On 2006-01-21, Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> One question here is: Are US English and UK English different languages >> or not? If they are, a translation is in place. If they are not, the >> text should have been left as is. I guess the answer is: >> -Well, sort of... > > That's the sort of question which you should be asking a > linguist. I'm told that linguists do NOT consider US English > and UK English different languages, but merely different > variants of English. > > And of course, "standard UK English" and "standard US English" > are hardly spoken by anyone in the UK or US respectively. Both > countries have dozens of different dialects and variants. > > But the real question is why it is that American publishers > believe their readers are so lazy and ignorant that they > require special "translations" of British books. I don't know > anyone who has said "I'm glad that I read the American edition > of [Harry Potter/Discworld/pick your own example], it was much > better than the British edition." Not even American fans.
The next thing you know, there are going to be American translations of Jane Austin where a girl says to her sister "dude, he is such a hottie!" and she replies "oh my god, for sure!" -- Grant Edwards grante Yow! Intra-mural sports at results are filtering visi.com through th' plumbing... -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list