Hi guys. Does reading a book in UK or U.S. English bother you or does spelling not worry you at all?
Hi guys. Does reading a book in UK or U.S. English bother you or does spelling not worry you at all?
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I usually notice it but it doesn’t bother me. But like amber said, slang can sometimes hang me up.
I grew up in England and now live in the states and I don’t even notice it. Not many words are spelled differently (at least not that differently) the slang I already know but I could see how Americans wouldn’t understand British slang… I am constantly explaining it to my husband
Nope seeing that I have tons of friends in the us it doesn’t bother me at all
It doesn’t bother me, but can be disconcerting the first time I encounter it in a book if I’m not previously aware of its existence. If I know beforehand I’m reading about tyres instead of tires, I’m good and it doesn’t break story flow for me at all. Still have to look up some unfamiliar terms, though, but expanding vocabulary and knowledge are good things.
I didn’t even know that could be spelt like that!
Or sceptical instead of skeptical. That threw me the first time, lol.
Spelling, slang, grammar, wording, etc doesn’t bother me. It does cause me to smile if I notice it, and I will sometimes have to research a phrase I don’t recognize. For example; The first time I read Harry Potter I had to look up what Ron meant when he said “search me” in response to a question Harry asks him.
What does it mean, if you don’t mind?
Basically “I don’t know”
Sometimes its annoying because I have to stop and google
No bother.
So glad my kobo and ibooks have a dictionary for some things. Didn’t even notice I have books where settings are in Australia (unless they say during my reading) but most of the time, the US to me (CDN), I’m just wondering where the “u” is
I dont see much of a problem since i have grown up on both but i personally prefer UK English spelling to American English. Just a personal preference. (I live in Canada and idk about other places in the world but here we are taught both American and UK English spelling in elementary school )
I prefer Middle English best.
Like Chaucer? Nope that’s not hard to read at all ?
Had to read Norton’s addition of the Canterbury Tales final year of my lit degree… You do get used to it.
I suppose if you read enough of anything you can get used to it 🙂
Doesn’t bother me.
It doesn’t make a difference to me
I’m American but I’ve been reading UK English books since I was a preteen so I’m used to the alternate spellings and slang.
Reading it, hearing it, living through it – this is my nightmare.
The colloquialisms are fine, they don’t bother me at all, but the spelling and grammar make me want to shoot myself.
Americans do not speak English. They think they do, others think they do, but they don’t.
EFL teachers should be employed there ASAP.
Dialects, yes, but not a single one is of English.
I don’t generally notice it. I *have* read the US Harry Potter books before now, just for the novelty value, though, because of the slight changes in vocabulary.
As long ad i can tell what they mean spelling and slang dont bother me. Its normally grammer that gets me
It doesn’t bother
Well I feel dumb. I’ve been buying UK covers because I thought they looked better. I never realized they were in UK English lol
Me too
I grew up with a mix of British and American teachers and actually had to relearn how to spell a bunch of words when we moved back to the US when I was 8 because my teacher kept failing me on spelling tests even though I wasn’t actually wrong. My mom went to WAR over it, lol, and got my teacher to acknowledge that I had learned literally every word already, but spelled the British way rather than the American way. Now? I barely register the differences half the time because my brain is still so used to it.
Weirder is when my brain doesn’t register French being French and I just read straight through in my second language like it’s nothing.
Your mum is a godsend!
There’s English and then there’s American.
American isn’t English. It’s a whole other language. Written or spoken, it’s not English. Just like Afrikaans isn’t Dutch.
It’s English. Get over yourself.
I’m neither conceited nor pretentious. I just have respect for the English language which Americans do not speak or write at all.
An accent I can fully understand, however, annunciation, pronunciation and spelling are one of the very first things taught in the English language. Hence, there is no reason nor excuse for the abysmal use of language that Americans inflict.
The basic skills are reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Each affects the other. If one goes wrong, they all do. Receptive and productive skills are vital and Americans have somehow killed some of these skills and imposed the incorrect skills, vocabulary and grammar upon a vast amount of people.
