This is the first in a series of blog posts on techniques for writing realistic dialogue in fiction.
Of the many things to master when writing dialogue in fiction, creating authentic dialects and natural-sounding foreign accents for your characters is possibly the most challenging. If you don’t get the accent just right, you risk having your characters come off looking like caricatures. Worse, you alienate readers, who don’t like being slowed and confused by a lot of nonstandard spellings. And worst of all, you may appear to be discriminatory or even ignorant by inadvertently stereotyping your characters through how you portray their accents. In this post, I’ll take a look at ways to make your characters’ English dialects and foreign accents as realistic as possible without reducing them to goofy stereotypes.
The English language is the lingua franca of our modern world. All over the world, people in foreign countries are learning English to help them with communications in business, finance, medicine, science, technology, and many other fields. The number of people in the world speaking English with a foreign accent has never been greater. Add to that the fact that in virtually every part of the English-speaking world, different regions and ethnicities speak English differently, and chances are you have at least one character in your novel who speaks with an accent.
Accents are caused by the influence of a speaker’s native language or native dialect on the English words they speak. The differences can be found in pronunciation, diction (word choice), syntax (word order), grammar (how parts of speech are structured), and idiom (peculiarities of certain phrases). Accent and dialect can convey differences in ethnicity, geography, demographics, class, education, and culture. Even standard English is a dialect.
Nonstandard spellings and contractions
When you’re reading a novel with characters who speak with foreign accents or in dialect, how much misspelling can you tolerate in their dialogue? Probably not much—today’s readers don’t have much patience for puzzling out phonetic spellings and odd contractions. (A contraction is any word or set of words that uses an apostrophe to replace any dropped letter or letters: ’Tis th’ night b’fo’ Christmas, an’ I’s fixin’ t’go carolin’ wi’ y’all.)
This is quite a change from 150 years or so ago. Back in the 19th century, it was in vogue to capture every scrap of phonetic pronunciation to render a character realistic. Twain, Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe are a few authors who took pains to achieve this. Look at this example from Huckleberry Finn (1884), and see if you don’t find it just slightly annoying:
Oh, Huck, I bust out a-cryin’ en grab her up in my arms, en say, ‘Oh, de po’ little thing! De Lord God Amighty fogive po’ ole Jim, kaze he never gwyne to fogive hisself as long’s he live!’ Oh, she was plumb deef en dumb, Huck, plumb deef en dumb—en I’d ben atreat’n her so!
Most readers today become annoyed quickly by this kind of writing, where almost every word needs to be examined to decipher its pronunciation and meaning. It’s distracting; it slows readers down, pulls them out of the story, out of the “fictional dream” you worked so hard to create. They may end up paying less attention to what’s being said than to how it’s being said.
Nobody speaks English the way it’s spelled
Everybody who speaks English has an accent to others not in their region or ethnic group. And almost nobody truly pronounces English the way it’s spelled. Even someone with little trace of an English accent might say, “I wan-ned t’ go to th’ movie, bud I godda do th’ shoppin’ first.” Not even the Queen’s English comes out the way it’s spelled (far from it—think about all those dropped Rs). Among some of the most overdone written accents and dialects are “Southernese” from the American South, African American English, British cockney, and Scottish or Irish brogue.
As writers, we wouldn’t think of spelling all of our characters’ dialogue phonetically, so why do we do it only with characters who speak in a dialect or with an accent that we don’t consider “standard”? It can imply that those characters are inferior, ignorant, less educated (or not at all), less intelligent—in other words, it makes a parody of them, which is the very opposite of the original goal of making them realistic and believable. (In Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell gave only her black characters phonetic spellings, wrongly implying they were inferior, even though the blacks and whites spoke a phonetically similar dialect.)
So what can you do to avoid falling into this trap with your foreign-accented characters or those who speak in a pronounced dialect? Let’s take a look.
Moderation is essential
Be conservative. You don’t need to spell out every diphthong and dropped “g.” Less is more. Whatever combination of techniques you use to render an accent or dialect in dialogue, use them with a light hand. It’s tempting, because it’s easiest, to write a dialect or accent phonetically, but if you overdo this, you’ll confuse, bore, insult, or possibly even lose your readers.
