Accents in roleplay.

[Anteros Vox]

I don't like them, I rather they just describe the country they are from and use my imagination. I guess cause spelling out sound is weird to me personally.  Other the kanji, it would be easier for me to get what someone is trying to say if they didn't write in character accents.

[Oreo]

I guess it is a preference that one either likes or finds difficult to follow. I have never had any trouble discerning accents, so I find them fun when reading. My mind naturally drifts into feeling the voice. I have the same thing happen when I am reading a canon type book, like a Star Trek novel. William Shatner gets in my head every time. What I read my mind translates into sound.

[Drake Valentine]

It adds dimension to a character as far as roleplay goes.

If everyone 'talked' normal it would be boring. Diversely is an entertaining and flavorful thing, but to each their own.

[rou]

Written dialects bother me. I'm talkin' like all dem thin's like dis. Unless the writer is really effective at doing it accurately, it messes with the voice I have in my head. Tell me the character is speaking a certain way and I'll usually imagine it. If I can't imagine it, I don't think apostrophes are really going to help. The point is it doesn't get across to me the way the writer intends for it to. So it just looks obnoxious and results in the character "sounding" like they have a severe speech problem... And that's only okay if they are meant to have a severe speech problem.

Personal preference.

[Oniya]

I'm leaving this here.  :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke5Mr5eCF2U

[Oreo]

See? I understood every word, an no hornswaggler's gonna steal my biscuit cutter neither, no sir'ee.

[Anteros Vox]

Hahaha. That hobo was pretty funny.

But still, if that's your preference cool, its not mine. I think was gets me is past players will do the accents then stop then start again. Or they will spell it differently then they did before. Call it a personal peeve.  Doesn't get annoying though to write dialogue like that though? I don't think I could keep it up after the second post.

[Kitsunetsuki]

The only time I've ever done an accent of any sort, it was for an anthropomorphic character (lady snow leopard). But, that made sense to me as her mouth was not fully intended for human speech, so....Yeah. There were a lot of rolling r's and v's became more like f's. Things like that, but it didn't take away from the story (in my opinion) as she was self-conscious about her speech & didn't speak much anyway. ;) I don't think I would mess with accents too much, otherwise. Though I haven't really formed an opinion, either way.

[Rogue]

Depends. I prefer to say what the accent is.... and then if certain words are different or need to be emphasized as different, I do them.

"Like I'm def a country gal ya'll...."

Which might seem like a mix of accents but that's actually how a bunch of girls will talk in the Florida Panhandle. That was definitely not proper English but it got the point across while keeping it authentic. Any slang also tends to serve as an accent in my opinion. If everything was in Oxford English, it wouldn't feel right. Even if the accent is subtle, an arrangement of words, the use of ya'll versus you all versus you guys versus you's (youse) in the US.... I mean, we don't need to write like it's Huckleberry Finn to write with an accent.

[Oreo]

Truth there Rogue. Sometimes the turn of phrase can do as much as the accent.

English: I'll meet you at the lake, darling.

Scottish: I'll catch up with ye at the loch, darlin'.

[rou]

Truth there Rogue. Sometimes the turn of phrase can do as much as the accent.

English: I'll meet you at the lake, darling.

Scottish: I'll catch up with ye at the loch, darlin'.

Yeah... in my head, I just read the Scottish one as a basic American accent, except with "ye" and "loch". Then I went back and tried again, and I was like, "Okay, what does a Scottish accent sound like?" And it was just a garbled mess for me. Because I personally don't know what Scottish sounds like.

Now, if it was an accent I could imagine more easily? The unusual words would mess with the flow I have in my head.

Maybe if I read dialects more often, I'd get better at it?

[Rogue]

Yeah... in my head, I just read the Scottish one as a basic American accent, except with "ye" and "loch". Then I went back and tried again, and I was like, "Okay, what does a Scottish accent sound like?" And it was just a garbled mess for me. Because I personally don't know what Scottish sounds like.

Now, if it was an accent I could imagine more easily? The unusual words would mess with the flow I have in my head.

Maybe if I read dialects more often, I'd get better at it?

Mayhaps? It might be a practice thing. I write how I speak. I actually met one of my friends on here and she said I sounded exactly how I type. Because that what I do. I type how I write.

Question, when you read mine with the Ya'll did you hear a southern/texan/old southern accent that you're more familiar with? Also, you admitted you don't know what a Scottish accent sounds like, does that change for accents that you do know? Also, what is a standard American accent?

