Jimbo

Hi all, fairly new here, but already have a question.

What is considered the best way to handle accents in dialogue?

Personally, if I had a character who spoke English with a French accent, I would, at the first opportunity say 'Jean spoke with a strong French accent', and leave it at that.

However, in a story I am writing, there is a common English man, who drops the letter h from the start of words, and generally speaks like the commonest kind of Cockney. His speech is so integral to his character, that I don't feel I can leave the reader to interpret:

'hello, mate, how are you doing?' in their head into ''ello mate, 'ow you doin'?'

So, this character, who is a main character, speaks like ''ello mate' all the time.

How many people would find that annoying? I did at first, even when writing it but now, it just feels...essential, to me.

Thoughts and comments greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
James

Straylight

Well, it can certainly be done, and done well. My advice, however, would be to avoid it if at all, humanly possible. Look for any other way to convey it... have other characters constantly question your MC's accent, anything...

If that all fails, and you feel it is essential, just remember that you don't have to hit every word. "'Ello mate, how're you doin'?" is easier to read that your example. Just accenting a few words in the dialogue, as opposed to going for 100% authenticity, will imply what you want to without making it impossible to read.

For an example of the worst possible way to handle accent, read a Brian Jacques book (one of the one's about the Redwall animals) and try to understand what the mole-guy is saying.

~SL

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Mike C

What Straylight said.

Only go for 100% authenticity if you can write as well as Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting).

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Jimbo

Hi, thanks for the replies.

Yes, I like the idea of only accenting a few words. A nice compromise between the need to get it across and the desire not to irritate the reader.

If anyone gets a moment, and could cast their eyes briefly over the dialogue in this piece of work: http://www.writingforums.com/showthread.php?t=64003, then I would be very grateful to know if the character Bernard's speech is too hard to follow, or too annoying!

It's a fairly long piece, so I wouldn't expect anyone to get all the way through it.

Fantasy of You

In Wilbur Smith's The Burning Shore, he shows is simply by having her call Michael Michel. Worked for me, because I was reminded without force that she was speaking in a French accent..

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Syren

I'm a fan of writing accents, but like many have said you really have to nail it. Best thing I can say is keep them moderate and light, never make them to thick or unruly... think of adding 'just a dash'.

To this end, I usually come up with some standard words to manipulate and make a list of them. Then, during a rewrite or edit session, I'll sub in those words where appropriate.

Just changing the diction can help quite a bit, you really don't need to reform the words all the time. Example:

"What do you mean, my man?"
"Eh? Whats that you say?"
"What ever are you implying, sir?"
"What's this?"

There are a few ways of keeping the wordforms and adding a kind of accent, or at least an aspect to the character. Call it passive accent

With reforming the word, such as "Wot's that ye sayin laddy?" or "Git out me way ye braggart, and dinnae try anythin'"... those kinds of changes are difficult for most readers to flow through smoothly, but I admit, I love to try them. I'll echo others on this one... read works where it is done right, and then apply it to your own work, in your own way.

That's the best I got, hope it helps.

Cheers,

//Sy

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Verago

Haha.
I had a hell of a time with the mole-guy.
But in Brian Jacques' defense, though...The way he handled the accents made sure that you stayed focused on the writing, if, for no other reason, because you were saying to yourself, "Wait, what?"

-Ethan

Straylight

"Oi, gip y' boer un ah oi stikey."

;p

~SL

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"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it. "-Voltaire

Jimbo

Lol, well mine's nothing like that! That's almost as bad as true Glaswegian, or Geordie, that is!

Avarice

Marcus leans forward and in a slovenly Australian accent says "Do ye like ye Fosters mate? Ye bastad!'

Thats what I have in my novel.

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Syren

I think they'd pronounce it Fosta's... and given the choice most aussies would drink oil before drinking that swill.

But that's just what I hear. *shrugs*

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Avarice

ah yes Fosta's is better and I know but Marcus is an arrogant english prick so he just generalises.

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Fantasy of You

ANYWAY lol.. back to the thread. If you just put in some well known words from the place the character is from, you should have no problem.. I can only speak English, lol, so I can't give example besides from bonjor lol

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FrankBlissett

The short story "Split Cherry Tree", by Jesse Struart, uses dialect for the father. It's a bit thick too make to reading his lines "fun", but works for a couple reasons. First, it slows down the lines, which is in-character. Second, he used the lack of dialect on behalf of the son to help strengthen the "generation gap" theme.

Still, I'd be wary about using anything as thick as he did without good cause to.

-Fank

suzakugaiden

Write everything in x-sampa. Always. Forever.

Or.

/rait evriTiN In eks-s{mp@. alwEsz. f2rev@r./

---edit---

Actually, a character that mentally parses everthing into x-sampa would be interesting.