Garrowan5th wrote:
My girlfriend was almost passed over for a job in a school in Taiwan (where her mum is from) because she didn't speak English properly. She then explained her father is British, she lived there most of her life and has great qualifications in it. They then gave her a CD of how to speak english to learn............*facepalm*
That's absolutely absurd. I doubt anything like that would've happened in Japan, or especially Hong Kong. Ridiculous!
I've been teaching English in Japan for many years and always make it a point to explain the differences in spelling, grammar, and usage when it is relevant or of interest. English taught in Japan since WW2 has been largely influenced by American business and culture, yet there are still remnants of chiefly British forms in use here even though most people aren't aware of them. This results in some curious contradictions, such as...(
UK - windscreen, bonnet, boot;
US - windshield, hood, trunk;
Japan - front glass,
bonnet,
trunk 
And that is only one small example!

Luinsar wrote:
Do you have any idea how frustrating that whole US/UK English thing is for a translator? *shakes fist*
You are quite right, and can you imagine just how much more frustrating it is to try teaching this to people from an entirely different culture and language? *pulls hair out in handfulls*
necronom wrote:
I was playing Tomb Raider a few weeks ago, and Lara was talking about "elevators", and "flash lights", and the spelling was wrong on several words all the way through. She's English, and the game originated in England

Then they have the cheek to have localisation credits at the end!
I tend not to let this kind of thing bother me, but I entirely agree with you! I mentally substitute
lift for elevator, and
torch for flashlight,
lorry for truck etc. when playing Tomb Raider, or any game where oversights like that occur. It's only right.
And on a side note:
One word in particular that annoys me is the constant use of "turret" to refer to a machine gun in games these days. I'm sure you all know what the original meaning is so I need not explain further, but in military terms it referred chiefly to an armoured gun emplacement that rotates to some degree, such as those on a ship, aircraft, or a tank (AFV). The robot sentry guns in Aliens are lightly armoured and they do rotate, but I wouldn't call them turrets, and don't. Out of curiosity, does anyone else happen to find this somewhat odd/annoying besides me... or is it just my age showing?