All languages are to be respected. If we all went around diminishing all known languages, the very core of our heritages would be insulted.
I never said ‘Americas’, first off. I said America. Americans themselves say the exact same, even the president.
So publishing a book wouldn’t be a professional instance? If people aren’t taught how to speak and write properly, they will never learn. Vernacular is fine, people do it, but there’s a time and a place. There are rules. Don’t publish incorrect spelling when there is no need for it. Don’t annunciate or pronounce incorrectly for no reason.
People have accents, yes. That’s understandable, but Americans are just being foolish. Like ‘battery’. It’s not dialect, vernacular or colloquialism, it’s plain corruption of language.
Oh, please. Please don’t go making assumptions. Don’t be foolish. I’m not in favour of the way Americans speak or write.
I have nothing against Americans themselves. I have plenty family and friends there and I love them dearly. So please, control yourself.
It’s merely an aversion to the manner in which Americans make use of their so-called English language.
Hush now.
I actually love when there are different words or slang then I am used to. It’s fun to learn new things!
*than
Ugh I wrote that and it changed it ??
Autocorrect could kill a person at the best of times.
For real! Mine is so screwed up. Usually it shows at least 70% of the words as spelled incorrectly, even if they’re fine. As you’ve seen, it’s also recently started changing correctly spelled words. It hurts my grammatical heart ?
? when I got this phone, I had to correct it instead of it correcting me!
Then eventually it starts working in your favour. ?
I don’t know if it’s a UK spelling thing, but I’ve noticed a lot of books I’ve read lately say hanged instead of hung and I mentally correct it in my head. It drives me nuts. ?
I’m a Brit. I don’t know if you are refering to the form of execution and means of suicide. If you are then hanged is correct. “The man was taken out and hanged.” But, if not referring to the death method then it would be correct to say: “The chandelier hung in the hallway until it fell in the earthquake.” It’s a quirky language!
Agreed, Francis. Washing was ‘hung’ on a washing line but a person ‘hanged’ him/herself.
Lol doesn’t bother me at all
Doesn’t bother me at all. I am use to it because of family in Ireland and England.
US spelling is not a problem, it’s the gross lack of punctuation.
The Queen’s english is the correct way but we Brits are tolerant people and allow our colonial cousins to strangle the language.?
Agreed. Except on the strangulation part. It makes me want to strangle myself.
I’m not from the UK, but my family is – we speak and spell the same way as the Brits. We’re taught the same way in our schools too, despite some teachers and/or students having an accent. The whole county, in fact.
The accents never bother me, never have. We’re all from different regions, we couldn’t possibly all have the same accent – others also learn the language; we have sounds in English that other languages don’t. Hence why it’s important to stress the importance of pronunciation and annunciation.
Teaching English as a foreign language could confuse many if done incorrectly.
Examples being the different ways of saying ‘aunt’, ‘battery’, ‘adult’, ‘anti’ and so on and so forth.
Also the spelling.
If a student is taught English and they end up studying in America, they may suffer due to spelling and grammar – ‘color’, ‘gotten’ etc. And vice versa for an American teaching and the student studying in Britain.
The spelling doesn’t bother me but I sometimes struggle with the difference in wordage. Things like crisps for chips or boot for trunk cause me to slow down and have to think about them a little longer. It’s nice to get a new viewpoint though so I do enjoy reading them. We
Those two are fine for me, especially since U.K. is more like Canadian than US is but I had to abandon a book written in English but Irish…dialect? Accent? Not sure. I couldn’t handle it. Like dinnae was doesn’t etc
It doesn’t bother me, and its made me learn things I wouldn’t otherwise have thought to learn about
Like what?
It doesn’t bother me at all, but I prefer to read books set in the U.K. in British English and books set in the U.S. in American English. It pulls me out of the story when a character is using vocabulary from the wrong end of the ocean.
Conversationally or the entire book?
Say you’re reading a book set in the UK and it’s written in English, but there’s an American character and their part of the conversation is written in the American style, would that work? Regardless of the authors nationality.
