The Stephen Fry versions of the Potter books.

[John]

No: HPFGUIDX 192364






> Geoff:
> > > Shouldn't be since they were written in UK English originally..
> > > <vbeg, waving Union Jack kept over from the Jubilee celebrations>
> > >
> > > Glad to hear from another UK resident; whereabouts are you?
>
> AJM:
> > I live in Yelverton, Devon - about 10 miles from Plymouth.  I'm
> > actually quite surprised there aren't more UK fans on the list,
> > especially as the books were written in the UK.
>
> Geoff:
> I suspect it's because the fanfic group probably caught on more
> rapidly over there in the US.
>
> We're not a million miles apart - I'm in Minehead; I've been on the
> group raising (hopefully) interesting questions and thoughts about
> all matters Potter since 2003.


Hi All.

I'm another Brit, who has just joined this group. Glad to see I'm not the only bloke from our 'quaint little island' here.;o)

Hi to Geoff and Andy. I'm currently resident in SE London, but hoping to escape into civilisation again soon, as I was previously a Canterbury resident and hoping to become one again.

I too have both versions of the audiobooks and I know which I certainly prefer, the one in the original language. I'm a fan of the amazing 'polymath' Stephen Fry anyway, so perhaps a bit biased I'll admit.

Being an admirer of many American authors and as a fanfiction.net member I'm fully used to the Americanisms often present in US fan fiction set in the British Wizarding World. Nevertheless I was very disappointed that the books and resultant audiobooks had been so 'mucked about with' by Scholastic, something which as far as I know didn't happen in either Canadian or Australian versions.

I feel that the 'alterations' whilst perhaps making comprehension of meanings easier for young American readers is actually a bit condescending. It almost amounts to saying 'You're not intelligent enough to work this out sweety'. :o(

C'mon, kids these days are so savvy about things and if they are confused by a UK English words or phrases, like say jumper or car park  they are perfectly capable of looking it up online, and by so doing will actually learn something useful about life and language in the UK. As to adding actual American 'substitutions', such as switching sidewalk for pavement that is just absurd! Why not simply relocate the whole story to New England, modify the plotline, characterisation and dialogue accordingly and get it over with? ;o)

If I write a story set in the US, and I have, then I take as much care as I can to use appropriate wording as far as is possible within my knowledge of the language and culture, for instance I would not use tap instead of faucet, I would not use till instead of register or car park instead of parking lot, etc. etc. I see this as common courtesy to the country and people I am writing about and also plain common sense. Apparently Scholastic do not agree. :o(

By the way, as I said in my intro post when I joined earlier today, I will continue to use UK English expressions and spelling when posting here, despite what all the little red lines beneath my 'misspellings' try and force me to do. :o)  I trust that everyone here, be they American, Brit or from wherever is quite capable of working out my meaning from the context and if not then try asking your kids, they might just surprise you with their grasp of 'Britspeak'. :o)

Many Blessings All.
John,(Oriondruid)