Am I intolerant because I struggle with severe accents, dialect, or colloquialisms? In all seriousness, I’m a fairly non-judgmental person, but for some reason, when it comes to literature, a foreign way of speaking really tends to pull me out of the story. Oddly, it doesn’t bother me so much in a movie, and I think the reason is that as I’m reading, I’m hearing the story with my internal voice, and the sudden shift in dialect that occurs within dialogue seems jarring to me.
On the other hand, I am absolutely fascinated by dialect. I often listen intently as the Australians or British pronounce their vowels differently than what I’m used to or as the Southerners in the United States pepper their dialogue with y’alls and other unique contractions that do not exist anywhere else in the world. Even as a kid, I would sit in front of the television and mimic the accents that I heard. My mom sometimes scolded me, thinking I was making fun of the speakers, but I really wasn’t.
But there are times when I really do allow myself to stereotype people because of the way they talk. Sadly and unfairly I’ve been guilty of equating the use of Ebonics with a lack of intelligence. I sometimes assume that 
speakers with Southern accents are uneducated. I even often hear British accents as being a little too sophisticated or “snobbish”. A perfect example of this is when I watch porn. I like watching BDSM, and when the Dom in the scene has a British accent, I just think he sounds too damned polite. When he’s flogging his slave mercilessly and calling him a slutty little bitch, I think he’s just being way too gentle—all because of the way he talks.
Okay, with this being said, I’m sure “ya’ll” are 100% convinced that I am the one who’s a snob. But please hear me out! No, I do not really believe all of these stereotypes. It’s just that in spite of what I know as fact, when I’m reading, my mind just seems to jump to these unfair assumptions of people based upon the way that they talk. It is something that is easy enough to correct, if I simply take a moment to think about it… and really this is what I do most of the time.
But I also notice that I’m not the only reader who is guilty of this. I sometime see comments in reviews about inauthentic dialogue. I’ve read blogs in which authors are advised not to even attempt to write dialect. Instead, write the way you normally would talk and allow the reader to interpret the accent with their internal voice. Most of the time I think this is fairly good advice, particularly when you’re writing a character of a certain ethnicity. For example, if you had an Asian, English-speaking character whose native language was Chinese, and you tried to include every nuance of his dialect, it may come across as being racist… or at the very least condescending. And I suppose this could be true of any specific ethnic or racial group.
Yet there are times, particularly with historicals or fantasy novels, in which the dialogue includes words or phrases that are unique to that time period or location. If you write everything, including dialogue, in modern vernacular, then isn’t this just pure laziness? I mean, authentic dialogue is an important part of world-building, or at least I thought it was.
The same is true in young adult novels. If you do not write young characters talking like young characters, then the entire book seems phony. People use slang. They use contractions and phrases that are illogical, and they abbreviate things that shouldn’t be abbreviated.
Maybe what it all boils down to is familiarity. We most often relate to the characters who are like us. When I read Harry Potter for the first time, I knew the story was set in England, but for some reason it didn’t occur to me that the characters had a British accent. When I saw the movies, all of a sudden it dawned on me. My internal voice read Harry as if he were a kid living next door to me.
So now I have to ask the question: if the British sound too sophisticated to me, do we Americans sound like a bunch of rubes and hillbillies to them? I just wonder if other readers contemplate these stereotypes. When is accent or dialect severe enough to take you out of a story? When does authentic world-building go too far?
When I was a kid, one of the most popular sitcoms on television was the show called “Alice.” The show was about three waitresses who worked in a greasy-spoon diner, and one of them was a Southern belle named Flo. Flo was famous for her trademark phrase, “Kiss my grits!” If I were to attempt to write the phrase exactly the way 
that I heard Flo say it, I would have to spell it differently… “Key-us mah gree-uhts!” But I think to actually write it out that way would be annoying to the reader and quite possibly offensive to my friends in the South.
It seems that in this worldwide market, attention to dialect can be a balancing act of authenticity and sensitivity. Sometimes you just have to allow the reader to interpret the conversation with their own voice and other times you have to focus upon keeping it real.
I’d be interested to hear what authors and readers from around the globe think about this issue… or perhaps they don’t think much about it at all.
Jeff Erno’s Contact Information:
email: jeffaerno@gmail.com
website
blog:
Very interesting post, Jeff :).
With dialect in books I think there has to be a balance between getting a flavour of where the character is from, and not overwhelming the reader with too many obvious dialect words which they may not understand. For example, I recently read a Harper Fox book set in Arran, Scotland. Her characters didn’t use particular words or vocab to denote their location, rather there was a lyrical nature to the cadence of their speech which suggested the Scottish accent. I thought this was very effective, more than using words like ‘dinna’.
Dialect can be tricky and easy to get wrong. In Britain you only have to drive for half an hour down the road to get an entirely different way of speaking. I’m from Yorkshire which has a very strong dialect and totally different to that of the generic British dialogue shown on many TV programmes and I get a bit annoyed if I read a book with a Yorkshire character who sounds nothing like a Yorkshire person! I can understand then why authors choose to avoid dialect as much as possible and instead have a sort of bland non accent which can be interpreted in different ways by different readers. At least that way you’re not going to upset anyone!
