In message 3C0352D6.82480DAD@centurytel.net, Mistral mistral@centurytel.net writes
Julia Jones wrote:
It's something that can be very noticeable in fanfic. The Americans, not surprisingly, can get a bit upset at rude remarks from British and Australian fans about B7 characters speaking American - they don't understand why it grates so badly, because the language sounds normal to them.
And the solution is so easy - a good British beta reader. Mind, it works the other way, too - I've seen some dreadful Briticisms in Buffy fic as well.
The example I usually quote to explain to Americans what it sounds like is to ask if they've read any Trek fic where Kirk's British. That usually gets the point across:-)
I get a British reader to beta read anything other than quick fluffs, to make sure it sounds like RADA English rather than my own rather odd melange. Of course, nowadays I usually manage to clean out things like "gotten" and "whiskey" before it gets to the beta-reader.