Need help for English slang!

[cleo_san]

Hello my dear fellow tapasticians! =)

I am Cleo-San, the creator of the webmanga

Remember | Tapas

I personally am very fluent in English, although I am not a native English speaker (CAE certificate, C1 level), however, I have encountered a slight problem with which I need some help:

Some of my characters don't speak the "standard" English taught in school, they are speaking much more colloquial with words like "don'tcha" or "y'all" and stuff like that - and this is where I'm on thin ice. I could of course patch something together, but I want it to sound authentic.

Here's the deal:

I need: a beta reader who helps me "translate" a few sentences from standard english to slang (since the characters don't talk too much, it should not be too much trouble)

I offer: mentioning in the upload, the (hopefully soon to be) print edition, as well as a sketch of your liking.

Please give this some thought and if you'd like to help me with that problem, feel free to post here or send me a pm. Thank you in advance! =)

[joe_galindez]

Slang can be pretty location-specific. Where do these characters come from?

[cleo_san]

Actually it's a fantasy world, so it's kinda hard to say, I guess... @_@ Since I'm not too firm with that topic, what would this be:

"What'cha doin' here?"

Where could that be located?

[joe_galindez]

"Y'all" is associated with the American South so it would be out of place unless the characters are the fantasy equivalent of rednecks. But "what'cha" and "doin'" aren't really specific to any place.

It looks like you're trying for a casual speaking style. I can do that. I can also localize the dialogue for speakers of a particular region, although that would take longer and your audience would be smaller.

[Rhombik]

Here are some things that may help you. I'm an English teacher so I often go over slang with my Advanced students.

First I'd definitely decide on the accent and the slang that your characters will use. If you accidentally mix them up, it will stick out like a sore thumb.

Second I wouldn't over-do it. Even when people from a certain location do use a lot of a slang, we don't tend to show all of it in writing because it's difficult to read. Unless you're going down an experimental route like Trainspotting.

Third, English is a weird language in that we often miss whole syllables and push words together to speed up what we're saying. It's not exactly slang because all English speakers do it in some way. I think "dontcha" might fall into this category. Some writers use it to show that somebody is speaking lazily or improperly so maybe if you dropped some of these into your dialogue, it would give the effect you want.

Here's a link giving more information about the third thing. It might not be helpful but just in case.

[punkarsenic]

"Y'all" is associated with the American South so it would be out of place unless the characters are the fantasy equivalent of rednecks.

i dont think thats exactly accurate. yall isnt just used by rednecks, because like, not everyone in the south is a redneck, but its also used prominently in african american communities even outside of the south, and in some rural communities that arent southern too. so its a lil broader than that, but id say for a fantasy comic using y'all would most likely bring to mind the image of rustic, rural origins.

[joe_galindez]

Right. So to localize the dialogue would be a fair amount of work to sound authentic to a relatively small slice of English speakers.

[punkarsenic]

yeah, absolutely.

actually, with that in mind...

OP, i wonder if itd benefit you to look into the dialect used in patrick ness' chaos walking series. ness seems to have created his own rural dialect of english language for the books, which are set on another planet, and pulls it off fairly well. theres not a lot of strict rules about slang in english, just think about the way your characters pronounce words (for example, if theyre irish-ish then the word 'critter' wouldnt make sense, but the word 'eejit' would, sound-wise. meanwhile, if they sound like theyre from arkansas or texas, 'critter' makes more sense than 'eejit.') its mostly about shortening and mashing up words to fit spoken word, and making your own slang phrases can contribute to some really rich worldbuilding

[dawgofdawgness]

I recommend you watch TV shows (especially cartoons) with quirky characters.
They spit out slang 24/7 ^_^

[jjfresh]

There is a really awful site that you can use for American colloquialism. Urban Dictionary. I hate it but it's pretty on point with cultural language.

There's also some funny dumb shiite like this. Or this.

[martinx66]

I live in Orange County:slight_smile: California, if you want to know what people here really talk like.

[Luminosophy]

Not sure I can help because like Joe-galindez said, it's location specific. But if you ever need Australian outback slang, I can definitely help.

The dentist was joking with me the other day that she can't understand anything Australians say because we're so slang heavy it's practically another language. Really depends where the English is coming from.

[NickRowler]

This site might be helpful: 40 American Slang Words and Phrases You Need to Know

There are actually many accents in the US. Dontcha and y'all could be Southern American but it is also common in African American vernacular.

I guess if you really want to get a accent down, maybe find a TV show with people talking with a real southern accent. Tho there are some variations of the southern accent like, Texan, Louisianan, and Carolinian sound slightly different.

[PaulDevers]

I feel like a lot of slang may shift depending on where you are, but some of it may just go person to person. I grew up in Illinois, but I still spit out things like 'ya'll', 'howdy', and the like on a regular basis. I feel like it may be nice to maybe give the characters a minor vocal quirk if you want to make it seem like their from a more down to earth location?
Like, in the BONE graphic novel series (great read by the way), the main characters are out of town compared to everyone else in the main valley. So they always write words like "the" instead as "th'", example, "What th' heck is that thing?" It was a small thing, but it was always there, and helped emphasize their character voice a bit. Maybe less individualized slang and more character ticks?
Course' if you want to go with slang there's always just asking around. That'll depend on where you want them to be hailing from though.

[irfamerry]

Here is additional yet latest information regarding your slang query. Latest Slang Word List. This site covers slang terms of all English speaking counties of the world. Hope It is going to help you a lot

[audratki]

Canadians speak this way too though, just without the southern drawl down south.

So old, sorry for raising the dead.

[tombrokman]

Hm that`s very interesting idea. In order for it to make it authentic, it is important not to overdo it. Also you need to think about the accent and dialect of characters to make it sound natural.