Like Jenre, I’m from Yorkshire, and it always makes me smile when people say that they think a British/English accent is ‘posh’. Not round here, it’s not! I think accents are almost impossible to convey on the page (which is a shame). Dialect/slang words are sometimes less tricky and sometimes, if the context explains it, I don’t think it matters if I’m not familiar with the word, or with that particular usage of it.
I don’t think Americans sound like ‘rubes and hillbillies’ (btw, what is a rube?). I can pick out some US accents, mainly the stronger ones, eg, a New York accent. I’ve always found it a little surprising that so many Americans seem to sound the same, on the whole – but thast might just be my untrained ear 🙂
American accents are subtle. I can tell when someone is from the northwoods (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Upper Michigan) by their vowels. I can’t tell the different southern accents apart. My own is a midwestern no-accent with a lot of television overlaid. I watched a lot of TV as a small child (single mother who worked nights). I can tell western to a degree, and New England (but not regional)
Then again, I can tell a Londoner from a Yorkshireman, but I can’t tell most other British accents, beyond differentiating English, Scots, and Irish.
I agree with genre- accents in books are usually better when they’re subtle, running more toward the cadence rather than slang. I read kresley cole’s (not m/m) newest book Lothaire, and the female lead had such a strong Appalachian accent that it was intolerable– especially since I was listening to it on audiobook instead of reading in hard copy!
Very interesting post, Jeff. Language is a fascinating thing, isn’t it? Endlessly so. You could delve into its history forever and never get tired of it 🙂
As far as written dialect, I personally can’t stand struggling through something where the author has tried to spell out the sound of a strong accent. It’s too much work to try and make sense of it. I’m thrown out of the story, and that’s the number one thing that makes me put down a book and never pick it up again. On the other hand, regional words and/or phrases — used correctly; I can’t emphasize that enough — can convey the “sound” of an accent quite well without being a stumbling block, IMO. “Y’all” being one of them 😎
Agree completely with you, Ally. I’d even take it a step further and say, I love reading dialect in a book, whether it’s subtle like with Harper Fox’s Scotsmen or in-your-face like D’s slang in “Zero to the Bone”. As I’m not a native speaker, written dialect helps me to “visualize” how a character sounds. Although I can hear the difference between e.g. Australian, British, American English, or Scottish, I wouldn’t readily be able to distinguish between a New Yorker and a Philadelphian, for example, so dialect phrases help me to get into a character’s head. Sometimes, I read dialect sentences aloud in order to get a feel for the language – and for the speaker along with it.
As for historicals: if characters speak too modern it totally throws me out of the story!
By the way, I also like dialect when I read in my native language, but only if it’s not too blatant. For that matter, I’m with Jenre. Little mannerisms or particularities of speaking are enough to make me hear a character’s typical speech melody.
eh, got this wrong–I meant to say “I love dialect, but only if it’s subtle and not in your face”…too late to edit…
I had a very depressing conversation with an American author a couple of weeks ago. From it I understood that it’s pointless for an English author to write in English English because it annoys US readers to have to cope with our “slang” – by which he meant the differences between the two languages. He particularly singled out “trainers” [tennis shoes], “jumper”[sweater] and “lorry” [truck] for criticism. Why, he wanted to know, couldn’t we use American English and save a lot of bother?
Dialect is another matter. My own accent is an amalgam of London, Herefordshire and Welsh. There’s no way to render that phonetically and make it intelligible. Nor Valleys Welsh, nor Black Country, nor Geordie, and I doubt many strong US accents can be written either. All one can do is use those little tricks of speech and cadence that anyone familiar with the accent would recognise. But those are no help at all to anyone who has never heard them.
It all comes down to familiarity, doesn’t it? At least 40% of the films and TV I have seen since I was a child have been made in the US. When I read a book written by an American author I have at least an inkling of what the characters might sound like. If I come across a word that is unfamiliar I either pick up the meaning from context or, if it seems important to the plot, I look it up but I don’t let its presence spoil my reading experience. Being willing to give it a go is half the battle and having a really good compelling story to read is the other half.
Seriously??? Wow. I completely disagree with that other author. I absolutely LOVE seeing English words in a book set in England. In fact, if I’m reading a book set in England and an English character said “sweater” instead of “jumper” I’d get all nitpicky on the author for doing it wrong. Not in public, just in my own head, but yeah, it would bug me. Like you, take unfamiliar words as an opportunity to learn something new. Frankly, to expect an author to cater to your own personal level of language familiarity strikes me as incredibly entitled, not to mention lazy.
(general “you” there, not YOU you, Elin!)
Oh yes, I got quite irritated by a reference to “drapes” in a Brit-set historical recently. We call them curtains over here.
That said, Ally, sometimes it’s the publishers insisting on vocabulary changes. I’ve had to grit my teeth and bear it before. I’m a bit more feisty now, though 😉
I think I read that book too! – the use of “drapes” really jarred and threw me out of the story. I did wonder whether the author hadn’t bothered to use the correct word (the first thought one has) or whether the publisher insisted that the US term was used.
