. color), but when Haymitch said "Done the maths?" it jumped off the page at me - and not in a good way. And when Katniss went about a "KILOMETRE" along the security fence - well, I wanted to strangle the 'translator'. That was overstepping the mark. It really jolted me out of the story.

Publishers: your readers are not stupid. Those few who can't handle other varieties of English may well be greatly outnumbered by those who prefer to read a story in its original flavour. But the majority of readers probably don't care either way, as long as they are entertained. Stop wasting money on this nonsense, and use it to promote authors!

Vote Up Vote Down

0 Reactions   React

Replies (0) Report

Login to post a comment!