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I was thinking about writing a response to an RP thread, and it started my mind wondering on whether or not it is a good idea to "type out" an accent. Ivanika here has a rather heavy Draenic (effectively Russian) accent. She has spent very little time among non-Draenei members of the alliance, having served on the Exodar since it crashed landed, spending all of her time on the isles. Her common is not terribly good either, not nearly as good as her Orcish would be (silly Blizzard), and that again sort of raises the question:

Is it worth making your speech more difficult to read in order to accurately reflect your character's manner of speech?

It seems like there would be different levels of "accent" that could be employed, such as these:

1) Word-replacement : this is using normally spelled English except that the structure may not be grammatically correct, and words may be mistaken or confused (especially in cases of "false friends").

2) Slight letter replacement: this begins to change the spelling to reflect differences in pronunciation, such as replacing "w" in "when" with "v", for "vhen". It continues to be easy to read and close to its original spelling.

3) Complete Replacement: Spelling phonetically any word that is pronounced differently than expected in English, the above "when" becomes "ven" for example. This can get quite obnoxious to look at, and even frustrating to read.

Unfortunately none of these can reflect changes in inflection or subtle changes in vowel pronunciation which are key to the real sound of accents.

Here's an example!

Normal English:
"The weather is gorgeous today - the Sun is shining, and the sky is completely clear. Its a great day for a walk or a hike through the woods. Hopefully it won't freeze later in the week, I'd really hate to see winter weather return. That would just ruin the picnic we're planning!"

Word Replacement:
"The weather today is gorgeous - Sun shines, and sky is completely clear. Is great day for walk or hike in the woods. Hopeful it does not freeze later in week, I would hate to see winter again. That would just ruin the picnic we're planning!"

Slight Letter Replacement:
"The veather today is gorgeous - Sun shines, and sky is completely clear. Is great day for valk or hike in voods. Hopeful it does not freeze later in veek, I vould hate to see vinter again. Zhat vould just ruin zhe picnic ve are planning!"

Complete Replacement:
"Is veather today gorgeous, yes? Sun shines, and sky clear. Is great day for valk or hike in vood. Hopeful it not does freeze later in veek, I vould hate to see vinter again. Zat vould zhust ruin ze picnic vee are plannink!"

I would think you could use any of the 3 and still get your point across. I've seen a few dwarves follow the third example and are understood fine, and theres already alot of Dreanei that use a mix of the second and third aproaches.

Thanks, I may give it a try and see how it goes. I just don't want to come across as obnoxious or impossible to understand :)

I've seen all three methods. The first one is the hardest to tell it's an actual accent and not just a character with poor grammar. The third is the hardest to read, and I sometimes have to go through my characters' accents and weed out the more obscure words. I don't know why, but they have a way of getting thicker as time goes on.

Sometimes not being able to be understood is half the fun, though. ;)

I think the greatest guideline was said - you don't want to over-embellish. If I start to have to type any slower or start thinking too much much about changing letters sentence structures, then chances are your fellow role players will have to equally take too much time to digest.

I feel that the purpose of dialect is further characterize your in-character being. You're essentially taking that additional step to pull people into the heart of your character. I tend to make a rule of thumb in my mind with certain words and how I can tweak them, all the while keeping continuity with speech.

As a Dwarf (without mixing the sentence any), I would type it out as this:

"Th' weather is gorgeous today - th' Sun is shinin', an' th' sky is completely clear. Issa great day fer a walk or a hike through th' woods. Hopefully it won't freeze later in th' week, I'd really hate te see winter weather return. That would just ruin th' picnic we're plannin'!"

I could further play around with the sentences such as "I'mma hopin' it won't freeze 'gain..." and such. But as a basis I keep "The = Th' " and any " -ing = in'." Further adjustments would be adding slight cussing and drinking references as a Wildhammer. :)

It does take adapting to mentally visualizing a dialect. You don't find many situations in life where you have to. That is part of the beauty of role play. Your ears are constantly trying to adjust how a character would 'sound' on text. I can't think of any other medium that uses these kind of techniques to such an extent.

The last sentence of your last example lost me a bit, but then again I'm not used to reading it as such. I just went back and read it and my mind and eyes adapted a lot better. Your mind eventually will 'read' the dialect upon engaging in role play for a longer period of time. I think you have the right approach!

03/28/2012 11:55 AMPosted by Lahkin

Sometimes not being able to be understood is half the fun, though. ;)

Lakhin is spot on with that, especially if your character is drunk, missing half or all of their teeth...or perhaps a jaw with deteriorating vocal cords, mouth stuffed with food, dirty sock stuffed in their mouth... o.O

There are situational circumstances, and once again - that's the beauty of role play.

Basically what Gill said.

That said I think a Draenei having been in the Alliance for.. however many years now would have a decent grasp on grammar, so I'd shy away from word replacement.

