No, you read that right 
. When I was working at Sony, I got used to the accent of Japanese speaking English and could understand them well even though people without that experience could not. Often in meetings the Japanese would say something, I would look at Americans sitting there with puzzled look and I would repeat the same thing in English so that they would understand. I called this "English to English" translation!
Likewise, I think we need an English to English translator to make sure the message is understood between English speaking countries. I watch a ton of online educational videos and it seems majority of them are taught by British and Australians. I lived in UK for a short while so have some familiarity with the different terms used there but that is not sufficient to get me all the way with respect to other countries.
I find that we in US are severely disadvantaged in this regard. Our US programming is watched overseas so those folks have learned our slang pretty well. For our side, the bit of BBC we watch here is not the same.
So i thought with the help of our colleagues overseas we create an English to English dictionary with a focus around technical discussions although other terms would be fine too. And oh, I am not talking about the difference between tomato and tomAAAto.
So here it goes. Feel free to correct and/or add your own. I will collect them all here.
"Good bit of kit." In US a kit is something you put together. Elsewhere it is electronic gear. So good bit of kit, means this is a good piece of electronics. A compliment.
"Sack him." Sack in US means bed so this kind of expression will generate odd looks here. But "sack" is another word for "fire" as in firing/letting go of an employee. Just heard this while watching Top Gear so thought I include it.
"Bob's your uncle." One of the funny guys I watch online is Dave Jones which does electronic videos. He is Australian. I had never heard of this expression and I don't know if it is something he uses or is common expression there. Anyway, I can't think of a literal translation for this but seems to be similar to our "that is that." Or there it is.
"What something." Someone has to teach us where this expression came from but "what" is the most common starting word for magazines. "What Hifi," etc. To me it seems like a question and it should be an answer instead.
"Put it in pool room." I heard this recently from Dave Jones. He didn't say what it meant but said Australians would know. My interpretation was that it is something good. We would call this a "keeper."
"Managing Director." We call this Vice President in US. You will see this title for execs of tech companies in interviews and such.
"Bee's Knees." Means it is good/great piece of gear although sometimes it is used sarcastically. I guess our "cat's meow" is our US version of it.
OK my memory is failing me with regards to remembering more. Hoping members help fill out this list.
. When I was working at Sony, I got used to the accent of Japanese speaking English and could understand them well even though people without that experience could not. Often in meetings the Japanese would say something, I would look at Americans sitting there with puzzled look and I would repeat the same thing in English so that they would understand. I called this "English to English" translation! Likewise, I think we need an English to English translator to make sure the message is understood between English speaking countries. I watch a ton of online educational videos and it seems majority of them are taught by British and Australians. I lived in UK for a short while so have some familiarity with the different terms used there but that is not sufficient to get me all the way with respect to other countries.
I find that we in US are severely disadvantaged in this regard. Our US programming is watched overseas so those folks have learned our slang pretty well. For our side, the bit of BBC we watch here is not the same
.So i thought with the help of our colleagues overseas we create an English to English dictionary with a focus around technical discussions although other terms would be fine too. And oh, I am not talking about the difference between tomato and tomAAAto.
So here it goes. Feel free to correct and/or add your own. I will collect them all here.
"Good bit of kit." In US a kit is something you put together. Elsewhere it is electronic gear. So good bit of kit, means this is a good piece of electronics. A compliment.
"Sack him." Sack in US means bed so this kind of expression will generate odd looks here
. But "sack" is another word for "fire" as in firing/letting go of an employee. Just heard this while watching Top Gear so thought I include it."Bob's your uncle." One of the funny guys I watch online is Dave Jones which does electronic videos. He is Australian. I had never heard of this expression and I don't know if it is something he uses or is common expression there. Anyway, I can't think of a literal translation for this but seems to be similar to our "that is that." Or there it is.
"What something." Someone has to teach us where this expression came from but "what" is the most common starting word for magazines. "What Hifi," etc. To me it seems like a question and it should be an answer instead
."Put it in pool room." I heard this recently from Dave Jones. He didn't say what it meant but said Australians would know. My interpretation was that it is something good. We would call this a "keeper."
"Managing Director." We call this Vice President in US. You will see this title for execs of tech companies in interviews and such.
"Bee's Knees." Means it is good/great piece of gear although sometimes it is used sarcastically. I guess our "cat's meow" is our US version of it.
OK my memory is failing me with regards to remembering more. Hoping members help fill out this list.
