Harry Potter question for my f-list...

[rurounihime]

Okay, question...

How many of you fic readers and writers prefer the phonetic-speak for Fleur and Viktor in canon?

Example: "Eet eez no use. I cannot dress in zeez robes." ... "Vat vould you ask of me, Herm-own-ninny?" Etc.

How many of you just wish they were shown speaking like all the other characters, leaving the accents up to the readers' imaginations?

*is really curious*

Comments

[gossymer.livejournal.com]

*stops herself from going to bed*

Ah, I actually find limited phonetic-speak helps visualise the characters - I don't want it extremely heavy, but to prevent them from sounding American/British in my head, a bit of phonetic speak is good.

However, trigger happy authors who go overboard with it, are no fun at all :( Unless it's crack, of course.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thank you muchly for commenting with your thoughts!

[sarcastic-irony.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Slight road-signs or nothing, in my opinion.
ie. "It iz no use. I cannot dress in zeez robes."
"What would you ask of me, Herm-own-ninny?"
Like making Hagrid speak "Ah" not "I", but leave the rest alone. I don't want to have to slow down to understand. I'd prefer less to none rather than being force-fed.

Then again, I am of the mind that, yes I know how to pronounce Sirius and Lucius NOW, since the movies came out. But when I read they are still pronounced "Si-ris" and "Lusch-us" because I prefer them that way. So, I'd rather have it unaccented in my head over getting slowed down and distracted or, also likely, annoying enough to either 1) skip the lines of that character or, b)decide to give up on a fic starring accent character(s).

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thanks for giving me your thoughts on this!

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

I like it. It is easier to identify the characters during speech. But some people mix them up (I've ween Fleur say 'Vat') and go overboard with it. So I like it as long as I can read it and don't have to go back thinking what it might have been.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for your thoughts! I will definitely not be confusing the accents if I go that route.

[tulimeeria.livejournal.com]

As a fic reader, I've grown a bit tired of it, to be honest. I don't mind the occasional line or two if the characters in question are in a really minor role in the fic (in fact, in such cases it is better to give them the accent than not), but when they are heard speaking often, it gets distracting. Why not just remind the reader occasionally, eg. '"What is going on over there?" Viktor called from the other room in his thick slavic accent.' That's a really asinine example, but you get my meaning.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thank you for giving me your opinion. I am using these comments to decide on a course of action for a fic. ^_^

[tearstreak.livejournal.com]

I like it, as said above, it give me a better image of the characters =)

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thanks for giving me your thoughts!

[luci0logy.livejournal.com]

For the love of Merlin, leave it up to our imaginations. Nobody quite pulls it off as well as Irving Walsh (Trainspottng).

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, thanks for letting me know what you think. ♥

[badkatpat.livejournal.com]

Personally, I don't mind a bit of it. As others have said, it does help visualize the character. But huge doses of it make the story hard to read.

Of course, you can have lots of fun with the accents!

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, love. ^_^

[munti.livejournal.com]

I often find it irritating, too much of it just makes it hard to read. If it is important to let us know the person has an accent, do it subtly.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thanks for letting me know what you think on the matter. ^_^

[ex-uniquewo.livejournal.com]

I don't like it. To me it's as if caps lock were used every time a character shouted or the font type suddenly became smaller when they whispered. I like it better when the author shows them making grammar mistakes or using words from their native languages (unless they're perfectly bilingual, of course).
BTW I don't like it when the author tries to show what Parseltongue sounds like by modifying existing words either.
To me, accents are meant to be heard, no read. When reading this comment, can you hear my French accent? :)

[tulimeeria.livejournal.com]

I must butt in once more - this is a very good point. Not many authors pay attention to the grammatical aspect of foreigners' English. I should imagine that Viktor would have trouble using articles, for example, and as for Fleur - isn't the word order in French a bit different from English? It'd be interesting to see an author try and reproduce some more imaginative markers of second-language English. Of course, that can be difficult if English is their first language, but still.

[raskanii.livejournal.com]

I agree with the others who said that accents are to be heard, not read. Subtle reminders are nice but, as always, exaggerations are annoying. If Krum talks with a 'thick accent' every sentence, I end up seeing him trying to talk through a mouthful of stew.

Also, don't take offense, but most of the time accents are way overdone. I'm French, yet when I speak English I don't mispronounce every second word.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thanks for giving me your opinion on the matter! I appreciate it.

[scrtkpr.livejournal.com]

I like it if it's not too heavy-handed. A bit here and there is a good reminder and helps me imagine the voice better.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thanks for leaving me a comment!

[ura-hd.livejournal.com]

I do not care either way. Although, I guess, accents add a bit more to their characters.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thanks for leaving me your thoughts!

