Sunday, January 23, 2011

Editing & the Australian Lexicon.

[Image: Collins Concise Dictionary 5th Australian Edition. 2001 pg852]

I am currently deep into editing "Magical Gains", and as the novel is being published on the other side of the world to me, there are are quite a few lexical changes to make!

The lexicon of a language relates to the vocabulary of that language, and as everyone knows there are some some serious differences between Australian English and American English.

For example;
biscuit = cookie
lounge suite = sofa/couch
car boot = car trunk
jumper = sweater
windscreen = windshield

That's just a few I can think of - and I'm not even starting on the spelling differences!

 At first, I'll admit, I was kind of surprised at the need to change, because it's not something I'd every really thought much about. I am happy to say however that dialectual differences don't change the story and romance is romance no matter which lexicon you're writing in.

Having said that, it's a good job I didn't write about bogans getting some piss from the bottle-o, watching some footie on the box, then going and getting paro at Blue's barbie. I really feel you'd loose something in the translation there!

Now... back to it :)

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