Different editions of the same magazine in different countries
One thing travelers often notice when they return from other countries is that the magazines they are used to reading at home are different elsewhere. For example, the same issue of Time, Newsweek, or People read in New York will not only have a different language in Mexico City, but may also have very different content – but still have the same basic cover. What publications often do is create one core issue for their core readership and then tweak that concept to market it with more local content in other regions. So People magazine, for example, may have the same basic layout in two different countries, but the articles related to television in Mexico will be about Mexican soap opera stars, while the New York edition will be about people involved in daytime dramas that are better known in the US.
Similarly, sports magazines in the Southern Hemisphere may have a greater concentration of football articles, while in the US they may emphasize American football or ice hockey. The same goes for other subjects such as politics and business. Open a news magazine in Europe and you’ll find less news about the US, even if the magazine is based and printed in the US.
Another difference is, of course, the language itself. Many magazines will publish a bilingual magazine edition, with one language on the right side of the page and another language on the left side of the magazine. Or they will print editions in different languages, instead of bilingual editions, for different markets. They can do a US release in English, but then have the same content translated into several other languages for sale in other parts of the world.
For an inexpensive but interesting travel souvenir, try picking up unique and curious copies of magazines that are special foreign versions of the ones you and your friends read at home. Maybe you can find National Geographic in Dutch, Esquire or GQ in French, or your favorite children’s magazines in Spanish. Not only are they fun to show people, they can make your language learning even more fun as you try to translate your magazines accurately. They’re easy to pack in your luggage, don’t cost much, and are an easy item to even pick up at the airport at the last minute.
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