[copperbeech.livejournal.com]

If the syntax of the speaker's native language is being applied, the natural liaisons are enough to convey the accent without phonetics. They break the flow of the dialogue, IMO. I despise it.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for leaving me a comment about this. I am trying to make a fic-related decision. ^_^

[rubymiene.livejournal.com]

It's okay if there's only a little bit, but sometimes I can't understand what the person is saying because the spelling is so far off. I have this problem with some LOLcats stuff too.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thanks for leaving me your thoughts. ♥

[differente.livejournal.com]

honestly, it annoys me. i find it tiring to read... however, i speak french so i have no trouble imagining fleur speaking with her french accent. i simply prefer not to do it... :P

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for commenting. Can I ask if her phonetic-speak irritates or offends you in any way? *is curious*

[soojebi.livejournal.com]

Huge, huge dislike. Short descriptions of the accent as they relate to characters or endearing traits (e.g. "Herm-own-ninny") are fine, but when writers try to show phonetic-speak when they don't really understand that particular language or dialect themselves comes off painfully. Or just misuse of the language (I can think of many a French!fic that I won't explicitly name...) This is why I am always afraid of reading foreign!fic in the HP fandom.

Also, someone aptly compared phonetic-speak to caps-locking whenever a character shouts. I loved this, because a) it's true and b) it reminded me of how I could not stop referring to Harry as The Boy Who Spoke In Caps Lock after the fifth book came out. Capital letters as dialog is rife throughout all of the HP novels, but that one was especially noteworthy.

... and I digressed. When phonetic-speak is done skillfully, I sometimes still feel impatient or condescended to. When it's done poorly, I just get hateful. Even thinking about it is making me a little irate.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

I wasn't too keen on all the capslock either. The fifth book was alright in my opinion because it was like the adolescent dam finally BROKE, and frankly, I was happy to see it go. That poor boy got ignored and underestimated left and right. *shakes head* About time he got his yell-fest.

Thanks for giving me your thoughts on this!

[sayanything76.livejournal.com]

I looked at a few chapters in Deathly Hallows before trying to comment just because I was curious to pay attention to how JKR writes their dialogue. From what I noticed just in this one book alone, she seems to write Fleur's dialogue phonetically most of the time but not soo much for Viktor. Viktor's phonetic-speak only shows up every once in a while (though granted he is not in a lot of the book). Hagrid kind of falls in the middle of the two. I found that interesting.

Personally, when I first started reading the books (and fanfiction) it helped me keep character voices straight in my head when words were written out phonetically. Because honestly, sometimes I have a hard time getting accents to stick when I'm reading. Of course, people like Viktor and Fleur are mostly locked in at this point so I guess I could go either way.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

That's interesting, that she does it more in one spot than in another. Makes me wonder if her editors got hold of it...

Thank you for your thoughts!

[snottygrrl.livejournal.com]

i kind of expect it at the level jk does it. my brain just has those characters talking the way she writes them. if they aren't written that way, i forget who's talking. [*shrugs*] so i guess i prefer light handed phonetic speak.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for leaving me a comment! ♥

[dacro.livejournal.com]

hmm...if it's for those characters, I'd take hints from canon, and write it the way JKR does, but if it's an OC or the author is having trouble with the phoneticy stuff, I'd say just write normally, but keep the character's culture and speech patterns in mind at all times. Sometimes a simple turn of phrase common to the area they're from is enough, or having one of the other characters mentioning how that person speaks may be enough to convince the readers.

Also, if someone is sold that phonetics is the way to go, my gut feeling would be to keep that character's sentences short, and not have them giving any huge speeches. Even when done well, a reader might tire of reading a long section written that way.

If all esle fails, my advice is to opt for 'less is more'. There's nothing that makes me cringe worse than an over-done accent. *shiver*

Hope that helps. *loves*

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

I am sort of leaning toward just copying the style in canon at this point, like you suggested. It seems the reader responses to this question are all across the board.

Thanks, love! ♥

[fresica.livejournal.com]

I prefer that the writer leave off the phoenetic speak. I find it too distracting and stilted in the flow of dialogue in my head. I would much rather just imagine the accents myself then have them shoved down my throat.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for leaving me your opinion! ♥

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for leaving me your thoughts! ♥

[pershin.livejournal.com]

I like phonetic-speak with Fleur and Victor, though not too much to make it confusing and difficult to understand. Just enough to distinguish them.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for leaving me your thoughts! ^__^

[fallentenshi128.livejournal.com]

i'm pretty sure what I'm about to say has probly been said...but I'm saying it to give a wider range of opinion?

I do prefer the phonetic type, but usually only when it makes sense to me. lol but most authors do a pretty good job with that.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thank you muchly for giving me your opinion! I am working out a fic issue...

[fireelemental79.livejournal.com]

My vote is: That so ticked me off at some points. Especially Fleur's accent. But whatever.

[rurounihime.livejournal.com]

Thanks, love. I have been getting answers from all over the board. ^__^