Writing in a (new) dialect

No. Don't do this. It's really irritating and fatiguing to read phonetically spelled dialect.

What you want to do is give the flavor of the dialect without trying to render it sound for sound. So, you can get by with changing the spelling on a couple-three common words, but mostly what you need to rely on is syntax. Other languages and dialects don't use the same grammatical arrangements as English. Things are said in a different order and in different ways. Also, you can invent idioms that are not normal for an English speaker but that would be common in the character's culture.

BethS said:

No. Don't do this. It's really irritating and fatiguing to read phonetically spelled dialect.

Click to expand...

Right. As Beth said, consider changing sentence structure vs. spelling things phonetically. Think of Yoda: "I can ride a bike." becomes "Ride a bike I can." Something like that.

I don't believe so considering it would be an acceptable 'flaw' in your character.

Following the example you used: "I can ride a bike" instead of "I can ride bike" you could even use "I ride bike." It would depend on how much of a grasp you want your character to have of the language he is speaking (or trying to).

You could also use physical means to communicate. For example use hand gestures to detail how one would ask to for a hammer instead of knowing the words to ask for one. Like a crude version of sign language.

I guess the best piece of advice would be put yourself in your character's position. Ask yourself how would you look or sound if you didn't know how to speak the language of the land you were in and needed to communicate?

Writing dialect accent for accent has fallen out of favor these days, but there was a time when it was well-accepted. Think Mark Twain, or even Zane Grey. However, it takes more intense reading, and not everyone has the patience--or desire--to do that.

As long as you keep things flowing smoothing for the reader, with sentences that are easily followed, a missing article isn't likely to cause you problems. Do a little research into other language structures and you'll see how different parts of speech are managed. Some languages have no word for "it"--everything is male or female. Some don't use articles: a, an, the. Others handle verb constructions differently.

If you have a large local library, or a college library available to you, find the shelf section that deals with languages and self-instruction. Most language textbooks will have an introductory section that reviews the grammatical structures. You can make comparisons this way; although to get a good sampling, you need to move beyond the Latin based languages--that is, French, Spanish, or Italian.

Good luck!

jdwhitelaw said:

Excellent.

Is it just as infuriating for readers to miss out words.

Using the above example "I can ride a bike" would "I can ride bike" draw just as much needless irritation?

Many thanks

Click to expand...

Personally, it wouldn't bug me. I tend to find little quirks like that endearing

L.C. Blackwell said:

Some languages have no word for "it"--everything is male or female. Some don't use articles: a, an, the. Others handle verb constructions differently.

Click to expand...

Just adding to this:

The verb placement within the sentence will also differ according to language, e.g., in German and Japanese, it can come at the end of a sentence.

One thing to also watch for is pronouns: if the subject of the topic is known, in various languages, the pronoun is not needed. E.g., in Chinese, or Japanese, the pronoun can be dropped.

You can also delve further and look at cases, i.e., nominative, accusative, dative. Most obvious in German or so I've found.

Have fun!

Funny think about reading... we don't need to 'hear' the dialect as the author does to get the point. An occasional word to punctuate the dialect, and some variation in sentence structure (I would recommend using a more formal speech pattern rather than devolving it. Poor grammar can grate on a reader's nerves.) will give the reader a reminder that this character speaks with some kind of accent.

As for spelling phonically...no. Please, for the love of the puppies, no. We don't read phonically, we sight read. Throwing phonics in there throws the reader off and can turn the book into a frustrating wallbanger.