(no subject)

[doyle]

Checking out a post on hp_essays about Britpicking - because some of the Harry Potter fic I was reading last night was fantastic but had an Americanism every couple of paragraphs1, and dumpsters and diapers2 and candy stores in a British setting just bring me to a screeching halt - and am I understanding the comments right? The books were translated into American English? :boggles: I knew the title of Philosopher's Stone was changed but assumed the text had been left alone. That just seems odd.

1: Yep, aware of the irony in this since I'm plenty guilty of sticking Briticisms into Buffy fic.

2. Uh, the nappies/diapers were on a baby, they weren't the kind for grown-ups.

Comments

[herself_nyc]

Yes, the whole thing was rewritten in American English. I remember hearing about this a couple of years ago. It is sickening--how can American kids learn about other cultures/countries if they're coddled like that? And these differences are so much to learn and know!

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

My housemate marymac has a little American cousin who was horrified to realize the title had been changed and now insists on getting the British versions.

But yeah, it seems really strange to translate the books - when I was a twelve-year-old girl in rural Ireland a lot of references in, say, Judy Blume's books were lost on me, but they were never translated into British English.

[jidabug.livejournal.com]

The books were translated into American English?

Yup. I bought the first three books while in NZ, then read the US version of "Goblet of Fire" and was completely weirded out by the Americanisms. I've since bought GoF and OotP from Amazon UK so my whole set would be "correct." 8^)

[paratti.livejournal.com]

::is gobsmacked::

[rainkatt.livejournal.com]

This is done a lot, which annoys me.

[thebratqueen.livejournal.com]

Wait - there's no candy stores in England?

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Sure, but they're called sweet shops *g*

[sangpassionne.livejournal.com]

That is revolting. It's undermining a British institution. Next thing you'll be telling me they've translated the Famous Five too.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

I'm still sulking about the British editions of the Famous Five being censored/updated to remove 'terribly queer!' and so on...

[fallingfortruth.livejournal.com]

I have only read the american versions, but being the rabid angliophile that I am, sort of mentally retranslate it into the british.

You know you're more than a little gone when your sister complains that she can't find any pants and you almost aspirate your tea.

This has actually happened to me, sadly.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Bwah!

[wickedprincess3.livejournal.com]

Fuck it, now I have to buy the British versions. ARG I knew they changed the spellings (color instead of colour and what not) but I didn't realize it was changed more than that.
*counts out change*

[jedi-penguin.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize that either. That irks me!

Did JKR approve the changes at all? How much of her stuff do we Yanks actually get?

*scuffles foot* That's not fair!

[debvel.livejournal.com]

I've read both versions of the first book. I don't remember all the changes, but it was mostly just a word here or there. "Revising" vs. "Studying", etc.

Google'd a link - a list of what was changed in books 1-4 (http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html).

Last night I was trying to figure out if I can get the UK versions from amazon.com, and apparently the answer is "no". I'm thinking of ordering them from amazon.ca.

:boggles some more:

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Okay, I get changing comprehensive to public school - which means the exact opposite in British English - but they changed 'mummy' to 'mommy'?

That's on par with someone having Buffy and Dawn call Joyce 'mum' in Buffy fic. The books are set in England, for god's sake!

[scanky-chops.livejournal.com]

I don't get why they've changed things around, 'cos like you said the books ARE English. How would the Americans like it if we started doing things the other way around?

I mean, calling [American] football 'pansy's rugby' isn't very nice is it?

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Bwahaha! Now, just because they have ton wear body armour and have a rest every ten seconds... :ducks out of the way of Americans on f-list:

[flyingtapes.livejournal.com]

I always mentally correct the Americanisms in the books--sweater with jumper, so on. It wasn't a big deal to me because publishers do this all the time: change a novel for an American audience versus British. It's not unusual. I mean, for me as an adult it's disappointing, but not a huge thing.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Really? I'm wondering now if that's ever done with American novels in the UK - I'd assume not since we're so steeped in American TV and so on.

