One of the most difficult
accomplishments in writing is to get a certain character’s dialect and accent
correct.
When
you include foreign characters in your story, it’s imperative that your reader
know they have an accent relative to the country or locale from which they
hail.
Be
attentive to these nuances or all your characters will sound like you. An
author who is not a linguist or grammarian may have a certain limited
capability at using the English language. Without expanding your knowledge or
simply using a Thesaurus, you will find yourself repeating the same words and
phrases over and over.
Let’s
take the example of a foreign accent. Your character’s manner of speech will be
greatly affected by the way you describe that person and the nuances of the
country of their birth. Say you’ve set up your character as being from France.
Maybe he dresses in fine French clothes, is real dapper and has European table
manners. Beyond that, have him use French phrases like mon cherie in the course of his dialogue.
Foreign
phrases you attach to your character should be fairly well known to the general
public. These phrases both immediately give the reader the character’s flavor
of speech; it also lets the reader skim smoothly over the foreign phrase by
imagining an accent, and stay in the story.
Including
a phrase that not too many people have heard makes the reader pause to try to
understand. That is something you do not want to happen.
When
writing in English, the author must still assure that all characters have their
own manner of speaking.
A
cowboy has a laid-back southern drawl, as in “I ain’t into office work, ma’am. I ride horses.” Can you hear him
speak?
The
African man who made it to the Olympics has an Nigerian accent that no one
understands. Yet, when he’s marching with all the other athletes, carrying his
country’s flag and yells his country’s motto while pumping a fist into the air,
we know exactly what he means.
The
Latino from south of the border speaks broken English interspersed with his
home area colloquialisms and politely calls women Senora or Senorita.
These
are but a few examples of unique characters who must sound different. Each
would be enhanced by the way the author introduces them into the story.
The
cowboy always wears boots, even with a tuxedo.
The
African man plays his drums because he misses home, but doesn’t want to miss a
chance at the Olympics either.
The
Latino does his own cooking because he can’t get real authentic
south-of-the-border cooking at a restaurant.
When
you develop your characters well, many times, even their simplest conversations
will appear to the reader as being spoken with some sort of accent or brogue.
Never
overlook that once you set up the special characters that people your story,
their dialogue must follow suit. You must set your characters apart, not only
in mannerisms and such, but in their dialogues. Otherwise all your characters
will sound like you, the author, and will speak the same language as you.
Mary Deal
Author, Painter, Photographer
Eric Hoffer Book Award Winner
National Indie Excellence Book Awards Finalist (past)
National Indie Excellence Book Awards Finalist (past)
Pushcart Prize Nominee
Global eBook Awards Nominee
Global eBook Awards Nominee
2014 National Indie Excellence Book Awards Finalist
Global eBook Awards Bronze
Global eBook Awards Silver
Blog: http://www.marydeal.com
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