Here’s another example of an overdone accent—this one a Southern black accent from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Tom’s Aunt Chloe says to him:
S’pose we must be resigned; but oh Lord! how ken I? If I know’d anything whar you’s goin’, or how they’d sarve you! Missis says she’ll try and ’deem ye, in a year or two; but Lor! nobody never comes up that goes down thar! They kills ’em! I’ve hearn ’em tell how dey works ’em up on dem ar plantations.
Most readers today simply don’t have the tolerance for all those misspellings and contractions.
To achieve moderation when writing accents, first, do some careful research on your character’s particular accent or dialect. Check out other books with similar characters. Then choose just half a dozen or so nonstandard spellings and contractions, and use them consistently. Diana Gabaldon does this well with believable Scottish brogue in her novel Outlander. Just a few well-chosen words bring her character to life realistically: aye (yes), nae (no), ye (you), dinnae (didn’t), canna (cannot), ’twas (it was), laird (lord). Here is an excerpt:
There was nae doubt, ye see, of Colum’s courage, nor yet of his mind, but only of his body. ’Twas clear he’d never be able to lead his men into battle again. . . . So a suggestion was made that Colum be allowed to become laird, as he should in the ordinary way, and Dougal be made war chieftain, to lead the clan in time of battle.
Rely more on diction, syntax, and idiom
Diction is word choice; syntax is word order. An idiom is a native expression, one that usually doesn’t make sense when non-native speakers try to analyze the individual words. Rather than overusing nonstandard spellings and contractions, it’s much more effective, in most cases, to use diction, syntax, and idiom to convey the accent of a non-native speaker of English.
Often, in other languages, words have different meanings and go in a different order from what we’re used to in English. This doesn’t make them wrong or inferior. In fact, it shows our own ignorance as native users of English if we don’t recognize this in our fictional characters’ accented speech. (One interesting tidbit I learned in my research is that Appalachian speech patterns, which many people tend to equate with a lack of education and backwoods isolation, may derive from the formal Elizabethan English of early settlers from the British Isles.)
Diction (word choice)
Different dialects use different words to convey the same meaning, or the same word to convey a different meaning. This can be as simple as Brits ordering chips while North Americans order French fries. And North American chips are crisps to Brits. Another less common example: Jamaicans don’t have a past tense for the word come. So if they say, “She come to my house yesterday,” it’s perfectly grammatically correct for them, not an indicator of class or education.
In some dialects and cultures, including a few African-American dialects, you might hear the word be used before a verb: “He be going to work.” In fact, this is not an erroneous auxiliary verb that should be is; it’s the way that dialect expresses an ongoing or continual action. Be used in this way means “He goes to work every day.” Removing the be construction means the action is happening only right now, not habitually. Linguists refer to this as the “habitual be.”
Syntax (word order)
Several Indian dialects end their sentences with verbs, so instead of saying “She doesn’t know that,” it’s natural for a Hindi character to express it in English as “That is not for her to be knowing.” In Spanish and French, adjectives typically follow the noun instead of preceding it, so you’d be more likely to hear a native Spanish or French speaker say, for la casa blanca or la maison blanche, “the house is white” rather than “the white house.” And in German, Spanish, and French, adverbs sometimes follow verbs rather than precede them.
Examples of how syntax and diction work in different dialects:
→ North American English: He comes home a lot.
→ British: He comes home quite often. (Or, he quite often comes home.)
→ Certain types of African American dialects: He be coming home.
→ East Indian: Often it is home that he comes.
→ German: He comes often home.
→ French: He comes often home.
→ Jamaican: He come home for some time now.
→ Creole: He returns home often.
Idioms
An idiom is an expression, a combination of regular words, that is unique to a particular dialect or language and may not make sense to any other. For example, do you think you would hear a native Spanish speaker say, “It’s raining cats and dogs”? Instead, in Spanish, the idiom is llueve a cántaros, which means, “It’s raining pitchers.” Learn the idioms of your foreign character’s native dialect or language and apply them judiciously. Perhaps have your character accidentally mix up an English idiom for a little fun (“It’s raining cats and puppies”), but be careful not to make him or her seem silly. (Here’s a great resource for Spanish idioms, by the way: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Spanish/Idioms.)