[Drake Valentine]

One of the main problems with 'accents' is that they can also offend people if you go about butchering their language. (For those that try to half-arse them and fail miserably.) I find it easier and more flavorful to 'invent' certain accents, although this portion mostly applies to games not of a Modern world setting. Of course they have to be readable and understandable by most- if not all- players involved and/or readers passing by. When I see things constantly of very heavy written accent, it makes me give pause and usually walk away. >.> Especially if I can't understand half of the lingo. The same applies if I see someone slaughtering a tone of voice.

[Rogue]

One of the main problems with 'accents' is that they can also offend people if you go about butchering their language. (For those that try to half-arse them and fail miserably.) I find it easier and more flavorful to 'invent' certain accents, although this portion mostly applies to games not of a Modern world setting. Of course they have to be readable and understandable by most- if not all- players involved and/or readers passing by. When I see things constantly of very heavy written accent, it makes me give pause and usually walk away. >.> Especially if I can't understand half of the lingo. The same applies if I see someone slaughtering a tone of voice.

Oh yes. This. So much this. I research the hell out of my accents when I choose to use them!

[Drake Valentine]

Mmm hmm, and discussing accents reminded me of something on a slightly off topic note.

Chrono Cross. There are accents everywhere in that video game. All the accents, accents for days. xD I think Suikoden(sp?) series also did accents. ( I know the third one for a fact did since it was my favorite.) Most traditionally Mass Effect had its own variety of accents as well and some of the Elder Scrolls games. Needless to say, they can be enjoyable if done correctly.

[rou]

Unique words and phrases and manner of speaking are very nice. I like those. Y'all is a good indicator. And things like darling (or darlin', if the n' is REALLY a must) and other such words can make something feel more unique to the accent. But I don't need the words to be written phonetically for me to understand that they're said differently. Again, unless it's REALLY important, or if you can convey with that one small, unobtrusive difference the differences in the rest of the words.

"Ye might wanna watch where ye put your things. The cats'd like to have a go at that pretty scarf of yours."

Now, I'm not saying MY example is a good example of anything, because I don't know anything about accents. I can't tell you what accent that is except I was going for vaguely UKish, and I'm American and don't know how to depict that. I'd feel like the use of "ye" maybe like, gives the reader a moment to be like, "Oh, this is an accent," and they can slip into that, but it doesn't constantly beat the reader over the head with it? Maybe? Like, enough to remind me, but not enough to try and force feed it to me.

[Drake Valentine]

I'll quote a part of something I found browsing another site.

The next suggestion I'll make to anyone considering an accent is to be aware that there are players out there that will refuse to RP with someone that uses hard-to-read, heavy accents. Since RP is a text environment, it's considered good manners to make your character's speech concise enough that it can be read by the majority. This is why grammar and spelling rules are heavily embraced in RP environments, because otherwise, it may be hard to understand lots of people if they bring their culture's language rules into the English setting, since the rules for different languages are vastly different. It's also important to make sure when portraying an accent, to always stick to the same rules so people's brains can figure out what you're trying to do, and they aren't left guessing to the point that they give up. I'll give some tips on how to tone accents down if you find that other players seem to shy away from you.

Let's use the Scottish accent in this example, mostly because I found an easy example on the internet to work with. You'll see in this example that it was typed phonetically. Personally, I find it hard to read and if I came across a RPer changing English words up to this extent, it's going to cause me to have to concentrate and focus to understand. If it's a chat-heavy environment like an event with many players chat visible, I may find myself walking away from someone typing this way as it's adding to eye strain problems. Here's the example:

Ah've naw really mastered tae technique maeself, ken? Ah hope ah can git a wee bit aye practice en here, likesay. Ah dinnae why ah'm huvin so much fun daein it. Dinnae leave mah poor yankey arse out tae dry.

Here's taking the same example and toning it down by leaving flavor words, using contractions and dropping the g on words ending in "ing". This is what I consider "middle ground" for a typed accent, and easier to understand:

I've no' really mastered the technique m'self, ken? I hope I can get a wee bit more practice in here, like-say. I don' know why I'm havin' so much fun doin' it. Don' leave m'poor yankey arse out t'dry.

You can tone it down a further notch if others find it hard to understand. In this example, I've focused more on the cadence and left the words intact, just using me instead of my and ya instead of you:

I've not really mastered the technique meself, ya know? I hope I can get a wee bit more practice in here, like-say. I don't know why I'm having so much fun doing it. Don't leave me poor yankey arse out to dry.

In this last example, the accent is implied through an emote instead of shown through text. The cadence stayed in place to show the "lilt".:

Tom begins to speak in a Scottish accent, "I haven't really mastered the technique myself. I hope to get a bit more practice in here. I do not know why I'm having so much fun doing it. Don't leave my poor arse out to dry.

[Oreo]

I'll quote a part of something I found browsing another site.