I do find it surprising that some publishers assume that US readers can’t cope with the slightly different words we use in England. I think they insult their readers. After all, I manage to read book with US vocabulary without difficulty, and if someone really doesn’t know what a curtain is they can just Google it! 🙂
Wow, that’s an eye-opener. I’ve been asked about words and phrases I’ve used before, but if it’s a regional saying used correcting I just explain it and move on. My editors have never insisted on a change before. I’ve obviously been very lucky; I’m grateful for that.
You know what’s odd, in the Deep South (U.S.A.) where I grew up, we never said “drapes” either, they were always “curtains”, though I knew the term “drapes”. Funny thing, language 😀
That is very depressing Elin.
Elin, I’ve heard that before from people, but you just have to brush it off and write in British English if you want to. I’m always getting comments and emails from readers thanking me for writing in British English, so there are those out there who positively enjoy it.
It probably makes more commercial sense to Americanise your narrative and set everything in some fictional US town, but I reckon the strongest writing comes when authors write things they feel a personal connection to.
I am german and I have a problem with dialect in books too. My internal voice is always different from what I am reading. My own dialect sounds strange to me and I think: I do not speak this way.I think it will be enough to use some special phrases. Another problem is the translation of books by foreign authors. How will you translate a foreign dialect? Often they try – and fail. I don`t read german versions of English books anymore. As you see, my active English is not good but I have no problems reading. If there is a dialect I would rather read it in the original.
A timely post indeed.
I just let a character with a Glaswegan accent narrate about half of my most recent book.
I tried to keep it mostly cadence and word choice, with no spelling weirdness.
I like a peppering of slang, not on the Clockwork Orange level, where it’s a whole different language, but enough that we get a flavor.
I used to read books written in dialect, where the southernism were spelled out to the point I had to read it aloud to understand it. My eye couldn’t translate “Wail, Mistuh Mockuh, we-uns is sho nuf headed fo the sunny souf” into anything intelligible.
I’ve read a fair few books in strange dialect and spelling, like Russell Hoban’s “Riddley Walker”, but I wouldn’t do it on a regular basis.
That said, I LOVE it when the cadence of regional speech and dialect words come through in narrative and dialogue. I just have to hope enough other readers feel the same way I do, because you’ll bloody well prise my English slang out of my cold, dead hands.
Thanks so much for hosting my guest blog. It’s an honor to be afforded the privilege of participating this way.
Very glad to see the interesting comments, and I’m pleased that several authors and readers enjoy the inclusion of authentic dialect. It’s rather disturbing to see that some readers are put off by narrative or dialogue that is different from how they themselves speak, particularly as in the example cited by Elin.
Again, thanks for having me, and thank you to all who shared their comments.
I like enough dialect and location specific slang to feel the place, but not so much that I need to stop and think “what the heck did that say???”
I think that this is a very relevant topic. I’m very aware of the dialect and accent of the characters I’m reading, and of the vocabulary in the rest of the book. For example, if the book is written from one character’s POV then it should use the language he would speak, and the same rhythm and pace which he would.
However, I cannot read dialogue or prose written in dialect, even if it is authentic. (Rabbie Burns will forever remain unread by me.) I spend all my time time trying to translate, and am jarred out of the story. I agree with those who say that the author should tell the reader what accent/dialect the character speaks, and then use “normal” English to set it down. But (again as someone else has said) use a cadence or rhythm to convey the accent, and to distinguish between the characters. Harper Fox is brilliant at this. The occasional (very occasional) special word or phrase can help, too.
I think it is important that not every book and every character uses the same, bland, correct English, but slavishly spelling out dialect comes across to me as sometimes pretentious, always irritating, and unnecessary. It is a complete no-no for me.
Oh, and slang is a different thing but really important. Slang is fine by me, and works really well in establishing a character. It might mean more to some readers than to others (a non-English reader might not get that one character uses words that another one would never use, and no doubt the same is true for non-US readers of US books), but for those who understand the nuances there’s a real benefit. I don’t believe in dumbing down, or using a lowest common denominator approach – making sure everything can immediately understand easily, at the cost of an important gloss for those who understand immediately or who can be bothered to look it up.
Elin, what a silly twit that author was. English English? It annoys US readers? Bollocks! 😉 Seriously, if that were true that would be very sad.
I’m Canadian, and absolutely love British writing. When I discover a new, wonderful English writer (and thanks again to Wave’s wonderful site) I get a little thrill. Love the whole *feel* of the novel and the characters themselves.
What does give me pause and, if a constant in a novel, I stop reading, is “ing” or the lack thereof. Tryin’, gettin’, watchin’. Rather than emphasize the character’s background, where he’s from, his social class, his ethnicity, it only annoys. Well, annoys me anyway.
I’m from Newfoundland. If I wrote how I speak in casual conversation, the reader would be .. confused:)
I just read HJ’s comments. I echo them. My thoughts exactly. The reader’s not stupid.
Love this “… those who say that the author should tell the reader what accent/dialect the character speaks, and then use “normal” English to set it down. But (again as someone else has said) use a cadence or rhythm to convey the accent, and to distinguish between the characters. Harper Fox is brilliant at this.”