Verbs
As most of us who’ve ever attempted to learn another language know, verb conjugation can be one of the most difficult things to master. Most non-native English speakers will learn the present tense but will take much longer to pick up the various more complex verb forms and tenses. So when writing realistic dialogue for your foreign characters, use the present tense more often than not, even when it’s incorrect (though use moderation with this, too). Instead of writing, “If I go swimming five times this week, I will have had a great workout,” write “I swim five times this week, so I have great workout.”
Some final tips
1. Try writing all your characters’ dialogue in standard English first. Get down what they’re saying, then worry about how they’re saying it. Study their accents and dialects for regional and foreign differences in syntax and diction, then go back and make small changes based on what you’ve learned.
2. It’s especially effective to include occasional foreign words, words that readers will recognize immediately as the character’s native language. Greetings like bonjour and adios, and terms of endearment like mon chéri, mi carina, and mein lieber are good choices because their meaning can be gleaned from the context. Again, don’t overdo this (which I may be guilty of here, just for the purpose of demonstrating):
→ “Tomorrow—it will be magnifique,” Cécile said as Bob got in the car. “Au revoir, mon chéri.”
→ “Adios, mi amiga,” Bonita said, waving. “I see you mañana.”
3. Occasionally, you can leave the dialogue in standard English and simply describe the accent to readers.
→ “Let’s go grab a pizza. Maybe we’ll get the Caesar’s salad too,” Giovanni said in a thick Italian accent.
4. Drop the indefinite or definite articles (a and the), or mix them up.
→ “We go eat pizza, maybe we get Caesar salad too?” Giovanni said.
→ “Why you not have the beer with a spaghetti, you not thirsty?” he asked.
5. Break some English grammar rules. For example, use comma splices or nonstandard grammar, just as I did in the two examples just above. At the same time, learn the rules of your characters’ native language or dialect so you know how to apply them when translated into English.
6. Be consistent. A character who says “I ain’t gonna let them mofos git me” shouldn’t show up in a later chapter saying “I simply won’t allow those nasty people to bother me.”
7. Read out loud. Make sure the dialogue has rhythm and consistency, even in its oddities. Then enlist the help of friends and others who are both familiar and unfamiliar with the foreign languages and dialects you’re using. Do the characters’ voices sound realistic to them?
8. Use a combination of all the techniques described here. The most effective dialogue combines appropriate idioms, jargon, and foreign words, a few misspellings, a few contractions, and careful attention to word choice, word order, tone, and rhythm.
9. Be aware of subtleties in speech patterns as well as word choice. For example, a British person would likely say “I’ve not seen the postman come round in days,” rather than the more North American “I haven’t seen the mail lady come by in days.”
Give your characters respect, dignity, authenticity
Respect your characters. Don’t turn them into a parody of themselves by overdoing any of these techniques. Conservative use of all these techniques will give them dignity and authenticity. If you set the tone with just a few well-chosen applications of these techniques, it won’t even be necessary to repeat them very often. Handling dialogue accents with care and moderation means you won’t look as if you’re disrespecting your characters’ ethnicity, regionalisms, culture, or education level—and, in turn, your readers will respect you, the author. Your ultimate goal is to give your readers authentic, realistic characters while still giving them a smooth and pleasant reading experience.
Have you wrestled with challenges with dialect and accents in your characters’ speech? Please share them in the comments here and contribute to the discussion!
62 Responses
Love it! A greatly needed article. I’ve often read that many editors would rather a writer just avoided dialect in all cases.
I love studying cultural idiom and dialectic patterns in our speech. Being in Kansas City gives me Allen contact with so many! I recently posted a breakdown of a peculiar double-contraction that shifts into an entirely new pattern around here – posted it as me Facebook status. Thank goodness folks are used to my word nerd-iness.
Thanks for your comment, David. Yes, in general I think editors want to see a minimum of phonetically spelled dialect and foreign accents. (I admit I went overboard with some of my examples just to make the point.) I wouldn’t recommend using NO nonstandard spelling at all, but restraint is definitely needed. I’ll bet you know a lot about dialect, being in the Midwest. But “me Allen contact”? I admit I don’t get that one at all!
You’ve covered the most glaringly wrong assumptions about writing “with an accent.” Overkill often seems a preference. I particularly like your first tip – write it in English first to get the words down before changing the language pattern. And the important reminder to writers to respect their characters. This is a very informative piece, Arlene.
