Imo there was no reason at all. I'm Canadian and I had the UK version. I figured things out just fine and if I couldn't, I asked!
I once tried to download the ebooks but accidentally got the US version. It absolutely ruined the immersion, and the arbitrary word replacements seemed to get lazier and lazier further into the series.
plus the stuff like capitalizing Wizarding World i think swapping 'Minister of Magic' from 'minister for magic'. pointless, says a lot about our national style we want to make everything look almost businesslike and proper. i mean it's a children's series
To not confuse US kids with spelling and the like?
Not sure though, would have been awesome if they left as-is and added foot notes or cliff notes for US version.
Because 'Fitch punting kids across the swamp that the Weasleys created in the hall' had nothing to do with kicking kids.
Wouldn't be that out of character for Filch though.
footnotes for hard ones would be nice
I think the Chinese ones had those iirc! Those would be super cool - especially in ebook form!
the proper spelling of colour and neighbour
but for real i switch to the us version of the audiobook because jim dale > stephen fry (i just like how jim does more character work)
Fry may be a comedy legend but the Dale audiobooks are unmatched.
I prefer Fry, actually. I find Dale's reading a bit too intense, whereas Fry is much more relaxed.
Hermioneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Some say Fry is not so good with his rendition of female characters' voices.
So they could sell more copies
That makes no sense. They put in more work to sell the same amount of copies? Why would they pay money to have someone change slang throughout the book as a way of earning more? Everyone knows the books are based in England, so why wouldnt they have English phrasing?
Americans hardly read as it is so this further muddles your cloudy idea.
Americans familiarity with common UK language and expressions was more limited at the time than now. Especially amongst the target market of children/young teens.
There wasn't much internet usage, especially videos. The only access to common UK language in the US would be UK reality TV shows. Most of which would have a US equivalent. I don't think UK reality shows broke into the US without being a remake till the Great British Bake off.
Most of the British people an America would see in the media would be speaking a more formal and more Atlantic version of English.
Even today some American expectations of English people is skewed. It's noticeable when an English person is hired to play an English person on an American show. They'll put on a parody of an English accent.
James Cordon is a strong example of this, he was a notable actor for quite some time in the UK. It wasn't till he moved to America his accent got more 'English'.
It's common in the US to do this.
A lot of older David Attenborough documentaries were dubbed over with an American narrator when they aired on US television.
The kids TV show Bob the Builder also got dubbed over in US English. It wouldn't surprise me if many Americans thought it was a US show.
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series of books was originally obviously in British English, yet in the US they published with US English.
Tolkien got pissed off about publishers in the US Americanising his works and introducing things he didn't like (e.g. they originally tried to change Elves to Elfs and Dwarves to Dwarfs).
And it's not just dubbing over or changing text, it also extends to the US making entire US versions of UK shows - Shameless, the Office, Taskmaster, Top Gear, Peep Show, Bad Education, Broadchurch, Fawlty Towers, Porridge, The Young Ones, IT Crowd, Red Dwarf, etc. many of these don't pan out, though, because the scripts and characters don't always work when you uproot them and put them into a different culture, so-to-speak.
I'm really not sure why it's the case. Other Anglosphere countries seem to consume US content just fine.
The kids TV show Bob the Builder also got dubbed over in US English. It wouldn't surprise me if many Americans thought it was a US show.
Wow, TIL. I was one of those Americans.
There were some genuinely confusing words in there for US children so the edits were for good reason but they obviously did go too far. The title of the book for instance illustrates that.
I like how GOT has Starbucks product placement.
I'm pretty sure that was actually an independant coffee shop iirc.