That gave me a wee bit of a tear in my eye. The first example sounded just like my grandfather. He's been gone for forty years, but I can still hear his voice and accent.

[Anteros Vox]

I've no' really mastered the technique m'self, ken? I hope I can get a wee bit more practice in here, like-say. I don' know why I'm havin' so much fun doin' it. Don' leave m'poor yankey arse out t'dry.

This wasn't so bad it was easy to read, and yes I can invision the accent in my head and still am able to read it.

Ah've naw really mastered tae technique maeself, ken? Ah hope ah can git a wee bit aye practice en here, likesay. Ah dinnae why ah'm huvin so much fun daein it. Dinnae leave mah poor yankey arse out tae dry.

This however didn't make sense to me at all. I mean I found myself sitting here and saying a few of those words twice. I am pretty literate (haha) but straining to follow someone's writing could affect my out of character relationship. You have that worry that maybe if you tell them they are going to be butthurt or something. Though I suppose if you have a really good partner they will understand and cromprimise. I have not had luck with past partners and they'd drop from RP if I complained. I guess that also sways my opinion on accents in writing.

[Rogue]

I wouldn't use the first one honestly. Not only do I have to pause and take a bit longer to read it but I simply don't have the skill. I would use any of the last three though.

Also DevilsHex that's bs that they wouldn't compromise with you. I'd at least put in annotations... (the unobtrusive hover code thing) to make it easier. Especially if I did want the feeling to be "your character doesn't really understand them through the accent but here's the translation do you want enjoy it." most likely I'd tone it down though.

Unique words and phrases and manner of speaking are very nice. I like those. Y'all is a good indicator. And things like darling (or darlin', if the n' is REALLY a must) and other such words can make something feel more unique to the accent. But I don't need the words to be written phonetically for me to understand that they're said differently. Again, unless it's REALLY important, or if you can convey with that one small, unobtrusive difference the differences in the rest of the words.

"Ye might wanna watch where ye put your things. The cats'd like to have a go at that pretty scarf of yours."

Now, I'm not saying MY example is a good example of anything, because I don't know anything about accents. I can't tell you what accent that is except I was going for vaguely UKish, and I'm American and don't know how to depict that. I'd feel like the use of "ye" maybe like, gives the reader a moment to be like, "Oh, this is an accent," and they can slip into that, but it doesn't constantly beat the reader over the head with it? Maybe? Like, enough to remind me, but not enough to try and force feed it to me.

You I'd go with a combination of the last two.  But there's no foul in not understanding accents.

[Oreo]

I enjoyed the first one because I knew the sounds. If it were an Irish or Italian accent doing the same thing, I would likely not get it. You can go too far.

[lilhobbit37]

I think the biggest key, and how I would choose between the three:

Does the character I'm talking to understand the accent?

If the answer is no, the character would have a hard time understanding/this is an unfamiliar speech pattern to him/her, then I would use the top one. And as Rogue mentioned, annotate so that the reader would understand.

Why? Because the frustration of trying to understand it is EXACTLY what I was going for.

An example is I had a story that my character spoke only a rudimentary classroom amount of French. My partner's character was fluent. Her character often slipped into French that my character wouldn't understand. I only understood it because I have a slightly larger French understanding (though nothing close to fluent) and my partner would annotate so I could translate for myself, but my character did NOT understand it, and thus, the lack of initial understanding helped me get into that mindset.

If however, my character was supposed to fluently speak French, then distinguishing the French words in the same way would have felt more of an annoyance and less smooth in the story.

Same with an accent, and in that case I would probably pick the second or third, depending on again, the situation, and all that.

[Oniya]

I think the biggest key, and how I would choose between the three:

Does the character I'm talking to understand the accent?

I like this approach.  I was vaguely musing over this thread earlier (the little Oni has not been able to grasp Tom Sawyer due to the accents), and I remembered a scene from one of the James Herriot books.  (For those who don't know the series, it's a narrative account of the 'adventures' of a country vet and the rest of the office that he works from, taking place in the Yorkshire area.)

He's talking to one of his clients, and the man is talking about a condition (I believe affecting his pigs) that his accent renders as 'hairy syphilis', which confuses Dr. Herriot.  This misunderstanding (the condition was actually something called 'erisypelas') is key to the emotional reactions in the text, and would be lost if the author had written it in 'proper English'.

[Twisted Crow]

I feel the urge to put up a "Yo Dawg" quote about writing accents and reading them. :)

[Thesunmaid]

Well I have a couple of charecters that I will write out the accent...like I have a British punk character and he says bloody hell and bugger off and bollucks a lot. also Iffen and yknow and such.

I also have a french Canadian character who instead of saying this and that says Dis and Dat. so...it all sort of depends on the accent.