Thanks for your comment, Irene. Yes, overkill is to be avoided at any cost. I just hope I stressed subtlety enough. I wasn’t very subtle in some of my examples!
I was excited over this topic. I, too, have different dialects in my book, as in portraying a black female slave, a gentleman from the south, and an Irishman with each their own drawl or accent. I find that when used in the right way, at the right time, this can enhance what the writer is trying to say. I also agree that consistency is important when using this tool.
Thanks for your comment, June. Yes, consistency—and moderation—are two of the main areas of concern in writing effective dialects and foreign accents. And keep the nonstandard spellings to a minimum.
Some of the best dialect I’ve ever read is in Rebecca Skloot’s book The
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. It’s edgy, it comes right up to the
line of what could be condescending, but then she pulls it off. I’d suggest Skloot’s book to anyone who wants to see examples of accents or dialect incredibly well written, ie so it conveys the feeling of listening to and getting a feel for the character without crossing the line into patronization, always remaining on the side of the utmost respect.
(The bonus is that they will then also have read Skloot’s remarkable account of how HeLa cells, known to every biology student, came into being. It’s an important piece of both medical history and black American history, and a beautiful example of high-quality narrative science writing, a wonderful sub-genre of creative nonfiction writing.)
Thanks for sharing this book here, Lynne. I haven’t heard of it or the author. It sounds fascinating, and I’m going to Goodreads right now to check it out.
It’s her first book, and it went straight to the top of the NYT bestseller list within weeks of release (because she spent eight years prior to that promoting it). I’ve read a ton of nonfiction in the last couple of years and this is one of the best. Her father, Floyd Skloot, is also an author, who has written extensively about mental illness.
Thank you for the tips; sometimes while translating we forget to consider all the facts about a character that the writer probably knows by heart or just by feeling…
A particular difficulty is when a conversation is between two people who don’t speak English. I try to start with a greeting or phrase in their language and then continue in English. The meaning of the foreign words is usually obvious from the context, especially if the language is one of the more common ones like French or Spanish. Unfortunately my book ‘Poto Paddu’ is set in Indonesia!
Thanks for commenting, Dick. That’s a great idea. And whatever other techniques you use, be sure to use them in moderation. I recently had to put down a self-published book because of a terrible excess of misspelled words, the author’s novice attempt at trying to replicate her characters’ Russian accents. (And thanks for signing up for my blog!)
Arlene, thank you!
While looking for some tips on writing dialogue I came across the above and your suggestions make sense.
I am a new Indie author, and have recently published my first eBook. The story line starts in the UK, and the main character visits a country pub in rural Kent.
First let me say that I was born in London and spent fifty years living in southern England, before moving to Canada. Although I have cultivated my accent, I can and do at times use the inner london/cockney dialect. In fact when writing the voice of the publican in ‘Unwitting Enemy’ I found it very difficult to moderate the words spoken without making the man seem a caricature. For example…
Bryant smiled and said, “Let me buy you a drink!”
“Gawd bless yer guv’nr.” Tom said turning to the optics hanging behind the bar and poured himself a large double whisky.
Continuing with his yarn, “But getting back to the bloomin’ ole in the floor. The pubs ‘ad for as long as can be remembered a skittles team, the bloomin’ table is frough that doorway ter yor right. Oh, excuse me sir for a sec!”
I like that you suggest relying more on diction, syntax, and idiom. I am researching my next novel which will be set in Victorian London, and based around the life of my ancestors who lived by and worked on the river Thames. I would be very easy for me to write all of their dialogue in cockney slang. But, I think it would quickly become too much for the average reader to deal with.
I believe that you have set my book back by several months, not a bad thing! It seems clear to me that although I can speak the local dialect (not quite, as it’s the Victorian period) at this point I am not sure how to present it to my reader.
Thanks again, and any tips would be welcome
Glad this article was useful for you, Steve. More suggestions? You’re already familiar with the Cockney accent, so use what you know, but always use restraint. Try to find some current books that use the accent. I just put “books with cockney dialect” into a Google search, and not only are there lists of books that use the dialect, but there are resources you can check out to learn how to write it well. Here is one: https://www.amazon.com/Accent-Your-Character-Cockney-Training/dp/B0027A3FIA. Hope this gives you a good start!
