If I (an American) were to quote a British person in writing, how would I spell words like “defence” “labour” and “Aluminium”? I’m mainly interested in the third case, since the spelling and pronunciation are different. Also, would it be any different for a British person quoting an American?
Yes, when you quote you generally quote verbatim, spelling and all. As would the Brit.
I think that if you’re quoting spoken speech, you need to write it in the language of your audience. If you’re quoting text from an article, of course you should quote it verbatim, and maybe sic would be appropriate since it’s misspelt in your target audience’s version of the language.
Here’s the tricky one: If you’re quoting speech written in a book or article, I would write it the correct way for your target. But if the quote is part of a larger cite, I would leave it as is.
For example, Tony Blair said, “Think of our national defense.”
According to British Tabloid Daily, “…[T]he princess fell from the second storey [sic].”
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