And vice versa?
Mostly the conversation and the book part, though.
I wouldn’t use two different spellings in the same book, but in terms of purely vocabulary and word choice I would expect characters to use whichever country they’re from. For example I hate that Harry references soccer in Sorcerers Stone.
But Harry is from and in England. It’s been called soccer in England for more than 200 years.
I get that Philosophers Stone was the British version and Sorcerers Stone was the American version, but it didn’t change the country, therefore the term used for the sport would not have changed.
It’s news to me that Brits call it soccer. They did not say soccer in the original U.K. version.
My original copy said soccer.
My replacement copy (which is, unfortunately, The Sorcerers Stone), also says soccer.
That’s why I was confused about your statement. I didn’t know that there were copies that referred to it otherwise because, as I said, Britain has been using the word soccer for more than 200 years.
When did you get your copy? I’d love to see what other differences there are if I can get hold of one.
I find this rather peculiar and highly interesting.
This is quite an interesting read for anyone who’s interested.
https://www.hp-lexicon.org/2001/08/25/differences-between-british-and-us-versions-of-ps/
@Elizabeth Elizabeth Anne Aldworth Apologies but, in Ireland and the UK, we call soccer football as Jill rightly says. We view the word soccer as very Americanised. It’s probably because we don’t have another sport, like American Football, to confuse it with, so don’t need a different word. Unless you want to get really pedantic and include Gaelic football but we tend to shorten that to ‘Gaelic’? What can I say? We’re a confusing bunch ?
Dean Thomas supports a well-known FOOTBALL team, not soccer team, in the original Philosopher’s Stone.
Original UK text
Original US text (Sorcerer’s Stone)
Looks like Jo got her way for the reprints, though, because this is the first US edition of the Illustrated Sorcerer’s stone from a couple of years back and it’s been changed back to “football”.
@Al, I know you do. Britain came up with the word soccer some 200 years ago. The origin of the word is much the same story as the origin of ‘rugger’ or ‘rugby’.
In the 70’s or 80’s Britain started calling it football again because the term soccer had become too Americanised.
Wow. And they said sports history was a useless class.
All the books I had said soccer, not football. So I suppose it depends which edition you got.
@Elizabeth All the UK editions say football. Anything HP, especially the different editions, have kind of been a passion of mine since the first release in ‘97 ☺️
Well the first one I had and the current one I have both say soccer, so. 🙂
It doesn’t bother me.
What does is having a book translated from its original English to another.
Example Harry Potter and philosophers stone, did not need a translation to US English.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an American English book translated to UK English.
I don’t understand why American publishers feel it’s necessary.
As an American it bothers me too. I understand that yes, when I was 8 years old and reading sorcerers stone for the first time I would have pictured the wrong thing if they’d compared the quaffle to a football, but that wouldn’t have affected the story and would have been a learning opportunity for me. There were lots of words in those books I didn’t know at first! I’m reading through the British versions now and I like them so much better. I don’t know why we have an aversion to having to explain to small children “oh well Harry is British and they say ‘revise’ instead of ‘study.’ It’s not a big deal. ? I already had learned UK has different spellings in like kindergarten, we are smart enough to figure these things out!
I think it would actually be an excellent opportunity to introduce a child to a different culture.
I guess it’s to save parents&teachers the effort?
I actually remember discussing American spelling vs UK English and different phrases in primary school here.
It wasn’t complicated.
Children are very adaptable to language.
I mean for goodness sake, a lot of youngsters these days are learning foreign languages, we’re more likely to teach them Spanish than we are to let them read UK spellings. ?
If parents and teachers need saving from such a small explanation, then there’s already a problem. It shouldn’t be an effort anyhow.
Anyway, should it be one, kids are fortunate these days. Google is a click away. I also saw a British-American dictionary last year, so kids do have the means to figure it out for themselves and learn something.
They have a greater opportunity for independence than kids did in the early to mid ’90’s.
I was mostly joking.
