Harry Potter and other books - Americanized!

I think someone told J K Rowling:

"You know, if we sell the book without adapting it to the american market, we make X money; if we change a few things so americans can understand it better, we make Y money. Doesn't hurt much, does it? And besides, I'm sure you can use the money J K..."

Forget children's comprehension, forget cultural awareness. Dollar rules.

P.S: I really, REALLY like when someone writes (or speaks, as in movies) in African-American english ("Yo Hermione"). It's just SO expressive! I whish I could write "black" american english as a native.

In other extreme pronunciation of the language, I also like a lot the ultra-british accent of actor Edward Fox, who always plays the role of aristocrats, colonial officers, butlers etc.

I have to agree with Uriel's "mountain out of a molehill" comment. The primary reason spelling would be changed is because:

i) The books are for schoolkids that are still learning to spell, variation may only confuse them.
ii) Every publisher has a house-style which must be adhered to, so changes are always made.

There are many dual spellings in English (both in the US and the UK) where publishing houses will make a decision as to what their style is e.g. adviser/ advisor, judgment / judgement, acknowledgment / acknowledgement, swap / swop, focused / focussed, biased / biassed, aging / ageing- to name a few.

I know for example that if I send a press release out with the spelling advisor (used by my company) the newspapers will more often than not change it to adviser- does that particularly bother me? Not at all!

@Rick: But other people do care about these things.
But you're right: spelling is not a big issue. Changing expressions is, however (in my opinion).
Interestingly, as said above, British publishers usually don't change American novels into British English, they "respect the original source." American publishers usually don't. So obviously, British publishers don't always apply their house style.
As an American, I wouldn't want to read "James Bond" (for example) in American English. But I know that the American editions were changed. It even says "Ministry of Defense"! (check out the correct spelling at www.mod.uk ;-))

<<By the same token, I assume you'd not care if your Hermes handbag -if you have one- is the real McCoy or a very good imitation. >>

You're entirely right. I wouldn't. Not a big brand-name snob, and I've never carried a purse of any kind anyway. (Don't have that much crap to carry around, and I have enough trouble keeping track of my keys...)

I think Rick's right; the books were written for kids, who can't always be expected to be that familiar with dialectical differences that we take in stride as adults. Sure. They changed "jumper" to "sweater". Well, an American 8-year-old would be wondering why Harry was wearing what for us is a dress. Is it a big deal? No. Not really. Shouldn't you be happy that a British book series has been such a wild success in the US, rather than nitpicking over minor details?

Change isn't always bad, either. Look at Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series. In the UK, they were published as "Northern Lights", "The Subtle Knife", and "The Amber Spyglass". But in the US, the first book was called "The Golden Compass". Now, there were obvious reasons why the original title was "Northern Lights" -- the aurora borealis was a central theme. But if you reexamine the US titles, you will see that each book is now named for the major artifact employed in its storyline -- so the US titles make more sense in terms of overall continuity. So there's a change that might actually have been an improvement.

They are supposedly going to film it, so we'll see which title they eventually go with.

All right -- I just flipped through a copy of Goblet of Fire. The American edition. It's rife with Briticisms like "manky" and "prat", which are meaningless here. It still has people "going on" about things. Dialogue is still recognizably in British dialect. It still has non-rhotic phonetic spellings for Hagrid's dialogue, where he says "ter" for "to" (this would probably be "ta" to us). Rita Skeeter (which doesn't rhyme for us, of course) still takes Harry into a "broom cupboard" instead of a "broom closet". Yes, "armour" is now spelled without the U, but it's still pretty obvious to me that it's a British author.

***I think someone told J K Rowling:

...... I'm sure you can use the money J K..."***

Ha! Maybe a year or two back, yes, but hardly so these days......she's rolling in the readies now......in the time it's taken me to type this post she's earned a few thousand quid in royalties. To think she started out scribbling her HP scripts on scraps of paper over a cup of coffee in an Edinburgh cafe.

It's understandable for the Americans to adapt texts to their own brand of English for their own market, and it's obvious that Britisicms would be just as irritating ....(is that too strong a word?)....to them as Americanisms are to us this side of the Puddle.

There is a TV words game on our Channel 4 TV called "Countdown"...basically two contestants select nine letters at random (using the most likely combination of vowels and consonants to make up a recogniSed word) and then have thirty seconds to come up with a word using as many of the nine letters as possible. If they make up an acceptable nine letter word that's a sort of bull's eye and the studio lights flash and the relative contestant gets full points.

