Accents and Broken English

[Irania]

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[Darkniciad]

Instead of having the character slip into Spanish sentence structure, using the wrong pronouns, etc., put in a few pauses for the character to think. Substitute some Spanish words as placeholders every once in a while (don't overdo it) as the character tries to remember the correct English word. Maybe throw in a bit of "Spanglish" every once in a while. ( You should be able to find some Spanglish/English dicitionary resources online through Google )

It shouldn't take much of this, and you don't want to overdo it. You don't write all the pauses and "uhms" that are present in real speech for dialogue, so even a few stand out as something different.

That should come off as someone who has Spanish as a first language and has an accent, but has fair fluency in English.

I'm actually working on this as well. It ain't easy -- and I have the advantage of knowing someone at work who has dual citizenship in Mexico ( Finished naturalization about five years ago ) and speaks only Spanish at home with his family.

If anybody else has ideas about how to describe the accent -- I'm all ears! *laugh*

 

[Stella_Omega]

yes, Dark is on the right track. I love dialects, and have experimented with ways to get voices across. I could and have written nonstop conversation in several dialects, but you won't be surprised to hear that readers complain that it makes the story too hard to read...

Is she a Spanish maid in Spain, or in the US? If she's in the US, she'll have the common words she needs for her work. So don't have her answer "Si," because she'll know "yes," as well as "clean the room," "laundry," "bad," etc... The words she wouldn't know would be things unrelated to her day-to-day, like "architecture" or whatever...

 

[damppanties]

"Maria, the architecture of this room is breathtaking, isn't it?"

*puzzled look* "Que?"

 

[Xelebes]

Architecture = Arquitectura, FYI

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Como no.

 

[Stella_Omega]

"Maria, the architecture of this room is breathtaking, isn't it?"

*puzzled look* "Que?"

She'd smile apologetically, and say, "Sorry, my English..." And probably gesture towards the phone, inviting you to call the front desk with your complicated needs. An awful lot of communication gets done with smiles and gestures...

I remember one convention, when us roomies had the CD of the Buena Vista Social Club playing -- all the doors on the hall were open-- and every Spanish speaking staff that passed just- stopped to listen. The music is so beautiful, whether you understand the words or not-- and some of the lyrics are really bawdy, and people would be giggling like crazy

 

[Irania]

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[Irania]

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[JamesSD]

I was just reminded of one clever way you can get ideas for this.

Write what you want the character to say in english. Translate it into spanish with google translator or another online translator. Translate THAT result back into english. The word order will often get somewhat confused.

Example:
"Literotica is an excellent website for discussing issues and also having a lot of fun"

becomes:

"Literotica is a great site for discussing issues and also with a lot of fun"

Not the greatest example, but at least it points out that "having" has a confusable meaning.

I strongly recomend against trying to represent your character's accent phonetically. Although some people are good at it, it typically only makes it difficult to read.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'd handle it differently. Dont focus on the maid, focus on the English speaker. Make the English speaker the source of the language snafu's. Or make both people dangerous from knowing a little of the other language and assuming theyre competent. The results can be alarming or funny.

For example, in Mexico a pussy is called a 'basin' or 'bowl.' Pilon is the word they use. And there can be lots of confusion when words have multiple meanings and are used in a context that allows diverse interpretations.

It gets around the 'stupid' thing when both speakers contribute to the miscommunication.

 

[Irania]

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[kendo1]

Basil Fawlty: Ah, Manuel? There is too much butter on those trays.
Manuel: Que?
Basil Fawlty: [speaking slowly] There is too much butter on those trays.
Manuel: Ah, no senor. No "on those trays"...
[counting the trays]
Manuel: "uno, dos, tres".