Although I do recall a publisher’s explanation for the Harry Potter book, being something like “It’s difficult for children to understand the different terms ” ><
Its so silly. Coming across the occasional word they don’t know is how children learn to read! I remember telling my school librarian I’d found a typo when I was like 5 because I found “colour” in a book, and she told me that was how they spelled it in the U.K. It didn’t kill me. ? I can’t imagine it being my job to go through and decide which britishisms a child will understand and which need to be changed. What a waste of time.
O.o
That’s baffling.
Children from where?
Obviously UK kids would understand.
Where I’m from, kids easily understand both UK English and American.
My cousin scattered around the world (Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe and also America), didn’t have that problem either?
However, it could be because both sides of my family’s parents are from the UK (England, Ireland and Scotland).
How long has this been going on anyway? Translating useless things for no reason?
American publishers said that, as an explanation for translating the Harry Potter books from UK to US.
As I said, I remember being taught in primary school both spellings and phrases. I’m from Ireland btw. My generation grewe up with media influences from both UK and US English, and even some Australian.
Elizabeth, probably since Webster decided that America needed different spellings to the Queens English, to distinguish themselves from the crown’so control.
We were also taught, in a way. Some set work books were American style, so it was quickly explained away. Then there’s the media, of course. Naturally you hear people say ‘aunt’ and ‘battery’ in a peculiar way and say ‘gotten’ which is not a word.
I feel like the Harry Potter ‘translation’ was just a waste of time and a money making scheme.
And not even really for Rowling’s benefit, but fingers in pies.
Rowling regretted allowing the publishers to make the changes. But she didn’t really have a choice as that was her first book and that was the only terms the publishers would publish it in the US with. Aso far as I know, her other books are not translated? But I’m not certain.
Ah!
Well, I’m pretty sure they were quickly distinguished with their odd way of speaking, lack of common identity and very minimal amount of culture.
Wait – minimal amount of their own culture as a country.
The natives had plenty, but after the colonisation, there isn’t much of an inclusive culture that is America.
Her other books are as well. I’m just finishing British chamber of secrets and noticing tons of changes from the American version I grew up on. It’s a shame, I feel like we don’t know this in America because we are not as exposed to British culture here as you are to American culture, but Harry Potter was a golden opportunity to change that and we squandered it. It’s that way because we make it so for some daft reason.
I can only imagine. She has such a passion and respect for the language.
However, she wanted the books to reach the readers, that was the goal.
Apparently all of them were ‘translated’? I can’t see why after the first one.
Apparently they wanted to do an American version of the movies too because the accents were ‘too difficult to understand’.
There was a legal matter about ripoffs of some sort or some or other thing.
I vaguely remember reading about it yonks ago.
@Jill, the whole world gets so much more of America than America gets of everyone else.
It’s rather sad.
My cousin that moved there when she was ten says that Americans are ‘underprivileged’ in that regard.
Jill. Hope this isn’t offensive, my husband is American. And one thing we’ve discussed is the lack of exposure to other cultures. It seems like its highly discouraged, which prevents comparisons. It keeps people biased and easier to control.
It’s pretty sad that I still come across Americans, who either don’t know Ireland exists or are surprised that we do indeed have indoor plumbing.
That’s a shame that all her books were Amercanised.
It wouldn’t surprise me, if it were true that they also wanted to Amercanise the movies.
I’m not offended. It’s true, and I think it’s sad. I wish I understood it. I think most of us are interested in other cultures and would be happy to learn. I’ve always been immensely interested in UK culture in large part because it’s so accessible because we both speak English, yet still so different. I find it fascinating. There is a very vocal minority, especially right now, who doesn’t understand how we benefit from diversity and they fear it. But that doesn’t represent how most of us feel about it. And when the powers that be decided American children wouldn’t understand British Harry Potter, doesn’t even mean that’s true. It’s more representative of attitudes in the book publishing industry than American readers. I think they are a bit out of touch with reality on this.
I completely agree. And it’s not true for the vast majority, but it doesn’t suit the powers that be, to make foreign cultures accessible.
