Lost in Translation

Getting published is hard enough, but doing it from Australia, can be even tougher.  It’s not just the time difference, or the expense of overseas postage, phone calls and currency transactions.  It’s the bloody language barrier.  Yep, English shmenglish.  As you all know already, English is not the same all over the world.

Now, I’m lucky to have an American critique partner who LOVES all my Aussie/British-isms [waves across the oceans at the fabulous, Heather Ashby] :-)  But as an Aussie writer still trying my luck in North American contests and with US agents and editors, I often wonder just how Americanised (yes, with an ‘s’) my English needs to be to succeed.  Like, if I used “boot”, would the reader realise I meant the “trunk” of a car?  Or, if I wrote the character “walked upstairs to the first floor”, would the reader think he/she was coming from the basement?  

It’s a real question of authenticity versus our intended/actual audience.  Would our books, written in Australian or British English, be misunderstood, or even thought of as having technical errors in the States?

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve spent hours wondering how Australian to make my characters.  Most contests I’ve entered do not specify penalties for non-American spelling—some even instruct judges not to penalise them—but I have nevertheless lost points for using Australian English for characters and settings in Australia. 

So here’s a little cheat sheet that’s hopefully a little bit more informative than watching Crocodile Dundee.  The following spelling/grammar/punctuation are also true for British English, but the slang is mainly Australian so they won’t help the next time there’s a Downton Abbey marathon

Spelling/Grammar/Punctuation

The “-ise” suffix is the same as “-ize” (eg. realise, memorise)
‘ou’ vs ‘o’ (eg. honour, mould, neighbour, favourite, colour, odour)
 ‘ll’ vs ‘l’ (eg. travelling, signalled)
‘-re’ vs ‘-er’ (eg. centre, metre, theatre)
The extra ‘o’ (eg. foetal, manoeuvre)
dreamnt = dreamed
cheque = check (as in, the form of money)
programme = program
storey = story (the level of a house)
tyre = tire (the rubber part of the wheel)
catalogue/epilogue/dialogue = catalog/epilog/dialog  
get/got/got = get/got/gotten
different from/to = different than
talk to = talk with
towards = toward
clothes size = Australian and British sizes sound bigger than American sizes eg. an Australian Size 12 is the same as a Size 10 in the US and a Size 14 in the UK
Mrs/Mr/Ms/Dr = Mrs./Mr./Ms./Dr.

 

 

Now, try saying the slang below with an Aussie accent.  If you can’t, no worries.  Even Meryl Streep couldn’t do it!

Slang

arvo = afternoon (we like putting an ‘o’ at the end of many shortened words)

Beauty! = Great!

bogan = an uncouth person

boot = trunk (of a car)

budgie smugglers = men’s swimming trunks

chook = chicken

chuck a sickie = pretend to be sick to get a day off work/school

convo = conversation

cot = crib

daggy = unfashionable

dodgy = suspicious, not reliable

dunny = toilet

fancy dress party = costume party

fringe = bangs

grog = alcohol

ground floor = first floor (this means our first floor is your second floor)

hoon = hooligan

How’s it going? = How are you doing?

jumper = sweater

lolly = candy

nappy = diaper

pissed = drunk

pissed off = angry

prawn = shrimp

rego = registration

serviette = paper napkin

singlet = tank top

togs = swimwear (we also use “cozzie”)

torch = flashlight

unit = apartment

whinge (to complain) = whine

woop woop = the middle of nowhere, a really remote area

 

I hope these help the next time you read a bit of Australian writing :-) Please feel free to add to the list in the comments below.  Other forms of English are also welcome :-)  Maybe you’ve come across them in your travels or from reading?  What do you think of reading other forms of English?