Thanks for the advice, that’s how I found your blog. I have been reading By Gaslight, writen by Steven Price. It was his use of Victorian London that sparked a idea to use my families history as the frame to build a novel around.
I have only just started my research into the period, but I will write a a test piece of and see how it reads!
An Irish reader was offened when I used ye instead of you with one of old Irish characters. The character was my aunt and it’s how she spoke. As a result I used, you. To me it didn’t sound like my old aunt Maggie. Arlene, thanks for this blog. It was just what I was looking for.
Wow, two comments on the same blog post today! I’m so glad I was able to reassure you, Jim. When I first published this blog post, a reader argued vehemently about one of the my ideas, suggesting that wasn’t at all how black people speak. I made a few changes to placate him, but essentially held my ground. You can’t please everyone all the time, especially when it comes to readers.
Arlene, thanks, I agree
I’m writing a period novel with Irish, Scottish, and Norse (Viking) characters. Is there a way to differentiate between their accents? Or should I just have them use different slang expressions that are unique to their heritage?
Thanks for your question, Micalah. I think differentiating between those accents would be a very hard job for you, a lot of work. Moreover, if you do that, how many readers will really appreciate the subtle, nuanced changes between the accents? Probably not many. So I suggest what you’ve already thought of, and what every fiction author should do: give each character individual, unique expressions, slang, curse words, and physical gestures, not only things that are unique to their heritage but that are unique to *them.*
Hello
I am not sure if the question I am about to pose is relevant to you particularly but I am doing a thesis on dialogue writing for gangster films for my Btech in Film and television production. The thesis entails all the theories needed to write an effective dialogue from dialect, background of the character, sociology and Language. I was kindly requesting for your assistance if possible?
kind regards
Magase, I’d be happy to help you out if possible, but it would be best to contact me via email (info@penultimateword.com) if you’d like to use my editorial services.
Hello Arlene, I am writing a novel based in South Carolina, and I’m using a few occasional cues to evoke the low-country accent, one of which is the dropped g, e.g. darlin’. My question is obvious now — where does the punctuation go? Before or after the apostrophe? When at the end of a sentence, I’ve tried it as “darlin’.” and as “darlin.'” Any opinions?
Thanks, Ruby
Thanks for your question, Ruby. The apostrophe that replaces the “g” forms a contraction. Think of other words with apostrophes that form contractions like didn’t, ’tis, li’l — the apostrophe always directly replaces the missing letter(s). Thus your first choice is correct: darlin’. or darlin’.”
How do I write a Russian Accent?
Thanks for your comment, Laura. Even though I haven’t addressed Russian accents in particular, much of the advice in my article can be applied to any accent. Just keep in mind the basic rule: when writing accents in dialogue, less is more. Rather than changing the spelling of words, which most readers find silly and annoying, omit words here and there, or alter the grammar and syntax to be a little awkward. Drop articles (“the” and “a”) here and there. Also, study Russian dialects online. Where exactly in Russia is your character from? Russia is a vast country and there are many different dialects in different parts of the country. Also, if you Google “how to write a Russian accent in dialogue,” you’ll find more advice online.
Thank you! Your blog is exactly what i needed! 🙂
I enjoyed reading your article. I am currently writing a story with many Maine characters in it. Before reading your article, I was tempted to overuse phonetic spellings. Fortunately, I now understand what the downside of doing this can cause. Thank you for an outstanding article.
I’m so happy that you found my article useful, Pak. Thank you for taking the time to write and tell me how it helped you.
Hie Arlene. I am from Africa, Zimbabwe . Your article is very insightful! I was wondering, however, if you could help me on how to express native languages in English. When two people are conversing in a native language,is it better to write straight away in English then explain later that the dialogue occured in another language? The novel I am working on contains a plethora of native dialogues and I just put these ( using colloquial speech in most of them) in English. Any advice ? It’s my first book.
Hi Machinegun,
I think your questions are more or less answered in my blog post. Yes, I’d write everything straightaway in English, but hint subtlely in the narrative sections that the languages are changing between the speakers. For example,
“Santiago!” Arlene exclaimed. “I can’t believe it’s you!”
“Hey Arlie, it’s been a while! What’s going on with you these days?”