O.o I didn’t know the extent of the unknowing.
Also, @Jill, I too apologize if I’ve offended you. Thank you, @Arie for pointing out that I may have been offensive. It was not my intention.
Yeah, it’s not much of a shocker that the movies would be Americanised.
Honestly, I’m happy that they weren’t. It’d take a lot away from them.
Subtitles and so on would be completely understandable. I mean, how many movies have come out that everyone has wanted to see but couldn’t understand?
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was released in Swedish, I think? It was brilliant. It had subtitles, thank goodness because I wouldn’t have understood it for shit.
Then the English version came out. A wonderful cast. Had I not read the books or seen the original movie, I may have actually enjoyed it. But honestly? Compared to the original movie alone (books are usually always better, so let’s not go there), the English movie was utter rubbish.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I read a story once that was set in the US but used British vocabulary. I remember they parked in the “car park” instead of the “parking lot” and a mother was called “Mum” instead of “Mom.” That was annoying.
The one thing that drives me insane though is when people say or write “me and xxxxx ” it’s “xxx and I “damnit it
But me and my friends do that all the time! ??? hahaha
@Kelan ppppfffttttt
It’s mostly ya novels that do it.. I still find it annoying and it shouldn’t be allowed
I actually haven’t noticed it. I’m going to start seeing it everywhere now aren’t I…
@Kelan yes.. yes you will ?
Oh well, l had to happen sometime!
Sometimes when books are written in old English, I will change the words to modern English, but the spelling of words doesn’t usually bother me
As long as it is consistent through the text, it doesn’t matter to me.
Mostly it doesn’t bother me, but yesterday I was reading The Night Circus and the chapter was called Shades of Grey and it just made me so happy to see it spelled with an ‘e’. : )
Doesn’t bother me as long as I have my phone to look up slang words I don’t know. ?
I struggle to read books by American authors (I’m from the UK) there’s only few I’m able to read.
I barely notice the difference.
It doesn’t typically bother me. I’m used to some of the changes from Shakespeare and others from my mom being Canadian. I even typically get the slang. Now, some Australian slang catches me. I’m not as familiar with it.
The different spelling and phrases do not bother me but the use of double quotation marks vs single quotation marks really does. If I pick up a book that has single I really have to want to read it to continue. It’s so distracting for me for some reason.
Omg this gets me too!!
You should try giving Cormac McCarthy a go… Doesn’t use quotation at all for dialogue. Really forces you to pay attention to what he has written.
@John that’s probably why I’ve only read one of his books!
Doesn’t bother me at all. Also, quite use to the slang as a lot of popular tv shows in UK are American.
Though, if an American author tries to set a story in UK and doesn’t get the slang or words right, or vice versa, when a UK author sets a story in America and doesn’t get it right, it can be jarring.
Versa
Not really, but sometimes I do have to look up things that I might not know.
I don’t even notice
I grew up reading books written by British authors (I guess before it was popular to Americanize texts) so I like it. Also, most of my dictionaries & spell checkers etc are set to British English & I am much better at spelling when I go by that. lol
It doesn’t bother which virson of English is used it’s the same language that’s being written and read
Doesn’t bother me but I appreciate when the author puts a note telling the reader. Then I know not poor editing.
What do you mean?
If it’s in English, I wish they would leave it alone. I really don’t need UK English translated to US. LoL
I have no problem with either, but I do think it’s silly to translate UK to US or US to UK
UK to US is an insult.
Let US publishers do as they do. Let us read as we will, but never degrade UK to US.
There are eight deadly sins.
People forget.
Well ok…..
You forgot the comma and the space between the ellipsis. Also, there are only three periods in an ellipsis.
Applause is generally held for achievements.
I merely stated the obvious.
I appreciate your enthusiasm, but it’s general knowledge and the basics of the English language.
There are classes, though. Anyone and everyone are always welcome.
Sorry, I’m against spoon-feeding people. You’ll have to do the research yourself in order to better yourself.
