I’m writing a novel, part of which takes place in Australia, and I was hoping someone could provide some good links to find out about the country. I don’t need things like population and who’s in charge. More like the stuff you’d want to know for day-to-day stuff:
What side of the road do you drive on?
What time zone(s) are you in?
Where I could find out words you use that Americans don’t. I.E. trunk/boot, cookies/biscuits.
Finding good links is surprisingly difficult for me on this subject, so any help would be appreciated. And if anyone wants to help by being my designated Aussie expert, you’ll get the most extraordinary benefit of getting your name in my Acknowledgments page.
**throatshot **
What side of the road do you drive on? Left
What time zone(s) are you in? Australia has three main ones, four during daylight savings. Eastern (Qld/NSW/Vic/ACT/Tas) is GMT+11, Central (SA and NT) is GMT+10.5, Western is GMT +9
Where I could find out words you use that Americans don’t. We use all the words that you do, just with differnt meanings! Good references of US -> Aust are a bit thin on the ground, the other way around has more options.
Good links have been already provided, so I don’t need to add any more. Just a word of advice to use slang sparingly; it is easy to sound forced and overdone when a non-native speaker tries to use it. You don’t want to wind up sounding like Crocodile Dundee on acid, just as I’d be very reluctant to try to convincingly sound like a Southern gentleman or a fast talking New Yorker (accent issues aside), even though a lot of their slang is known to me. Use Aussie slang by all means, but just spread it thinly. If in doubt, use international English, and you’ll get away with it. Our English still tends to follow the British example, especially in spelling.
If you need ongoing specific help on the nuts and bolts of this, then click on the link in my sig, and post your questions on our message board. Woolly, my good self, and the rest of the locals will be happy to help.
You should do a research trip! I bet there’s some way you could get your agent to fund it for you
I tell you what, though - when I moved to Australia from New Zealand, I figured that the two countries were almost exactly alike. Boy was I wrong! The differences are many and varied, but most importantly they’re small and you don’t realise they’re there until you get confronted with them.
Pronunciation, names, places, methods of using transport systems, even shopping centres - all of them have these little fiddly quirks that Australians have always known and if they see you doing it differently, they instantly think you’re a bit odd.
Agent? snork If anyone knows of a good agent that will actually sit down and read what I wrote, I would be eternally grateful. Do I have publishing credits, you ask? Why, yes, I do.
I would love to take a trip to Australia, but that one’s a wee out of my financial range at the moment.
Thank you everyone, for all your helpful tips and advice. This is definitely going to be my best book yet.