“Oh, quite a lot of life changes. Want to have a coffee and catch up?”
The two old friends found a noisy coffee shop a few blocks away and picked up where they’d left off nine years earlier. They had a lively conversation, mixing up their native languages and still managing to communicate.
Hi Arlene,
I need help with writing a character with a German accent. The percentage of the other characters are American and do not have notable accents, but Gaige is a native German character interacting almost solely with Americans, with the exception of one or two other native Germans. How should I go about this in a way that’s respectful yet true to a German character?
Hi Shela,
The advice and suggestions in my blog post are general and can apply to characters of any nationality with a native accent. As with any character with a foreign accent, it’s better to just explain that your character has a German accent and let readers imagine most of that accent. You can write a little bit of the accent with phonetic spellings — that is, write some of her words as they sound. Less is most when it comes to writing accents or the character is at risk of becoming a caricature. One thing I can think of for a German accent is to change some of the w’s to v’s. As an example, my father spoke German as his native language, and all his life he said “Vat?” instead of “What?” But again, don’t overdo this.
Hello, Arlene!
I’m a student from a non-English speaking country and I have a task of analyzing translations of different books featuring English dialects in it. The only problem is that I can’t really think of any examples of such books other than «The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn» with its usage of Southern U.S. English and Pygmalion with Cockney.
From reading this article and also asking around online I have also added The Color Purple to my list, as well as Beloved and Uncle Tom’s cabin.
So, I was thinking maybe if you know any more books of pretty much any genre featuring characters speaking in dialects like New York English, Western American English, Southern U.S. English, or pretty much any other dialect of the US English, could you please share this knowledge with me:)
The same applies to dialects of British English as well, so if you know any books with characters using Cockney, Scouse, Brummie, etc, I’d love to hear from you.
P.S. such entities as Australian English or Irish English are not considered dialects, but Language Variants (at least in our books).
Thanks for your question! Unfortunately, without doing some research, I can’t come up with too many titles for you other than the ones you’ve mentioned. Oh, and Dickens’s books — have you checked those out? In addition to Googling, perhaps you could try asking in some writers’ groups or forums. I know that whenever I have questions about editing, I check in with my colleagues in various editors’ groups that I’ve joined. Good luck with your project!
Although you wrote this article over five years ago, it is still one of the best explanations out there on authentic dialects and foreign accents in fictional characters. My current character is a young man from Greece visiting the U.S. This helps! Thank you.
Thanks so much for your feedback, Bryan. I’m delighted that you took the time to write. I love Greece and plan to return there next year. But the language isn’t easy! Best wishes for the success of your book!
I’ve been pregnant with a book for the last six years now, but I remember reading this article back when I was struggling with a character’s accent. He’s a Ghanaian doctor working in the U.S., so he’s well-educated, his English is impeccable, but he does have an accent that would be considered foreign to Americans. After recently editing his scenes, it was a good refresher to make sure I was doing it correctly.
Glad my post was helpful for you, Baron. I had no idea when I first wrote this post that it would receive so many visits; I just knew there wasn’t much out there on writing dialect and foreign accents. Makes me think I should expand the post and maybe offer it as an ebook, along with my other posts on dialogue. Perhaps one day, when I have more time on my hands!
Its especially helpful for me, since I’m also an aspiring voice artist. As I write, I actually speak the character’s words in their dialect to see if it sounds right in my head as well as in my ear. I’m able to practice two crafts at the same time. Yay multitasking!
Hi, Arlene.
I’m stuck with a female character. She’s an artist living in New York in her mid-twenties, and is supposed to have a Scottish accent lining her American one. Can you help me with it?
Hi Stephanie,
I’d be happy to help you out, but to do so properly, I would need to do a bit of research. I invite you to contact me in an email with some samples of the areas of dialogue you’re having trouble with, and I’ll see what I can do for you! My email is info@penultimateword.com.