I think a /little/ of the letter replacement might not be a bad thing - I mean, I'm hardly one to talk, Aro's fairly heavily accented, but I try to keep it nice, simple, and readable.

That said I also go into a blind rage at having to read DIS DESE DAT DOSE (Or just unreadable Troll. Lookin' at you, Mal) for an entire paragraph, or voot? Vuut kharr youu thinkkink?

But that's personal preference. Mostly I'd just say don't over do it.

I use somewhere between slight letter and total replacement for my Draenei character. (Mama Z FTW!) I've seen all three methods used, and I personally think that it kinda adds to the whole experience. Somehow.

It's pretty much whatever you want to do as long as you are consistent. Tergen's accent is so heavy most people can barely understand him. Pia has been around him long enough to understand him. Listening to Tergen's player is a real treat as he keeps the accent in vent. Look up Jack Whyte on youtube for a close approximation.

In my book, I have some widely varied cultures. I picked out some words, phrases and pronunciations that belonged to various characters and was very careful to keep those characters consistent in their speech patterns.

Diana Gabaldon manages to convey the Scottish speech patterns and culture very well without inducing headaches trying to decipher it.

What do you feel comfortable with?

It's a game. Keep it fun.

Accents are fine if they fit the character, you're consistent, and you're able to easily get your point across.

There are a couple pitfalls to think about though:

1. Accents in OOC channels are stupid and annoying.
2. You're not likely going to have an accent in your "native" language. An accent in Common/Orcish makes sense, but in your own native language it doesn't-- even if you're reading it as English. For example, in Draenic, all your Ws would not be Vs-- the sound would be represented in the way the word is pronounced in what everyone non-Draenei sees.

Other than that, accents work just fine. Really the best way to do it is to play around a little with how the character talks. See what makes sense, and what works the best for you and the people you RP with. Possible have some RP at Exodar with other Draenei to get down what works before heading "out into the world."

03/28/2012 12:06 PMPosted by Arothand

(Or just unreadable Troll. Lookin' at you, Mal)

Aren't you glad he got race-changed? I'm not, I'dve liked to make you SUFFER MORE.

Accents are always tough, but yeah I think Lahkin and and Gillock have hit it perfectly. Having an accent is a great way to make your character feel more like themselves and it can be fun as hell. I know my priest uses a stutter, and my warrior has a near indecipherable drunken speech which is a mix between dwarvish and who the hell else knows what.

The main point is to let your character talk; if they have an accent, then yeah write the accent. It's like if an elf talks with a high class uppity narcisisstic tone in his voice and always accentuates half of his words; s'just how said elf acts. Besides, like Lahkin said, not understanding can be fun too!

(Or just unreadable Troll. Lookin' at you, Mal)

Aren't you glad he got race-changed? I'm not, I'dve liked to make you SUFFER MORE.

;-;

Death Knight Mal, imo.

He can be best friends with the Bloody Baron Himself.

It depends on your skill at doing so -- if you can remember to be consistent, then do it. You should still be understandable (unless you're Mia's warrior), even if it takes a minute. And if it makes the character I'm interacting with more alive and more memorable, then I'm willing to spend the minute trying to figure out what you're saying.

Myself? I know I'm far to ADHD to remember to do it for each character, so even though some of their speech patterns may change (Cray uses larger words most of the time than any of my other characters, Gruzzexl tends to speak in the third person, etc) I don't attempt accents. Does that mean you, or anyone else, should say... "Well Cray doesn't do it so I won't." Nope! We all have individual strengths and weaknesses -- if you can do a consistent accent, mark it in your "strengths" column and run with it! :)

Aren't you glad he got race-changed? I'm not, I'dve liked to make you SUFFER MORE.

;-;

Death Knight Mal, imo.

He can be best friends with the Bloody Baron Himself.

This could be done, be careful what you wish for.

Edit: Well, aside from the fact Mal was cremated(better go with an extra rotten skin) AND would require a sufficiently powerful necromancer to raise him.

Thanks for all of the advice guys! I gave it a bit of a try last night and it seemed to be fine. The Dwarves next to me in the tavern were even harder to understand once they started drinking so I think I am safe! :)

1. Accents in OOC channels are stupid and annoying.

personal preference and how well someone does them, I suppose.

((One thing to keep in mind, it's not just typing with accents that adds to the foreignness of a character, but their grammar and comprehension of sayings and expressions that a different culture takes for granted. For example, when I'm playing a draenei, I usually say things like "I am beink very sure that I am not understandink vhat you are sayink vhen you tell me to toss von back. Vhere are you wantink me to be tossink the glass? I am not wantink to be cleanink up large mess from vasted drink." ))

Yes, definitely Temperius, it is both an accent in terms of pronunciation in addition to a certain unfamiliarity with the language itself. This especially extends to slang and idiom which are difficult for even the most exposed and fluent foreign-speaker to pick up on (although some do so with more natural ease).