I imagine something akin to, "You want hotel key?"
Or, "I bring you waffle. No? Yes?"
This is what I prefer.
I imagine something akin to, "You want hotel key?"
Or, "I bring you waffle. No? Yes?"
The many, many Russians I went to high school with did, along with inserting other Russian words in the middle of English sentences. Or they'd say something in English and say "da?" at the end, the way we'd go "yes?" if we were looking for an agreement.
It may have had to do with code-switching for them, but I know Japanese people who know "Yes" and "No," but "hai" just slips out of their mouths more easily.
I have a Russian character and I was wondering if there is a more professional way of presenting his accent? for example:
"Hey! Vat do you dink you are doing?” Vlad said through a very thick Russian accent.
or
"Hey! What do you think you are doing?” Vlad said through a very thick Russian accent.
Russians speaking English typically leave out articles, which don't exist in Russian. So, "Where is hotel?" for example.
How I did it, with a character from Hungary who has become a U.S. Army Drill Sergeant. Introducing himself to a group of draftees on their first day of basic training, he has them all doing pushups because nobody could tell him what a Magyar is:
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]"I am Sergeant First Class János Rákosi. Always you will address me as ‘Drill Sergeant’. You may think I talk funny. Do not laugh. That is an order. It is because I am Magyar. How many of you pissants know what is a Magyar?”[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]He paused. Silence abounded.[/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Outstanding,” Sergeant Rákosi said. “Now, everyone drop and give me fifty pooshops! Count them, and let me hear you!”[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Bodies dropped, and counting began. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]He strolled among the grunting forms, and continued at a near-shout: [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
“[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Now, I will tell you what is a Magyar. A Magyar is someone from Hungary. Hungary is very unhappy country. When I am thirteen, in 1956, I throw rocks at communist tanks in Budapest. I hit them. They shoot bullets at me. They miss me. My brother Imre, he is not so lucky. I swim the Danube to Austria, for freedom. I hate communists. I want them all to be dead. I come to America where I become citizen. I join the Army to fight communists, to make them all be dead. Now I am here to help you to make them all be dead. Do you understand?”[/FONT]
You don't need "phonetic" spelling, except maybe once in a great while, for effect. I used "pooshops" there. I'm not sure I should even have done that.
caw