Written Accents - Your Take 🗣

The Chatters
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I can also suggest, the General Ignorance and Brewer’s Dictionaries books if you’re willing to take your rabbit hole offline :wink:

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:eyes: Noting those. I’ve never heard of them, so yay for more resources!

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When it comes to spoken form, I definitely have my preferences because of how smooth or hot it sounds. In written form, not to much. But then again, it’s hard to write accents and it’s even harder to find books with good written accents.

It does, actually. :sweat_smile: I try to write accents, but I’m not very good at it. However, I watch videos or movies with those accents and it can help me hear the voice of the character.

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No for sure.

It’s likely because of this that the former is also true.

I’ve heard amazing things about this book. Have yet to read, but I love anything Southern so long as it isn’t racist or homophobic.

This for sure. Southern American (not to be confused with South American) accents are particularly interesting because of American media and how they’ve historically (and presently) been portrayed. I could go on and on but
 :woozy_face: there will be other times.

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That last part - good written accents are hard to come by! But when done right, OMG perfection!

It just does something to the soul to hear an attractive accent in my opinion XD.

Southern accents are golden but I’m biased because some of my fam is in South Carolina and when I visit I tend to pick up the twang XD. People make fun of me because I say y’all and live up north, haha.

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This is going to be a hot take, but I’ll go ahead. I feel like the reason why some people “like” certain accents over others or find them “sexier/more intelligent” is because these are usually the languages that our oppressors who stole land from and killed/raped native people had and forced upon those they conquered along with their religious beliefs. I find it interesting how we can decide how “good” or “bad” a person is or how “smart” a person is based on their accent and when someone is speaking “broken English” for example, native English speakers assume this person is not smart. They don’t take into consideration that in that person’s native language, they’re not speaking “broken” and they can be smart as hell. It’s only when speaking English as a second language, which imo is the most complex/confusing language of them all, they can’t speak it well, and people make assumptions based on that.

That’s also where we get this, “You sound ‘white/black’ thing,” from. The more “uneducated” you sound when it comes to the standards of the proper English language, the less intelligent you are deemed to be. And it’s interesting how we associate proper English with “whiteness” - if that’s not a residual effect of what happened in our history, then I don’t know what is.

Anyway, to be fair, there are words in all languages that just sound hot. There are words that exist in some languages that don’t exist in others and it sounds cool. I personally think Spanish has some “hot” words but so does Japanese. I’m sure the linguistics person can chime in here but I think a lot of people like hard consonants/rolling R’s. :thinking:

As for “writing” accents, I do some of this in my writing but to an extent. Sometimes you really can’t “capture” what an accent sounds like in writing, not unless someone has heard it before. And trying to imitate it can be hard to read. Like I had a hard time reading Harry Potter sometimes because of Hagrid for example, the way Rowling tried to “write” his accent. I got the point but it was a task to understand what he was saying sometimes.

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This entire thing is something I’ve struggled with in some reading because it’s learning curve of saying it out loud and trying to decipher what’s being said for me.

As for the rest of your comment I totally agree with what you said about language and education not being correlated. AAVE was seen as “ghetto, hood, uneducated, (insert insult here)” for years until it became chic and eventually even a language some could gain foreign language credits for in some high schools and I believe even colleges.

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written accents tend to take me out of the story. they can be difficult to read and often veer into disrespectful territory, especially when written by someone who hasn’t actually spent much time interacting with people who have the accent they’re trying to capture.

i think is better is to sprinkle in some phrases that people with that accent may use (i.e., a character with an english accent using “flat” in place of “apartment”) but even that can be pushed too far, especially if you’re trying to write AAVE or any accent that is often fetishized or misunderstood. for example, i can’t tell you the number of times ive read amateur writing where they signify the japanese character is japanese by having them randomly call things “kawaii” or using anime expressions. it’s extremely embarrassing.

at the end of the day, saying in text “this character has a jamaican accent” or “this character has a scottish accent” might seem like a cop-out, but it’s not the worst thing in the world.

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I just cringed a bit on the inside :sweat_smile:.

cop out vs. canceled - gotta pick the poison. :face_with_peeking_eye:

edited because I forgot to respond to this - but I much prefer when writing accents myself to just say someone has X accent and then sprinkle in popular words used in everyday language - but even that can get messy because words can go in and out of style.

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It really depends. Like if you want to say Fhrench slange for huge honking busts, its a lot of peiple on the balcony, for some reason.

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This reminds me of a tip I read about writing someone who is speaking in a language that isn’t their first. Real life examples w/ English include people not using the correct tense, making something plural that shouldn’t be or visa versa, trying to think of the word in English but can’t so they say it in their own language like, “What’s the word for this- this- how do I say it- damn, the little toy muñeca- that’s what it is! Doll!”. They also mix languages without realizing. Especially if there isn’t an equivalent in English or it’s a slang specific to their first language that sounds ridiculous in English.

Like whenever my parents wanted to say a place was really far/in the middle of nowhere/hell to get to, they’d say it was en la vente de la tomate. (I might’ve written that wrong because I speak Spanglish, Spanish is not my first language) Anyway, it means something along the lines of where the tomato sales are and it’s like wtf? Tomato sales? What the hell does that have to do with anything? But that’s what they used to say. “Where was that place you had an interview? Oh, that f’n place, en la vente de la tomate.”

Another way the native language comes out is when someone is angry/upset they tend to revert to the language they’re comfortable in. Cursing/grumbling in that language. They can also be overly polite because they’re using the language as they learn it “properly” but it’s not how English speakers naturally speak most of the time.

