That’s where I got my copies of 3 and 4 and I was very satisfied with their service.
Fenris
do you mean asterix the gaul?
minor nitpick: he’s French.
Except they didn’t. It was a stupid, elitist thing to do.
After all, why did they translate it for American audiences but not sell the American version in Canada? Canadians don’t understand UK English any better than Americans do; almost all the changes apply to the way Canadians speak. Yet Canadian kids, who aren’t any brighter than American kids, don’t seem to have a problem with it.
Yes, I know he’s French, but the translations into English were done in England – and they have clearly added jokes that are not in the French original. A lot of these depend on things peculiar to British culture. Jokes about “bangers” (which made no sense until I learned they are sausages), or "licenses to listen to the Heralds ("thinly-disguised TV licenses), and the like.
There are also a lot of jokes about Roman cultyure and learning latin that, I think traces back to the tradition of studying Latin in school. Certainly the French must hasve done this as well as the English (the whole series of Asterix books is an extended joke on Roman civilization), but when I compare the British editions with the French originals I find that the joke’s not in the French edition.
Example: A group of drunken Roman soldiers in Asterix in Britain. They stumble about going: “Hic!”, “Hic!”, “Hic!”, then “Hic, Haec, Hoc”. Anyone who’s ever taken Latin would immediately recognize the conjugation of “This/Here”. In fact, they almost certainly thought of it themselves. But it ain’t in the French edition. I have no idea why not – the joke would work in French, too.
So, the British edition has a comic sense different from the French edition, and that’s why I brought it up.
Thank GOD they didn’t “Americanize” this, like the Harry Potter books.
Maybe J. K. Rowling’s translator is Mark Serlin :eek:
I’m Australian, and our edition is apparently identical to the UK edition, but I first read an American edition sent to me by a friend in the states. Most of the things that were altered for Americans passed me by, but I was repeatedly jarred by the word “Mom” whenever I saw it. Since (in my head) the characters were speaking with an English accent, “Mom” just didn’t work for me! This has never been a problem for me in the past when I read books about or by Americans because it’s natural for them, but English children say “Mum”. I don’t think that should have been altered, unless the whole setting of the book was shifted to the US. I don’t mind so much for things like jumper/sweater where it wouldn’t make much sense unless you had some way of looking up the alternative meaning, but a “Mum” is clearly a “Mom”, and fits the dialog better.
RickJay - despite being physically close to America, I think Canada tends to spell words and use words in the manner of the English. I have no actual knowledge that this is the case, but seem to recall observing it from time to time on the internet.
Yeah, that drove me nuts – so did changing “football” to “soccer.” The rest didn’t really bother me, though neither do I think most of the changes were hugely necessary.
Incidentally, I think they only change “Mum” in the first book.
Oh, and Canada does spell words as the English do, generally. The slang is different, of course, so I guess RickJay’s question still applies.
Though I loved the HP books, I do feel sort of ripped off that I was robbed of hearing the authentic British voice when I was reading them. That’s why I asked Santa Claus to bring me the British versions for Christmas.
Seeing as how there is mail in our shared e-mail in-box from Amazon.uk, I have the feeling I might be getting them. (That Santa is a great guy, but not the best in the world about keeping secrets.)
Cazzle, I’m Canadian. Trust me; the Americanized version is 95% Canadianized as well. The only significant similarly between Canadian and UK English is adding U’s to words like “Colour,” and a few s/z words like “realise.”
Almost all the other words changes, and all the changes in sentence structure and grammar, change the original British text to what a Canadian kid is taught and would understand. The vocabulary changes, especially, are Canadian-friendly; a good example in Chapter 1 is the UK “shan’t” versus the American “won’t” - in Canada it’s “won’t.” We also say “newscaster” instead of “news reader,” “Trash can” instead of “dustbin,” “come in handy” instead of “come in useful,” “on vacation” instead of “on holiday,” and use “was” and were" the way the US does (e.g. we say “the crowd was surging,” not the UK “the crowd were surging.” We follow American hyphenation protocol, too; for instance, to use it’s “ice cream,” not “ice-cream.”
Canadian spellings are split. Some words are British, e.g. “colour”; others are American, like “wagon” and “tire.”
In total, I’d say that a Canadian kid would be familiar with 95% of the Americanized test and only 5% of the British text. And yet every kid around here is absolutely nuts over Harry Potter. Somehow I think the American kids would have gotten it too.
so I went to Amazon.co.uk
what’s the difference between the regular series and the adult edition? Is it just the cover?
not sure why that link doesn’t work.
if you copy and paste, it works though.
I’m supposing it’s just the cover…so adults won’t feel sheepish reading it in public?
Although when I read 'em I don’t give a crap who sees me. 