Altered speech patterns for different characters?

[stickygirl]

ok

affection for "the character entertaining us" versus affection for "the heinous person who the character is," I guess

Sounds good

 

[dirk2024]

It's not something I've really been able to wrap my head around, so most all of my characters sound the same. One exception at this point is a WIP where part of it occurs in Switzerland. So I have a taxi driver who speaks in a broken German/English dialect. I hope it comes across to the readers when its published.

 

[Cagivagurl]

In my opinion, if you are going to use phrases from dialects, slang, unusual terms. Then you must use them consistently. Not just sprinkled through the story. If you are going to use them as @THBGato said. Research deeply. Try to understand the real meaning of some terms and phrases... THBGato is particularly good at it. Read some of their stories for inspiration.

British accents are so localised it is difficult to get them right. Brummies, Cockney's, Scouser's or Geordies, all speak completely differently. Phrases used by Geordies may not be used by others. Research is important....

Just my thoughts.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think a good rule of thumb on this issue is to tread cautiously. It's much better to under-do it than to over-do it. Try to reveal and portray your character's background through what they say and their word choices rather than by trying overly hard to render their dialect. It can work if you are really good at it, but there's a big risk that it will come across as gimmicky and phony. Also, I don't think readers will notice most of the time if you dispense with attempts to render dialect.

 

[YmaOHyd]

lso, I don't think readers will notice most of the time if you dispense with attempts to render dialect.

Two examples when you'd want to draw attention to it though: first, it shows progression in the speaker. Read a series once where the main character has a strong hillbilly accent due to being raised among, you know, hillbillies. As the series went along and the character got My Fair Lady'd, that accent disappeared and was no longer rendered. Progress! And thank god because reading their dialogue initially was horrible. But if you're gonna tell a My Fair Lady story where someone learns to talk good, it helps to show them speaking badly.

Second, it can be used to show increased understanding in the listener, as long as you keep the structure and words consistent. To use a joke from Scottish Twitter about being a Scottish student at Hogwarts who has to take the train all the way down to London just to get on the fucking magic train back:

a kin see my hoose fae the fuckin train ya entitled english cunts

That's not easy for my American eyes to read, and if 20 year old me were dropped into Glasgow I'm sure Scottish accents wouldn't be easy to decipher (Glaswegian TV has subtitles for a reason). But I'd like to hope after six months I'd hear it as:

I can see my house from the fucking train, you entitled English cunts

So if I start the story with that impenetrably-rendered accent and wind it back slowly, I can use that as an element of understanding and immersion. (Not the only element, obviously.)

 

[Voboy]

That's not easy for my American eyes to read, and if 20 year old me were dropped into Glasgow I'm sure Scottish accents wouldn't be easy to decipher (Glaswegian TV has subtitles for a reason). But I'd like to hope after six months I'd hear it as:

Irvine Welsh often writes in just this dialect, and you'd be surprised how quickly you can get used to it.

I find Scots a lot easier to get into than the (arguably) more accurate dialect Twain puts into Huck Finn. But generally I avoid writing in accents. I think there are easier and less intrusive ways to convince the reader that they're difficult for the other characters to understand, and those ways also open the door to comedic passages.

 

[SimonDoom]

Irvine Welsh often writes in just this dialect, and you'd be surprised how quickly you can get used to it.

I find Scots a lot easier to get into than the (arguably) more accurate dialect Twain puts into Huck Finn. But generally I avoid writing in accents. I think there are easier and less intrusive ways to convince the reader that they're difficult for the other characters to understand, and those ways also open the door to comedic passages.

I'm always mindful of Twain's explanatory preface to Huckleberry Finn. He wrote this:

In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary “Pike County” dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech.

I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding.

Twain was a genius writer, and had great familiarity with the dialects he was trying to render, and put great effort into it, and I know that none of these things applies to what I do, so I'm instinctively reluctant to try and am inclined to take the "less is more" route.

 

[TheLobster]

The Romanian language is a derivative of Latin/Italian, but Polish is more "foreign" in its construction, with formal and informal pronouns: almost impossible to learn.

At the risk of sounding overly pedantic, I gotta point out that all four languages you mention possess the T-V distinction. It's not the defining characteristic of Polish; rather, it is English that's weird among European languages for having just one set of pronouns.

Relatedly, if you're looking for ways in which your Slavic-speaking characters may mess up their English, then probably the easiest way is to have them completely botch the articles -- i.e., a/an vs. the vs. nothing. The whole concept is largely alien in those languages, partially because inflection made it redundant to have articles at all.

 

[Cagivagurl]

I like stories that reflect truthfully. Nobody speaks pure English, regardless of the Country you live in.
To give stories flavour, a sense of realism, the use of accents, dialects can be very helpful.
By using different accents for each chatracter you can reduce the number of dialogue tags, because it's easily identifiable who is speaking... That in itself is a bonus, it gives dialogue a continuity, and that feeling of listening into a real conversation...
Forget about the rules of grammar, try to make your dialogue sections honest. Contractions, are one method... Especially if trying to hint at modern language...Under thirty five's speak an entirely different language to under eighteen year olds... So try to reflect the intergenerational changes...

My thoughts...

 

[Britva415]

inflection made it redundant to have articles at all

I wonder: These same speakers don't wind up inflecting in English, because you can't. Do native English speakers using those Slavic ones as a second language fail to inflect in those languages, even while not using articles? Since you can't.

I imagine probably so. Some Romanian might be saying

articles make it redundant to have inflection at all