OT: excellent book on information theory

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:04:51 +0100, Mikael Olofsson wrote:

> One question here is: Are US English and UK English different languages 
> or not? If they are, a translation is in place. If they are not, the 
> text should have been left as is. I guess the answer is:
> -Well, sort of...

That's the sort of question which you should be asking a linguist. I'm
told that linguists do NOT consider US English and UK English different
languages, but merely different variants of English.

And of course, "standard UK English" and "standard US English" are hardly
spoken by anyone in the UK or US respectively. Both countries have dozens
of different dialects and variants.

But the real question is why it is that American publishers believe their
readers are so lazy and ignorant that they require special "translations"
of British books. I don't know anyone who has said "I'm glad that I read
the American edition of [Harry Potter/Discworld/pick your own example], it
was much better than the British edition." Not even American fans.


-- 
Steven.