Wednesday, April 6, 2011
I Thought I Passed This Test Already
There has been drama in my house over the past few months. It came in spurts, but it was always there in unspoken words and agitated feelings. Without going into any details, the drama is no longer in my home, but at a significant price, and now there are bigger issues to deal with...not by me but by my family. It's a situation that didn't need to happen, and it didn't need to take the path it's taken. But it has. And I really want to yell and scream at certain people right now. But I can't. I want to complain about the unfairness of it all to anyone who will listen. But I won't. Because even people who only have cruel intentions have a right to privacy too, right? Plus focusing on the anger only feeds it and lets it grow and take residence inside my soul. So instead, my heart silently aches with the pain and hurt of betrayal and sadness for the innocent. I thought I'd mastered the lesson of forgiveness with the trials I went through with my ex, but this situation has shown me I'm still a grasshopper with much to learn.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Americanized for Your Consumption
On Twitter this morning, one of my favorite authors wrote:
Monday: Done USA rewrite of Dragonslayer-1, finishing DS-2 for the UK in November
Which got me thinking...how often are "foreign" books rewritten for American audiences? I'm not talking about translation, which in itself involves a certain about of rewriting so that the meaning and spirit of the words come across rather than the exact translation which, depending on the language, can be very broken.
My concern is with books originally written in English. I don't know if the rewrites for the author above were just to fix errors in the UK version or to clarify issues. BUT if it was to simply Americanize the book so it's easier for us to absorb, I don't agree with that. Even something simple, like changing the first Harry Potter book from The Philosopher's Stone to the The Sorcerer's Stone bothered me. Why was there a need to change it? So it was easier for the kids to immediately understand?
We Americans are very isolated in our culture. Yes, we travel across the US, but there is so much more to the world than the good ol' US of A. Traveling overseas is very expensive though, at least for me it is. It isn't something we can do casually or often. It requires planning and saving.
Some of the best ways to be exposed to different cultures is through literature, and most easily through popular books, books which are set in foreign places written by foreign authors Let us learn about your society and traditions and customs. We're resourceful enough to figure out what we don't understand (hello wikipedia). Don't Americanize books for our consumption. Don't protect us from the world. Help us experience it and broaden our horizons.
Monday: Done USA rewrite of Dragonslayer-1, finishing DS-2 for the UK in November
Which got me thinking...how often are "foreign" books rewritten for American audiences? I'm not talking about translation, which in itself involves a certain about of rewriting so that the meaning and spirit of the words come across rather than the exact translation which, depending on the language, can be very broken.
My concern is with books originally written in English. I don't know if the rewrites for the author above were just to fix errors in the UK version or to clarify issues. BUT if it was to simply Americanize the book so it's easier for us to absorb, I don't agree with that. Even something simple, like changing the first Harry Potter book from The Philosopher's Stone to the The Sorcerer's Stone bothered me. Why was there a need to change it? So it was easier for the kids to immediately understand?
We Americans are very isolated in our culture. Yes, we travel across the US, but there is so much more to the world than the good ol' US of A. Traveling overseas is very expensive though, at least for me it is. It isn't something we can do casually or often. It requires planning and saving.
Some of the best ways to be exposed to different cultures is through literature, and most easily through popular books, books which are set in foreign places written by foreign authors Let us learn about your society and traditions and customs. We're resourceful enough to figure out what we don't understand (hello wikipedia). Don't Americanize books for our consumption. Don't protect us from the world. Help us experience it and broaden our horizons.
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