The actual point I wish to make is that all American spellings are permissable, so words like "honor" (if there is no U in the selection) or "realize" (if there's no S) are accepted as kosher and score points. I remember when the word "cigaret" was accepted as there were not an extra E or T available to make up the British version "cigarette". I never realiSed (hee hee) that that was the American way of spelling the word.

This now begs the question of whether an American TV version of "Countdown" would allow British spellings as acceptable for the purpose of the game? Flame me if you like, but I would suspect not...... LOL

http://www.thecountdownpage.com/

http://www.crosswordtools.com/letters-game
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RIP Richard Whiteley

@Uriel:
So what exactly does "manky" and "prat" mean? I'm curious.

"Dialogue is still recognizably in British dialect"


That's because the characters in Harry Potter are British.

Famous British novels and how they'd be translated for Americans -



Original - "Border Crossing"
Yank - "Frontier Crossing"

Original - "Licence to Kill"
Yank - "License to Shoot Yo Goddam Punk Asses"

Original - "Goodbye Mr Chips"
Yank - "Get Outta Here Mr Chips, Dude!"

Original - "Cakes and Ale"
Yank - "Cakes and Bud"

Original - "Was it Murder?"
Yank - "Was it Homicide?"

Original - Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens"
Yank - Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens, Georgia"

Original - "Two Gentlemen of Verona"
Yanks - "Two Dudes of Verona"

"I think she just agreed to fit with American grammar, considering that the books are children's."

I'm sure that if these children can cope with reading such a thick book they could cope with a little British English.

"... it's obvious that Britisicms would be just as irritating ..."

They why even read the book in the first place? How do you get irritated by British English in the context of a British novel?

"Or that alternative spellings of previously known words will make children (and adults) suddenly start spelling things wrong, sending school test scores falling?"

You'd get marked wrong for using Commonwealth spelling in an American test?

Original - "Goodbye Mr Chips"
Yank - "Get Outta Here Mr. French Fries, Dude!"

When I was young I read "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Fin". Do you reckon it was "translated" into Australian English for my poor little young narrow mind to cope with?

"You'd get marked wrong for using Commonwealth spelling in an American test?"

I am an American, and I've been marked down for accidentally using British spellings before (like "behaviour" instead of "behavior").

Original - "A Streetcar Named Desire"
Commonwealth - "A Tram Named Desire"

<<Original - "Border Crossing"
Yank - "Frontier Crossing">>

Actually, it's the British who use "frontier" where we would use "border". To us, a frontier implies wild, unsettled country, usually at the edge of more settled country. That's why Alaska is "The Last Frontier". Borders are just lines on a map.


<<it's obvious that Britisicms would be just as irritating ....(is that too strong a word?)....to them as Americanisms are to us this side of the Puddle. >>

I don't think Americans find Briticisms irritating, just different. We don't have the same kind of resentment toward them that the British do toward our usages.


<<I remember when the word "cigaret" was accepted as there were not an extra E or T available to make up the British version "cigarette". I never realiSed (hee hee) that that was the American way of spelling the word. >>


It's not. Cigarette is spelled the same way in the US. I don't know anyone who uses "cigaret". I'm sure it has happened, but it's not the popular, accepted way to spell it.


<<You'd get marked wrong for using Commonwealth spelling in an American test? >>

Yes, Jim, in the US you would be marked wrong for using Commonwealth spellings, or at least told to quit being cute.



<<"Dialogue is still recognizably in British dialect"


That's because the characters in Harry Potter are British. >>

No shit, Sherlock. My point was that it had not been Americanized, as the original poster was implying they had been. My point was that any changes to the American editions have been moinor, and do not detract from the original flavor -- sorry, flavour -- of the stories.


<<I'm sure that if these children can cope with reading such a thick book they could cope with a little British English. >>

The first few books were much slimmer in both size and content. Those were also the books that had the most changes made to them -- I remember "Mum" being changed to "Mom" in the first one, which no longer happens. But remember, those were also the books that were first on the market - the test cases, so to speak. Obviously as the series' popularity skyrocketed and the publishers realized that the language was no barrier to sales, they cut back on such editing decisions. And also, the later books are really aimed at a slightly older audience than the first ones -- they start getting thicker and much more thematically dense. Plus, their core readership is aging along with the characters, so that makes sense.

Totally with Uriel on "cigarette" being the correct spelling. Damian, no idea where they got that "cigaret" was the American spelling. My best guess - someone tried to pull the wool over someone else's eyes just to get their points.

I think people just assume that we are obsessed with shortening words. Which we do, in moderation, but not to the extent of "cigaret". Even "thru" is not an actual standard spelling here.