[sideofzen.livejournal.com]

http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html

This website has a fairly comprehensive list of the edits between the UK and US versions.

[gloss]

This always reminds me of an opposite case, where the British publisher of L'engle's A Wrinkle in Time wanted to change the first line - "It was a dark and stormy night" - to add "...in a small Connecticut town".

Anyway. I *still* crave Brit details in my reading; how the hell would I know about Y-fronts and Marks & Sparks and comprehensives otherwise?

Also, rather than shelling out for the British editions, interested North American readers should just get the Canadian editions from Indigo or Amazon; they're published by Raincoast, far more affordable, and lack Yank-translation as well as that crappy cover art. ;}

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Hee! And I'm scratching my head as to why they wanted it changed. Because British readers have never seen dark and stormy nights, possibly?

[arundhathi.livejournal.com]

That's actually deeply disturbing. Because of course, it makes total sense to actively discourage kids from learning about other cultures by taking away all the means by which they might actually enjoy doing it.

On the other hand, it does explain the excessive number of fics I've read in which Dumbledore spends all his time handing out lemon drops.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Checking the list (http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html)... Yep, sherbet lemons were changed to lemon drops. Which doesn't bother me so much as something like "bag of crisps" becoming "packet of chips" which totally changes the meaning.

(I'm feeling particularly anal tonight *g*)

[kimera.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when I heard about that, I was so, so glad that I am Canadian and therefore got the correct versions of the books.

And like others have said- if any Americans out there want the UK editions, Indigo/Chapters or Amazon.ca is a good place to get them.

[invaderwitch.livejournal.com]

Read the American versions, and had no idea they had been changed from the original versions until today (excepting, of course, the tilte of Sorcerer's Stone). I'm tempted now to look into the originals, but is it really that big a difference? Meaning, is there stuff I am missing out on?
At least they didn't have American accents in the movies, but that would probably have pushed it too far...
Not that they haven't done it to tons of great anime.
^_^

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

There's a list here (http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html) of what was changed. Mostly just single words, but enough to convince me I'd never be able to read the American editions without wincing on every page *g*

[luna-k.livejournal.com]

The books were translated into American English? :boggles: I knew the title of Philosopher's Stone was changed but assumed the text had been left alone. That just seems odd.

Yeah, I don't know why they did that. Maybe publishers thought American children just wouldn't be able to comphrehend stuff?

aexia had some good links about this HERE (http://www.livejournal.com/users/luna_k/254792.html?thread=2405960#t2405960)

Btw, this is kinda OT but it took me forever to realize "jumpers" were another word for "sweaters"; in America "jumpers" are a kind of dress that little girls wear. I kept wondering why Harry and Draco were wearing dresses in all these hetfics.... *g*

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Bwah! I had the same sort of experience reading (in fic for some American fandom) about someone being 'at grammar school'. In Northern Ireland a grammar school is a high school (although the term isn't really exchangeable with high school, but anyway). I was completely confused as to how this character could be at secondary school so young. Same sort of problem with public schools - in the UK that emans a fee-paying school.

Oh, and watching Buffy last week, Joyce says she'll pick Buffy up after school, at 2:30 - 2:30? What frickin' time do classes start in the morning? My school day was 9 - 3:30 so I assume schools in California start at 8? Because yikes, the thought of being up that early...

[imation23.livejournal.com]

It does really throw me when I come across the Trio studying for 'midterms' and 'finals' in fic. I know they changed things for the American versions but I don't think they changed British slang or things as basic as getting 'homework' instead of 'assignments'. When I come across stuff like that in fic I usually back out because often it means the author hasn't been paying enough attention to what they're writing.

OTOH when I *do* come across fic like cantinera's, which manages Britishisms perfectly, I am doubly pleased.

[netgirl-y2k.livejournal.com]

I once came across an online parody of the philosophers stone called Harry Potter and the Big Shiny Rock (now simplified for even stupider Americans)

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Bwah!