I just re-read a British novel I've read several times before. It was someone else's copy, and I noticed something odd, in that it appeared to be an American translation. In my copy, which is the original British version, the expression "to go spare" is used several times. This had, in the American translation, been changed into the expression "to go postal". With a very few minor exceptions, that was the only difference between the two books.

Here's my question: Is this really necessary? Are Americans so ignorant (I'm sorry, I can't find a better word at the moment) of British English that they need it to be translated in order to understand it?

And how widespread is the phenomenon? Are British movies subtitled in the US, in case a British-only word comes up in the dialog?

I should say that the point of this is not to say "Haha, stupid Americans". Most of the Americans I've come across in my life have been both intelligent and well read. I'm just genuinely curious as to the reason for these translations.

Americans don't use the phrase 'to go spare' at all, in fact I've never even heard it until just now. I don't think it's a matter of ignorance, turns of phrase can sometimes be insular and that one simply never crossed the pond.

This. Colloquialisms are rarely understood by every nation that speaks a language. There are tons of phrases spoken in Spain that nobody in Latin America knows of, for example.

As a software developer for a product that is made in Britain (sold internationally), we localise to US English. This is because everyone accepts US english, most people accept British English, however some consider it wrong. A good example would be Licurg's post in xyem bike ride thread, when he corrected Xyem's spelling of tyre.

So such translations are to be expected, and I think you'll find more frequent, simply because with an international audience you should target the widest audience. In every meaning of the word - that's the Americans :).

you mean like you Danes get subbed in Swedish television cause you sound like you're chewing oatmeal when you talk

There are quite a few regional UK phrases that I'd need a translation for. If you're completely unfamiliar with a certain phrase then it should go without saying that you'd appreciate the story more if it those parts were rephrased. So it makes sense.

Only on television, and only if their accent is the thing that makes them hard to understand, rather than the language itself. Of course, you get the same thing even from different areas in the US. People from Louisiana bayous or hill-folk from Appalachia are the most common targets here. It's like that farmer from Hot Fuzz, really.

The fundamental purpose of writing is the preservation of knowledge so that it can be passed on. There are a lot of English phrases that I do not understand, hence I'd like to hear them so that I can learn them. Changing a phrase in order to suit the ignorance of a particular audience is nothing but dumbing down.

Yeah, that bugs the crap out of me sometimes simply because they apply it too liberally. I could be watching an interview with someone from, say, India, and his accent and enunciation are almost better than most of the people from my neighborhood, and yet they sub-title him.

Racist, I tell you. Worthy of shaking your fist.

Nuts.

No, just a load of cobblers.

I wouldn't need it translated.

I would, however, have no fucking idea what a phrase like that means unless the context made it obvious, and would nonetheless more than likely interrupt my reading to search up the phrase in question... and possibly spend the rest of the day on the internet reading about the origin of this and several other phrases and somehow, hours later, find myself on the page for Fraggle Rock on TV Tropes. That tends to happen an awful lot.

The internet gives us the cure for stupidity and ignorance, right at our finger tips, and yet the necessity of lmgtfy proves that, somehow, it simply isn't enough. ¬_¬

I think you'll find cobblers have a healthy serving of meat and veg.

EDIT: Actually - you probably won't actually 'find' that, but trust me...

I remember a game from a few years ago, The First Templar and a reviewer bitched and knocked the score down because the voice actress of one of the characters pronounced "lever" as leever(which is the british pronounciation of the word) and not lever, the way americans pronounce it...she was a british actress.

Those crazy americans :)

Dont get me started on aluminium :P

I am an American but was long since familiar with "to go spare" and "went spare" as idiom for having lost control in anger, yes? I know I have heard it said, but am unsure where. I've seen it in print as well. I didn't even know it was largely of UK origin! Maybe use in the US is regional?