Me spoon-feeding you would only make me an enabler.
You doing it for yourself would put you on the path of Independence.
Best of luck!
It’s not a button that you just press. It doesn’t work like that. Nor is it an alarm to alert others that you’ve either had a thought or are in need of their help.
It comes from you. Effort. You need to put the time in so as to accomplish your full potential instead of settling for the mediocre that people lead you to believe that you are.
Do you teach chemistry? That was my Achilles heel.
Very fun argument. 🙂
Who’s arguing?
All I saw was @Megan fall on her face after chemistry.
Doesn’t both me at all. I like the queens English even though I am American
Clearly. It doesn’t ‘both’ you.
‘Bother’, ‘Bovver’, but ‘both’?
You wouldn’t notice.
No, bother.
Unnecessary comma.
@Elizabeth, http://grammarly.com/ says it is needed for a proper sentence.
‘No bother.’ means it doesn’t worry you. ‘No, bother.’ is likely an incomplete and incorrect exclamation.
@Elizabeth, with all due respect Ma’am; bite me. If I want a lesson in proper English structure and usage, I will be sure to seek your expertise. In the meantime, it is my prerogative to write using improper English if I so chose. Please troll elsewhere.
@Connie, no use for ma’am.
And English is always used in the proper order. When it is not, people fail school and books go unpublished.
Luckily, there are basic courses.
Then Sir if it suits you. Now, I am finished interacting with you. Cherrio.
I do prefer sir, yes. It’s got less of a stigma with it, but you missed the point.
Perhaps a full course for you, then?
Good day.
No bother at all.
I’ve read so many that I could probably go there and everything would seem familiar. Doesn’t bother me.
That made no sense
Then I put it badly. Sorry. I live in the U.S. and I read a lot of books set in the U.K. The language is familiar to me so it doesn’t bother me.
Oh, I’m assuming you left out an ‘and’ in the first sentence?
@Elizabeth Hahaha…I left out something. Yes, I did leave out the “and” but it wasn’t very clear even with it. 🙂
@Elizabeth Let’s pop that “and” in so it will be a bit better.
Makes much more sense with the ‘and’. ?
To me English is English. I grew up with books from both sides of the pond.
English is English indeed. With one pond.
The only UK author I have trouble understanding is Jane Austen. It’s in English, but it’s different English. Am l making sense?
Old English. Most people do.
They say that reading out loud helps understanding.
Nope, only bothers me when there is a lot of spelling errors lol
Nah, just depends if it’s Shakespeare type of english, then I read a little slower, other than that, it’s really no issue.
Nope
No but some UK words I have to look up..
Well… I got this one ARC of a U.K. book. Other reviews of the book said that it was hilarious. But I actually found it bizarre and unsettling. So, maybe it’s a cultural thing. The book is The Murdstone Trilogy, if anyone else has read it.
I haven’t read it, but British humor is quite different so I can understand how it might take some getting used to
At this point, I’m so used to American English that I rarely notice the difference. Unless I’m doing schoolwork and have to remember to use UK English.
It doesn’t bother me.
Not any more. It did when I was younger.
I’ve gotten use to reading books with US spelling. So much so that when I read my Canadian/UK version of Harry Potter I was startled to see Canadian spelling lol
I’ve always liked the UK spelling, but I’m from the US ??
Doesn’t bother me.
I wasn’t bothered by it at all. I spent about a month in England in 2016 and loved the books I purchased at the local book shops. A couple were even set in the town we were visiting ❤
In books, I don’t mind. If I see a classmate or someone I know personally spell it the UK way it’s a pet peeve
I find that the English write way better than the Americans. especially the chick lit authors who are mostly from the UK
No bother at all…
If my students question it, I use it as a teaching opportunity!
I prefer UK but have learnt to tolerate US
Loving these comments, fascinating.
I know right!
I enjoy hearing opinions from people in other countries.
Me too ?
Don’t bother. Influenced by American spelling even though my country use British standard ?
