Re: Converting American English to British English

["Michael West" <mbwest -at- bigpond -dot- com>]

Van Laan, Krista wrote:
> Does anyone know of a cheap, nonhuman way to review content for
> localizing American English to UK English? I'm hoping for something
> like those online translators that take your input and turn it into
> another language. I need to use it on a number of files, though.

What issues other than spelling are you concerned about?
For spelling, of course, you can change the settings on
your spelling checker to use a BrE dictionary. Your spelling
and grammar checkers can also be trained to pick up
the minor punctuation differences.

For technical prose, I wouldn't imagine there would
be much else to worry about. Most vocabulary issues
(wrench/spanner for example) are trivial because of
the influence of American media in the UK, and could
generally be ignored except where health and safety
factors are involved. Things like "wrench/spanner"
could easily be automated using standard search/replace
tools, anyway.

For the past 10+ years I've been writing and editing
for British/Australian and American publishers, and
I have not been made aware of any significant vocabulary
differences except in terms relating to legal/legislative/financial
matters (and those a machine can't do for you anyway).
-- 
Michael West