22 Responses

  1. Serena S.
    Serena S. at |

    English is noy mt first language so I sometimes I don’t recognize right away the author’s origins. But I do agree it becomes a lot of work (for the author) if they write from a different place from where they are.

    Reply
    1. jlmerrow
      jlmerrow at |

      Lol – yes, there must be even more pitfalls when translating into an entirely different language! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Purple Reader
    Purple Reader at |

    Congrats, sounds like a good one. And I appreciated your thoughts on the Brits vs. Americans.

    Reply
    1. jlmerrow
      jlmerrow at |

      Thank you! 😀

      Reply
  3. Didi
    Didi at |

    Same as Serena, English is not my first language that I’m not quick to notice the difference. It’s easier to catch them verbally though, how same word pronounced differently. For different usage of words to express an object, my go-to is either e-reader dictionary or google, lol.

    Reply
    1. jlmerrow
      jlmerrow at |

      I love the dictionary feature on my e-reader – saves so much time and effort! 😀

      Reply
  4. Trix
    Trix at |

    It’s not so much my story, but I had a friend who lived in the UK for several years. When she had to give her mother’s maiden name when dealing with banks or whatnot, she always had trouble because the name had two Zs in it, near the beginning and end. If she remembered one “zed,” she’d forget the next one–“Zee! I mean, zed!”–and have to start over.

    Reply
    1. jlmerrow
      jlmerrow at |

      Yes, what is it with the zee/zed divide? *googles* Hah! zed is the original form, and therefore clearly better. 😉 Although I quite like the idea of “izzard”: http://mentalfloss.com/article/62639/why-it-zed-britain-and-zee-america

      Reply
  5. Jennifer
    Jennifer at |

    I’m Canadian and even we have a language divide with the US. Pencil crayons are colored pencils. KD is short for Kraft Dinner, which is how they marketed mac and cheese here. Every time someone talks about a beanie or knitted hat, I want to tell them that it’s a toque (which is like ‘took’ with the same vowel sound of ‘new’). The one that gets me with the UK is the whole pants/jumper thing.

    Reply
    1. jlmerrow
      jlmerrow at |

      No, no. A toque is a posh French hat, and you pronounce it “tock”!
      And there’s no “and” in macaroni cheese. 😉

      But yes, the clothes ones are the worst! Although oddly, my dad (who is roughly as old as the colonies, and British through and through) has always said “pants” to mean trousers. I have no idea what’s going on there!

      Reply
  6. Susana Perez
    Susana Perez at |

    Thank you for the post. It is strange how accents work… I am from the north of Spain, everybody says that we do not talk, we sing (LOL, even when I was in Ireland people kept asking me why my accent was so different from the rest of the Spaniards there….) Anyway, I cannot understand people from the South of the country. Their accent is weird, I get lost trying to understand what they are talking about most of the times….

    Reply
    1. jlmerrow
      jlmerrow at |

      Heh, I’m from the south of England, and what you say puts me in mind of the time I first heard a Glaswegian talk – I couldn’t understand a single word! And I love that description of your accent as “singing”. 😀

      Reply
  7. Lee Todd
    Lee Todd at |

    congrats on the re-release
    as an Aussie I get confused with word choices as well lol

    Reply
    1. jlmerrow
      jlmerrow at |

      Heh, I have an Aussie friend and she’s constantly confusing me! 😀

      Reply
  8. 16forward
    16forward at |

    We got to spend a week in Canada this summer! It was so great. Me met people from all over the world while we were there…China, Italy, England, Sweden, Croatia to name a few. I love hearing accents and talking with people about our crazy politics. Some ideas cross vocabularies and geographical boundaries!

    Reply
    1. jlmerrow
      jlmerrow at |

      I’m very envious – Canada is one of the places I’d love to go to! I’d like to take a rail trip across the country. The scenery looks amazing. 🙂

      Reply
  9. Debra Guyette
    Debra Guyette at |

    What a great cover. I hope to read this one soon.

    Reply
    1. jlmerrow
      jlmerrow at |

      Thank you!

      Reply
  10. H.B.
    H.B. at |

    Great cover! Congrats on the new book!

    Reply
    1. jlmerrow
      jlmerrow at |

      Thanks!

      Reply
  11. Ami
    Ami at |

    Ehm, I live in Indonesia — we have so many ‘regional’ languages. I only speak my national language, and although it’s close to Malay (which is used in Malaysia or SIngapore) doesn’t mean that I can understand their speak easily.

    For example — kereta in Indonesia means TRAIN while in Malaysia means CAR. But it’s written the same and sound the same *lol*

    Reply
    1. jlmerrow
      jlmerrow at |

      Okay, that sounds really confusing – at least if the meanings were wildly different you’d be able to rely on context!

      Reply

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