In your opinion which books are noticeably different? Harry Potter is mentioned alot, I think I need to buy an American edition to see what everyone is talking about.
The only thing I’ve ever noticed is putting a u in words like color or honor. Would be colour or honour with U.K. spelling. Americans also say “I went to the hospital” while brits say “I went to hospital”. But that’s just me.
Yes we have the u’s. In some groups I still get people telling me I’m spelling words wrong ?
I’m buying the Scots English edition in March when it’s available. That’s going to have some very obvious differences, but I think it will be lots of fun to read.
There are word differences in Harry Potter.
An example was the description of the size of Hagrids hands. Dustbin lids is the original, but trashcan lids is used for US.
There’s also extra writing in the US editions.
https://www.hp-lexicon.org/differences-changes-text/
@Alice, I’ve just read an example from that edition & I really hope readers from other countries don’t think we all talk that way here.
It’s taking slang to the extreme, if the example is anything to go by. We do not all talk like that, I don’t know anyone who does.
Good news for you, then, as I know this isn’t how most of you over there talk. I still think it’ll be fun to read, though. ?
@Arie, thank you. I suppose the publishers wanted to ensure understanding in children but it comes across as extremely patronising.
I’m a huge fan of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. It was hard at first but now I’m used to UK English.
It annoyed me that the British ‘my grandmother sends her regards and apologizes’ got translated into ‘my grandma asked me to tell you she’s sorry’… Seriously? I really like the British title.
The American “What She Knew” by Gilly MacMillan was Burnt Paper Sky in the U.K., a reference to an absolutely gorgeous line in the text. I liked that better too. Not so much a translation as a marketing decision I guess, but I honestly frequently forget which title goes with which story because “what she knew” is so incredibly generic and has so little to do with the story.
English 🙂
Any Americanism bugs me
Doesn’t make any difference to me, but typos drive me insane.
I don’t mind, as long as I can understand it. English isn’t my first language anyway, so I use colloquialisms from both US and UK English without even noticing it… 😉
I live in Aus which follows UK but there’s so much US influence here I just take what I get
I don’t have a problem reading either, but when I’m writing I use UK and my devices always seem to want to autocorrect to US.
Doesn’t bother me and I love learning about different languages and way of life too. One of the reasons I LOVE reading.
UK has words that don’t mean the same here in the US
Not at all.
Never bugged me in the slightest
I’m dyslexic so even if the spelling is different unless I really concentrate I don’t even notice ?
I just read in my mother tongue ? I don’t know why but I don’t enjoy reading in other languages
Not at all
it used to, but having lived in the UK for a year desensitized me to the difference ?
I moved in UK 3 years ago, and I am still learning English (I am from Romania) so at the moment I try to read books written by British authors, due the fact that US English it is a bit different, and it gets confusing when I have my English exams. Before living here, I was more familiar with US English, both movies and books. Can anyone please recommend a British book?
I prefer UK though. Because the way it written is different from US. And maybe because I learned British English. But anyway, I read both. I will confuse sometimes if they translated the original UK to US edition.
It doesn’t bother me
Doesn’t bother me
There’s much more than just spelling differences between American and English. Grammar usage is totally different and some words and phrases are different. I teach British English in Czechia and have a list as long as my arm to differentiate the differences. I much prefer British authors for the writing and usage of language. I usually go to American English authors for a ‘light’ read which I know is controversial but it’s just how I like it. There are a few exceptions to this as usual but it’s just generally how I feel.
I love both types
I love reading the difference. My parents got me the British lit of Harry Potter, and I’m excited to reread the series.
I like both but rarely see UK versions in the US.
I wouldn’t say it bothers me but it does startle me some st the beginning of a book.
Really? I never really thought about it? I’m used to german books and I love reading in english but… I seriosely don’t know if they’re british or american english. But i love the british accent although I speak american english (if any)
Not bothersome at all
Don’t minddd
Nope? I usually don’t even catch it til midbook and then I go back because I’m like “wait has this book used tradition English this whole time??”
I’m a terrible speller, so most of the time I don’t notice ?