So in my writing, I try to write it that way so it feels more realistic versus someone going, “Hola! Como te llama!” as the “hint” that this person speaks Spanish. Or like, “Que tal?” which is supposed to be “what’s up?” but never in my life have I heard any Spanish speaking person I’ve known use that phrase outside of a classroom/proper setting. Slang is important to know. Unless you’re in a fancy rich place or something, no one speaks like the classroom teaches language.

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A lot of people on the balcony. Never heard that one. :laughing:

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It’s phrased slighly different in French, but thats basicslly it.

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Here’s an actual quote that I typed up:

“Ever’thang cost sump’m, and fer the money ya gotta keep the house up, stove wood c’lected, and warsh the laundree.” (Where the Crawdads Sing)

This thick written accent is mostly the father in the story. I can’t remember or find anyone else’s dialogue being written in this way. What are your thoughts?

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As a person who actually speaks like this, makes me feel kinda seen. People with Southern American accents in American television are only either racist, homophobic, or the most useless character. Yet another stereotype inside the United States.

I have a lot of thoughts about Southern American accents but I think this one is written pretty standardly. Although I haven’t read “Where the Crawdads Sing,” the pronunciation of “wash” as “warsh” is a very Southern Appalachian thing (as in, I don’t say “warsh” normally because I’m not from North Georgia or Western NC). I’m unsure of the function of the writing in the context of the story, but since Crawdads is also a very North Georgia/Western NC word, I think it’s a stab at recreating the accent from there.

And yeah, older generations tend to have thicker accents, and more regionally based. My grandpa used to say “Shicargo” when referring to “Chicago” (shikago).

I think depending on the situation it can be useful to write out the sounds (i.e. writing “warsh” instead of “wash”) but I do think the same effect can be achieved based solely on word choice. (I.e. writing “I reckon” instead of “I believe”). Unless it’s a caricatured or unresearched attempt that fails to capture the real sound, I don’t think I have a problem as long as it’s intelligible. (But there exist dialects of English that are mutually unintelligible so
)

Idk it’s complicated. I should go read “Where the Crawdads Sing” though.

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I’m not sure of the function as well. The MC, despite growing up around that type of pronunciation and being rather isolated, doesn’t speak in that way. I think it adds culture?

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Probably. I think an important distinction to note, though, is the detail that you pointed out earlier: that only the father speaks that way. I know in many Southern American communities today, the accent of the past is largely being eradicated because of the light in which it’s portrayed–an interesting similarity to Cantonese in China, to my understanding.

I desperately need to read “Where the Crawdads Sing.” I generally consider myself a connoisseur of Sothern Literature, or literature set in the South, but I really do need to read more. To my knowledge, “Where the Crawdads Sing” was well received in the South.

EDIT: Didn’t realize it had been turned into a film–or, I had just forgotten about it. In any case, it’s still a crime that I haven’t read/watched it.

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Some of it is forced, yes, but some of it is exposure. We are chronically bombarded with voices from the midwest and the coasts, and that warps accents naturally.

https://greatspeech.com/at-what-age-is-an-accent-permanent/

I mean, we consume an incredible ammount of media by the age of 12, in comparison to previous geneations.

So wven if we stilled thw nwgative side, anyone who was 12 and online would shift anyway.

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Go read it now :stuck_out_tongue:

I would love to talk about the book with you when you finish :grin: We can do it in messages to not spoil it for other people.

I have a lot of thoughts still on that book. Not just how it was all portrayed, but the plot, too. It’s not just a story about the life of a girl living in the marsh, but about a possible murder mystery, too :eyes:

I posted a review on IG and here it is, if you’re interested:

Zero spoilers in this review, but hiding it in case you really don't wanna know anything

The Story

Takes place in Barkley Cove, North Carolina. Follows two timelines which later meet up to the present year 1970.

One timeline, 1952-1969, follows a girl, Kya, living in the marsh. It’s about her challenges growing up into adulthood after her family leaves and being called the Marsh Girl. The other timeline is year 1969 where a body is found in the marsh. The deputy and sheriff are trying to figure out what happened. Could it be a murder? They suspect shy, sensitive Kya who hides at the sound of footfalls.

Genre: Adult fiction, mystery (child neglect, and mentions abuse and discrimination)

POV: Third person with occasional switch in POV.

Subjective Critiques

Negatives: Two things. Time jumps from childhood to adulthood were rushed a bit. Author trying to catch us up to the present excluded thought processes that were needed. I didn’t get to see Kya’s mind growing up much or see changes in her thinking. Her actions were confusing sometimes, suddenly matured or changed her mind.

Second, there’s a lot about animal behavior and marsh biology mentioned. Sometimes it became too technical all of a sudden like non-fiction. Could have been cut back. Not all of it was important to the story.

Positives: Kya, although the protagonist, I felt close to her, but distant from her at the same time. You think you know her, but you don’t and that’s how she’s like with everyone. But you just want her to be happy :pleading_face:

The poetic prose about marsh life, about gulls and feathers, about love and loneliness and longing, beautiful. I also cried four times :sob: The last three came one after another. Author did not give me a break.

Recommend?
10/10 My review does not do it justice. Positives outweigh the negatives. Poetic, mysterious, gripping, FEELS! So glad I bought this book.

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Will read and report back to you. Fair warning: I’m a super slow reader–it took me three months to read the last novel I read lmfao. School is ending so maybe I’ll have more time.

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