The difference between American English and British English: don't be ridiculous in English translation.

In my previous sharing article about the differences between British English and American English, I mentioned that American English and British English are different in words and grammar. The difference between the two, if you don't pay attention to English translation, is bound to make a lot of jokes.

Influenced by many factors such as history, region and culture, American English and British English have obvious differences, and both have their own characteristics. Therefore, when we need to translate English into Chinese, we should translate according to the reading methods and characteristics of different kinds of English in order to be accurate, concise and easy to understand.

Spelling difference

Americans are a pragmatic people, and they take a pragmatic attitude in spelling. In the development of American English, some letters that are not spelled correctly have been deleted, and the difference in spelling is a big difference between them. First of all, words ending in -our in British English and -or in American English are mostly simplified. Such as: color: colour (Ying Ying) color (USA and UK), favorite: Ying Ying -favor (USA and UK). Secondly, some words in British English end in -re, and American English is often spelled as -er. Such as: cm:meter (Ying Ying) meter (USA and UK), center: centre (Ying Ying) center (USA and UK).

Semantic differences

Word selection is also very important in language translation. There are obvious differences in some words between Britain and America, so different words should be adopted for different English readers. At present, there are two main differences between American English and British English: synonyms and synonyms.

Some words appear in American English and English, but they represent different concepts and should be distinguished in translation. For example, public school actually refers to British private schools (private schools in American English), but only refers to American public schools (council school in British English).

Synonyms are different words used to express the same concept in American English and British English. These words are widely used. Common examples include calling: ring (Ying Ying) call (USA and UK), canned tin (Ying Ying) can (USA and UK), bill (Ying Ying) check (USA and UK) and so on.

Grammatical differences

Grammar is an important reference for organizing sentence structure. There are some differences between British English and American English in grammar. Analyzing the grammar of American English and British English is very beneficial to translation.

(1) Nouns: American English tends to nominalize other parts of speech more obviously than British English, especially those phrasal verbs with prepositions, such as to cook out? Picnic; Do you know how to do it? Proprietary technology; Run down? Outline; Locked in? Shut up at home; Stop over? Stop over, etc.

(2) Verb have, get, make: When the verb have causes meaning, the United States uses have, Britain uses get for superiors and make for subordinates. In English, have is a vague verb. The British use it as an auxiliary verb and a notional verb, while Americans always use it as a notional verb. I'll let someone else come, too. British English: I'll get someone. American English: I'll call someone.

The above three aspects are the points that should be paid attention to when translating British English and American English. When translating, you must translate according to their English type, and be careful of translation mistakes and jokes.