as an avid reader of English Regency fiction, I would be very short of reading matter if I didn't, since the majority of this, ironically, is written by Americans! <g>
Actually, I don't think it's ironic -- we Americans are fascinated by aristocracy, probably because we've never really had any. So we think it's romantic. Those of you who've seen an aristocracy close up, OTOH, are probably a lot less enchanted by the concept!
To get back to the topic ... <g> I don't usually even notice spelling & comma-type differences. Changes of phrasing and sentence structure stand out more, to me -- "going to hospital" just sounds weird!
But I can usually cruise right past that stuff without much trouble. I've been reading British fiction for a couple of decades now (Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, among others), so I think I'm pretty good at deciphering and ignoring those differences.
The only thing that would move me enough to comment is if an American character uses a distinctly non-American phrase (or term, more rarely). Lois wouldn't say, "I'll ring you up" and if Clark didn't like her apartment, he'd be too polite to "knock her flat"
So that stuff pulls me out, a little, and if it's an author I know, or one who's specifically asking for help with that sort of thing, I might point it out privately, on the theory that we're all trying to improve our writing -- for this type of story, Americanisms are part of that.
But in general, my only impression of ESL/non-American writers is amazement that they can do as very well as they do!
PJ
