(no subject)

[sealie]

I’ve been musing on this topic a wee bit as of late. Brits writing Americans and Americans writing Brits, we can a soupçon of Canadian to the mix.


I’ve had US born and bred beta readers since I realised that there was a significant difference between the UK and US use of the English language back when I was writing ‘due South’ fanfic. I genuinely didn’t realise that there was a difference. I admit it: I had Benton Fraser wearing a white woolly jumper. He looked very pretty too.

But phrases, words and terminology that aren’t ‘right’ still make it through to the final edit of my stories. Some rules are pretty straightforward but other are fluid. I’ve discovered that an editor/beta from a northern state of the US will give you a different edit to someone from a southern state. I’ve ran into confusion, for example, over the use of certain words, e.g. house shoes/slippers and the usage turned out to regional. And I’m still not clear which is correct, so characters go barefoot. In SGA, dialogue-wise/POV should you have to have an individual beta for each main character e.g. a British person (ideally Scottish) for Carson, a Canadian for Rodney (should they be Toronto–based?) and a Texan(?) and/or Californian for Sheppard et cetera? I’m not saying that that’s not impossible and to be frank it’s desirable (and any Canadian beta readers out there, please make yourself known – I’d love to meet you). But confusion for the reader and the writer still happens. If you have a scene in a restaurant in Carson’s POV you’d pay with a wad of notes, but in Rodney’s POV you’d pay with a wad of bills. Theoretically. But I’ve been told that if you’re writing an American/Canadian based telly series your base of the story (e.g. terminology, text, descriptions et cetera outside of actual dialogue) should be North American. Plus again which North American usage should you use Seattle-esque or Floridan or a local from Vancouver? Is there a generic base? Damn those bloody house shoes or is it slippers?

Comments

[celtic-tigress.livejournal.com]

Well, some words are more jarring than others in terms of the spelling thing. Tyre is one that really throws me because it is so different from the American spelling, and we don't normally use 'y' to make that sound in the middle of a word EVER. Things like color/colour, center/centre aren't a big deal, but not all of them are so similar. Program/programme and ton/tonne are two more of the ones that are some of the more jarring ones. I don't see any reason why you should use American spelling in your writing if it confuses you in RL, just find someone willing to pick it and compensate for the differences.

As to actors changing accent, I know they do. It is part of the reason actors have voice coaches. They are trained out of their native accent into a more generic, all-American, Midwestern accent unless their character is supposed to be from a particular region, and maybe not even then. I don't know if you watch Supernatural, but that is a good example. The show takes place in many different locales throughout America, but very rarely will any particular accent show through in the people who populate whatever town the boys are in. Even Sam and Dean, who are supposed to be from Kansas, don't have accents. In real life both of them are from Texas, and when they get emotional or angry you can hear it bleed through a tiny bit, but generally speaking they speak with the accepted white-bread American accent. That could be explained by saying their characters grew up all over the country and didn't spend enough time in one place to develop an accent, but it doesn't explain the other random characters in the show who are supposed to be from New England, or Wisconsin or Mississippi and who all talk like they are from northern Illinois or Ohio. (That is the region I'm talking about when I say generic Midwestern accent.)

If you want more proof, go and look up the bios on some of your favorite American actors. Even though actors come from all over the country, they all speak with mostly the same accent. This is because accents are considered a mark of unprofessionalism, and certain ones, southern accents in particular, are something that is considered uncouth and undesirable. If you sound like you come from the hills of Tennessee, people will make fun of you in the North because you sound like a hick. Actors are supposed to be someone that anyone and everyone can identify with, and having an accent that sounds foreign or odd to the ear of the general audience (which is assumed to be a middle-class white person from the suburbs) prohibits that.

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

That’s interesting, thank you. I can tell that Captain Picard/Patrick Stewart is from Yorkshire despite having cultured a ‘Queen’s English’ manner of speaking. So yes, it is a lack of familiarity (on my part) since generally I mainly hear an ‘American’ accent and lack the experience to pick up regional differences within a deliberate Mid-western accent. Yes, there are characters with strong accents normally ‘hillbillies’ but generally I just hear American.