A character in my book has a Russian accent. How would I write her dialogue?

4 Comments

1. Michael Darnell says:

   August 25, 2010 at 10:48 am

   Read this – it is helpful;
   http://www.strangelove.net/~kieser/Russia/accent.html

   I highly recommend research so that you can effectively use phonetics. For example you could write down the dialogue from some recent Russian films like "Night Watch" or "Day Watch" — these were actually made by Russians and dubbed or subtitles in English so you will get some authentic phrases.

   Some oldies but goodies;
   – Da for "yes" and nyet for "no".
   – say "porheps" instead of "perhaps".
   – Use i for ee (careful not to over use this because it is not always a good fit.)
   – Say w for v;’
   … az fonetiks egzempil shil saiz onlee "Wod-ka", nyet "vodka"
2. Es says:

   August 25, 2010 at 10:48 am

   - How much clock?
   - Six watch
   - Such much?
   - For whom how
   - MGIMO finished?
   - Ask!

   - Сколько времени?
   - Шесть часов
   - Так много?
   - Кому как
   - МГИМО закончил?
   - Спрашиваешь!
3. thecanadianone says:

   August 25, 2010 at 10:48 am

   To make it authentic, you learn very well, what a Russian accent sounds like. Do you have any friends who speak with this accent, or is there someone you know in your community who does? If so, you can study their speech to learn what it sounds like in general. If not, perhaps there is a movie you can find, where one or more of the main characters speak with that accent. // Then, you will have to represent the sounds of the accent by mis-spelling words so that when read, they sound like they are spoken.: for example, a Mexican English speaker might say "Meestake" instead of "Mistake".

   Wishing you all the best with this!!
4. Inselstricken says:

   August 25, 2010 at 10:48 am

   If the character speaks fluent English, then you write it in correct English. Assuming you have made clear that the character is Russian, by calling her Olga and mentioning that she was born in Minsk, your readers will, with luck, be intelligent enought to assume that her English is accented. Ditto if you have characters called Pierre from Lyon, Hank from Tucson and Angus from Glasgow.