Good morning Arlene,
I wanted to thank you for this article. It’s incredibly well organized and has a lot of great information. I was wondering if you could offer a little more insight when you had a moment. I’m working on a piece right now that includes a character who is Puerto Rican, but was raised since childhood (roughly 8 years old) in a well bred Victorian English household. I want her to have possessed a strong accent as a child and now its almost nonexistent, because she is straining so hard to be English. Are there any good “verbal slip ups” you or any other brilliant minds here could recommend to show she still is trying to cling to her past while maintaining the Verbal class distinction of a well bred English woman in the late 1800s? Much appreciation~
Hi Jack,
Thank you for your lovely compliments! It always gives a boost to my day when I receive praise like yours. I hope my post was useful for you. As for answering your question, it’s not something I can answer directly without some research. What I suggest you do is find a native Spanish speaker, preferably someone Puerto Rican, who is studying and trying to learn English, and ask them what struggles they’ve had and what slip-ups they’ve made while speaking English. Do you know of any ESL schools in your area whose students are trying to learn English? That might be a good place to start. I’m sure you’ll find some good, even funny, slip-ups among them. Also, if you Google “common mistakes Spanish speakers make in English,” you’ll find a number of articles that may help, like this one: https://www.europelanguagejobs.com/blog/common-English-mistakes-by-Spanish-speakers
I hope this helps!
Those are all brilliant ideas…and that website was PERFECT! Thank you for your quick response and your expertise!! Have a wonderful evening! Cheers!
*Jack puts on his research glasses!* ( •_•)>⌐□-□ (⌐□_□) “I got this!”
Hello, there!
I’m currently writing a novel about a post-apocalyptic France, but I have some Irish characters in there and have no idea how to write an Irish accent. Help me? Thanks!
Hi Jen,
I have to wonder if you read my article! I’ve outlined all the ways you can learn to write foreign accents that I know of. It’s going to take some research on your part to write a strong, authentic Irish accent. You could hire an editor to do that research for you, or you could explore the suggestions in my article yourself. Either way, it will take work, time, and thought. An editor could do that work for you if you’d prefer to hire it out. Best wishes going forward!
Hi Jen,
In my blog post, I’ve tried to outline all the ways you can learn to write foreign accents that I know of. It would take a bit more research on my part to assist you with writing a strong, authentic Irish accent. If you’d like to get in touch with me directly via email, I’ll be happy to discuss what I may be able to do for you. Best wishes going forward!
Thanks for your post. I’m on the other side of the problem but it was still useful for me. I am a writer in non-native English (Brazil) writing a fantasy love story that takes place with scenery and characters from my region. My concern is where to hire a proofreader and how to guide him on the accent issue. I write in third person. I think I should correct (remove accents) in the descriptive part and leave the dialogues intact (without accent correction). Obviously, I would like to reach the largest English audience possible. I was recommended to proofread for US_english. I would love to hear your advice.
Hola, Osmar,
If I understand your question correctly, I think you are in the best possible situation. You can hire a US or Canadian editor to make sure your English is correct, both in narrative (description) and in dialogue. Since Brazilian Portuguese is your native language, you will likely already know the particulars of how the people of your country speak, so that part should be easy for you. But be cautious of overdoing the accents. They may not even be necessary. If you’re simply writing a story in English, for an English/US market, then you may not need any accents at all, just Brazillian characters who speak English for the intended reading audience. Your readers will understand that they are all actually meant to be speaking Portuguese and will be able to suspend disbelief over the language issue if you write it well. I suggest strongly that you do hire a Canadian or American editor, and discuss the issue with them at length. I hope that helps!
Hello Arlene,
Thank you for your article! I am writing a book with a Scottish man. His posh wife has managed to quash his accent. He now speaks with a more Received Pronunciation accent when with her, but his thoughts are in his native accent, and when he gets angry or drunk, it comes out as well. When he meets a Midwestern American woman, he starts off speaking with his RP accent, but when he learns that she loves his native one, he begins using it with her. The book is already written, but I’ve been told that his dialect brings some people out of the story, and that I should minimize it. Also, they meet in New Orleans, and I have used a dialect/accent for that, as well as one scene with some African American ones.
Are you interested in reading a few samples of my writing to help me learn how to minimize what I’ve already written?
I have also written several more books of the continuing story, mostly set in Scotland, so there will be a LOT of fixing for me! I’d appreciate whatever help you are able to teach me. Thank you!
Hi Laura,
It does sound as if you are overusing dialect and nonstandard spellings. If you’d like to hire me for any work, I encourage you to contact me via email at info@penultimateword.com, and we can discuss the scope of the work that way. I apologize for the delay in getting back to you!