Dialects and Dialogue

lemonhead · Aug 8, 2008

What's your opinion?

Use the dialect, hint at the dialect, or ditch the dialect.

As a reader I hate reading heavy dialect...where you have to sound it out...it just slows down my reading!
But I do like to know if someone talks a certain way.

kuwisdelu · Aug 8, 2008

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111838

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112011

mamboitaliano17 · Aug 8, 2008

Hey, I made my way through Forrest Gump and stopped flinching after the first three pages. If it's well-done, it doesn't jar me out of the story for too long.. but it always does initially.

maestrowork · Aug 8, 2008

Anything to slow down or stop the readers is NOT good. Hints are fine. Hindering is not.

tehuti88 · Aug 9, 2008

I would hint at the dialect.

I've tried reading dialect fiction and I just can't do it. I either think the characters are total morons (which I know they aren't!), or I end up trying too hard just to figure out what's being said, and both of those make me stop reading. When the dialect is too heavy it gives a story an unintentional comedic quality, like exaggeration, IMO. People might really talk like that but for some reason it doesn't seem to translate as well into the written word.

dpaterso · Aug 9, 2008

Ain't nobody sayin' y'all hevta fill that thar manny-script with pesky die-a-lect 'n stuff. Just a coupl'a words is gonna be 'nuff to hint at the speaker's regional vocabulary. As with all things, don't overdo it so it becomes tedious rather than colorful.

-Derek

Maryn · Aug 9, 2008

That's all the proof I need, Derek. I read, what, a half a line?

Maryn, simply not that patient

jannawrites · Aug 9, 2008

I'm reading a novel now with an 1800s time frame. Grammar and speech were far different then, and it's reiterated through the characters' dialect. But, I noticed just this morning, not each character speaks that way - some are more educated than others - which keeps it from being overwhelming, as dpaterso mentioned. Plus, the narrative and scene-setting supports the era and its dialect, making it less glaring.

I think if it's done well, dialect can be used outright, no "hinting" necessary.

andrewhollinger · Aug 9, 2008

So nobody a fan of Trainspotting, huh?

I actually had to read the first chapter out loud, not so much reading for comprehension, but letting my mind put together the words and then listening to the story. I became my own book on tape...without the tape.

chevbrock · Aug 10, 2008

I'm with Andrew. First couple of sentences threw me. Didn't have a problem after that. Saying someone has a dialect and then not showing it is cheating the reader, as far as I'm concerned.

Shamisen · Aug 16, 2008

I think that you also need to remember the context of the story. If you are writing in a dialect but don't clarify where the character is from then the reader may not recognise the location. I have done this many times. The first time I read Harry Potter, I thought Hagrid was Scottish rather than Devonian - the area in England where I was born and raised.

steveg144 · Aug 17, 2008

lemonhead said:
What's your opinion?

Use the dialect, hint at the dialect, or ditch the dialect.

As a reader I hate reading heavy dialect...where you have to sound it out...it just slows down my reading!
But I do like to know if someone talks a certain way.

Hinting is fine, but please do be a bit more creative than Annie Proulx, whose idea of representing dialect in print is to simply drop the ending "g" from every "ing" and replacing it with '. The Proulx method works like so. Want a rural Canadian accent? Replace "thinking" with "thinkin'". Want a western cowboy accent? Replace "thinking" with "thinkin'". Jeez, it's tedious! Be a bit more imaginative.

Dialects and Dialogue

lemonhead

Life isn't all beer and skittles.

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

mamboitaliano17

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

tehuti88

Mackinac Island Fanatic

dpaterso

Also in our Discord and IRC chat channels

Maryn

I Tried

jannawrites

no, really

andrewhollinger

practical experience, FTW

chevbrock

Shamisen

Mother of Pog!

steveg144

Crusty Polemicist