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-   -   First Person and Accents (https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=160413)

DGexe November 16th, 2008 8:42 PM

First Person and Accents
 
Yeah, DG's got a question for you all. I've finally restarted one of my fanfics, and I've come at a bit of a problem already.

It's in first person, and the narrator/protagonist has an accent. However, she doesn't speak the accent while narrating, but does when dialogue between herself and other's starts. Would this look alright, in generalized writing?

Ah, if you want an example of what I mean, here:

Spoiler:
“Taxi! Taxi!” My cries didn’t hail any of the damned things, nor did any of them consider slowing down yet. They simply passed me by, bearing other people on their way deeper into Italy’s capital. “Oh, b’ tha’ way, why don’t ya? Damned pieces o’ junk… TAXI! Poich‚ il amore di dio, fermata!!” I snapped out in rough, slightly accent-butchered Italian as my free hand shot out into the air. That little outburst, to my complete amusement, made a few heads turn to stare in my direction; I supposed that telling a taxi to stop for the love of their god in vain, especially in this city, wasn’t such a dandy idea.


Edit: And furthermore, do you think that using an online translator would give off a better feel of "roughly spoken Italian", seeing as I've never taken Italian in my life, and thus can not accurately speak it and utilize it for this foreigner's sake?

Swift! November 16th, 2008 8:57 PM

That works just fine, It would look strange if all of it had the accent. If I were you I'd write it all like you have with the example.
Yes, using a translator would work if you wanted to show rough Italian. But, if you had a character that could speak Italian perfectly... you might have problems.

Which translator are you using anyways?

Post Office Buddy November 16th, 2008 9:01 PM

For your first question, I would have to say that it would be alright. While some people may think that keeping consistency with dialog and narration would be important, I would rather think that presenting an accent only in dialog would be most effective. People generally don't think in accents (I don't think they do anyway, correct me if I'm wrong anyone), even if they talk in one. Either way, it would be easier to read if you just did it the way you showed in your example.

To answer your second question, I think if it was somewhat accurate, then it could be pulled off. You might want to reverse check every single sentence you translate to make sure it sounds right before splicing it in, though. Remember, online translators only give a general translation rather than an exact one.

DGexe November 16th, 2008 9:02 PM

Ah, that's good then; I wasn't sure if the accent would turn people off, even in such small amounts.

http://www.tranexp.com:2000/Translate/result.shtml This one; it's the only "decent" one I have at my disposal.


EDIT:
@Post Office Buddy: I've been reverse translating with the above translator-- to my distaste, seeing as one of the characters I'm going to use is Italian by birth, it's pretty rough.

Post Office Buddy November 16th, 2008 9:05 PM

It's good that you were already reverse translating already. I tried using a translator to talk to a friend of mine in a foreign language via AIM once, and one of the things I said came back a little... gross. Just be forewarned that I am going to check every phrase you throw into your fiction now to see if it makes sense >=]

DGexe November 16th, 2008 9:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Post Office Buddy (Post 4127953)
It's good that you were already reverse translating already. I tried using a translator to talk to a friend of mine in a foreign language via AIM once, and one of the things I said came back a little... gross. Just be forewarned that I am going to check every phrase you throw into your fiction now to see if it makes sense >=]


DUN DUN DUUUUN. *shot*

XD Well, I can already assure you, the Italian and German I plan on using will be badly butchered (on purpose by the character, probably NOT on purpose by the speakers). If only I knew Italian and German... *huffs*

Post Office Buddy November 16th, 2008 9:12 PM

I have a few German friends that might translate some stuff for you if you want. You would just have to tell me what you need translated via PM/VM and I could see if they will do it. As for Italian, I'm not too sure if I know anyone that speaks it, but I could check. I find real-life acquaintences the best source of foreign words... or "choice phrases" as the case usually is :P

DGexe November 16th, 2008 9:15 PM

Oooh, really? You'd do that for lil' ole me? :D *tackleclings, creepily* Thank you~! That'd be oh-so-greatly appreciated!

Post Office Buddy November 16th, 2008 9:18 PM

Sure, anything to help a fellow writer out :) Just need to see if any of them have the time to do so. I'll VM or PM you, or just post here, whenever I get an answer.

DGexe November 16th, 2008 9:19 PM

*salutes* Aye, aye, cap'm! *falls over from the salute; returns to writing now*

An-chan November 17th, 2008 11:19 AM

An opinion:
Do not write the narration with accent.
For you native English speakers, it's easy to understand what the character's saying even if it's missing a few letters and has some slang words and so on. It's just as easy for you as it would be for me to understand what someone from Lapland is saying.
But I, as a non-native, can offer you another point of view, one that can prove to be quite handy (you know, not everyone are natives here).
I have to read your protagonist's lines about three or four times before I understand what she's saying. If you can understand this, it makes reading your fic a bit troublesome for me. I the whole narration was written that way, I wouldn't even bother to try. Wouldn't it be a terrible loss if someone didn't read the fic just because it was too hard for them?

So, no accent for narrator.
It could be a bit strange in the beginning, though... You know, confuse readers a bit. But no, I don't think you should have your narrator narrate with her accent, y'know?

As for the translator, I suggest you really be careful with that. Italy is a somewhat safe language because it's grammar is a bit like the one in English, so I don't think you'll have any major problems... (you know, when you try to translate Japanese, a language that has completely different structures, the result is plain awful...) But it still might not seem like something a native would say. You might want to find a native Italian speaker to help you. The internet is full of Italians, and they're often friendly people :laugh: I'm sorry I can't help you with this, I only speak French and Swedish. French is close to Italian and Swedish is close to German, but they're still not close enough...

But hey, send me a message if you ever need Finnish, Swedish, French or Japanese in your fic(s). Then, maybe, I can be of some assistance.

DGexe November 17th, 2008 3:23 PM

*muttering to herself for a moment* Thanks for being English-speaking only, DG; you forgot about the non-native speakers. D: Seriously, I'm sorry, An-chan; that totally failed to cross my mind when I brought this subject up.

First off, not to worry! *strikes a pose* I wasn't intending on making every single bit in her accent-- that would kill my mind to remember all of that. I was pretty much shooting, in terms of using an accent at all, like my example in the starting post. Either that, or no accents period. So that takes care of narrative, but is it still a problem with the accent's presence in speech-only too? Just want to make sure so I don't drive away potential audience members.

And second... you know what's weird? I've known quite a few people from all over during my time online, but I've never met an Italian... *mutters to herself; semi-rambles on a different subject before being dragged back to the matter at hand* French... French... Ooooh, French! I'll keep you in mind if I need help in French, An-chan; ironicly, this story isn't one that utilizes that particular language, however. Oh, the irony!

Also, thanks for the input, and for reminding dorky-lil'-me that accents don't work for everyone.


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