Bought/Thought 16/04/08

[Blader5489]

Reading dialects is hard???

Wow...I fear for the world. I really do.

It's not hard, it's just tedious.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Oh and for those of you who think that writing dialects is LAZY? If you like Bendis and you say some crap like that, you deserve to be slapped in the mouth for stupidity.

Bendis takes it a whole different direction. Everyone talks like a Jewish New Yorker in his world.

 

[Doc Destruction]

It's not hard, it's just tedious.

I was responding to Crosis actually. And as for tedious, I found it to be fun to make the character's voices in my head with those accents. I guess I'm just in the minority?

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Guys! I think PAD wants us to google "Hands On Mobile" after reading X-Factor

 

[Crosis]

Reading dialects is hard???

Wow...I fear for the world. I really do.

Is this how you "win" arguments? By making nonsensical counterpoints that only attempt to piss people off?

Harder to read as in, it pulls the reader out of the story. When there's no point to using a dialect in your writing, then using it is like throwing cold water in the discerning reader's face, cause the reader has to stop and say "Ah" means "I".

It's not so hard to understand. I fear for the future if we can't understand such simple academic concepts.

 

[Doc Destruction]

Well what pulls you OUT of the story might actually pull others IN.

Can you handle THAT concept, scholar?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I was responding to Crosis actually. And as for tedious, I found it to be fun to make the character's voices in my head with those accents. I guess I'm just in the minority?

Writing dialogue a specific way can be used to give new readers the impression of a character's accent, but I personally don't really need it anymore. I know where most characters are from and what people from those places sound like. Although it could still be useful in some cases--the aforementioned Dugan being one. Colossus is another. I've never been sure how good his English is--it's all written as normal English, and there are plenty of people who speak unaccented English as a second language. Plus, the Russian voice I have in my mind sounds really stereotypical.

 

[Doc Destruction]

Look, maybe I'm not being clear. I KNOW you can overdo it. That's not what I'm saying.

After years of reading dialogue from the Guthrie's I've learned to blast through it without getting stuck on "Ah" instead of "I". This isn't really that difficult.

 

[Ion Kenshin]

honestly i can take it or leave it does not seem to bother me all that much although i understand how it can be an annoyance for most

 

[Crosis]

Well what pulls you OUT of the story might actually pull others IN.

Can you handle THAT concept, scholar?

I think you aren't understanding what I mean. The technique has been used so often in various novels, that now many consider it almost required to write in accents, and that's really what you're doing in this case, is writing in an accent.

Take, for instance, Colossus and Nightcrawler, both of whom have things like "Nyet" and "ja" interjected into their dialogue on a consistent basis. This is meant to indicate to readers "Hey, they're foreign!"

Now contrast that with the Russian agent (I forget her name) from Y: The Last Man, who has only a passable knowledge of English. While you never hear her utter a single "Nyet", it's easy to tell that she has an accent based on the sentence structure of her dialogue. It seems far more natural than a man who supposedly knows little English, like Colossus, and yet speaks perfect English except when he utters his famous "nyet". And that is what I refer to here. It's jarring, and it draws all the reader's attention to that one word.

Likewise with Gambit and Rogue, who mostly speak normal english, except when they say "Ah" instead of "I".

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Where did they ever say Colossus knew little English?

 

[SouLeSS]

Guys! I think PAD wants us to google "Hands On Mobile" after reading X-Factor

**** yes, it seems like he puts that kinda stuff in this book to mess with our heads. Cause he's done it before.

 

[Crosis]

Where did they ever say Colossus knew little English?

That was the impression I always got from his earliest appearances, including Giant-Sized X-Men 1

And if he DOES know english that well, then his usage of "nyet" is even more egregious.

 

[Ion Kenshin]

If im not mistaken nyet is a russian word for no correct?
i know plenty of people who know perfect english and still throw in words from their country of origin....hell hispanic people do it all the time...as do carribean people like my family

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That was the impression I always got from his earliest appearances, including Giant-Sized X-Men 1

And if he DOES know english that well, then his usage of "nyet" is even more egregious.

Pff, Spanish people who know perfect English still use their word for "no" all the time.

 

[Crosis]

Pff, Spanish people who know perfect English still use their word for "no" all the time.

My father is from SPain, and I live in South Florida, so I know many non-native English speakers. There's a way to do that right, and a way to do it wrong. Colossus and Nightcrawler have, from a literary standpoint, been done wrong.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It is pretty silly that they always throw random words from their native languages around. That should really be saved for moments of surprise, where they don't have time to go through the process of translating their thoughts into English, and for idiomatic expressions. Like, I wouldn't have a problem with Nightcrawler yelling "mein gott!" if someone's face explodes in front of him. That's a big shock and I doubt he's gonna go "okay, 'mein' is 'my' and 'gott' is 'God,' so I should say 'my God'" in his head.

 

[javi1024]

And Sam Guthrie as a villain just stinks. Seriously.

what?!? he was good in MC. is he right off the bat bad or is there build up?

 

[fifthfiend]

It is pretty silly that they always throw random words from their native languages around. That should really be saved for moments of surprise, where they don't have time to go through the process of translating their thoughts into English, and for idiomatic expressions. Like, I wouldn't have a problem with Nightcrawler yelling "mein gott!" if someone's face explodes in front of him. That's a big shock and I doubt he's gonna go "okay, 'mein' is 'my' and 'gott' is 'God,' so I should say 'my God'" in his head.

This actually is much more in line with my experience of people from foreign backgrounds. My dad used to do this thing where if he hurt his back or he was in the middle of doing his taxes and ****in' not having fun doing it or traffic was ****ty he'd bust out with "Allah Hu Akbar!" but he never just like, randomly threw it at you in the middle of an english conversation.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

What does that mean? That makes me think of the Mon Calamari dude from Star Wars dressed like a Muslim.

 

[Crosis]

It is pretty silly that they always throw random words from their native languages around. That should really be saved for moments of surprise, where they don't have time to go through the process of translating their thoughts into English, and for idiomatic expressions. Like, I wouldn't have a problem with Nightcrawler yelling "mein gott!" if someone's face explodes in front of him. That's a big shock and I doubt he's gonna go "okay, 'mein' is 'my' and 'gott' is 'God,' so I should say 'my God'" in his head.

Yes, that is exactly the way it works for my own father.

I like to joke that the only Spanish I know is the kind that shouldn't be repeated in polite company, heh.

 

[fifthfiend]

What does that mean?

God is Great.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's a decidedly different way to go about letting out one's frustration.

 

[gildea]

Every post I read from you only lowers my view of your personality and intellect. And that's pretty low as it is.

You have an opinion of me?


Wow, we should hug more often.



Anyone reading war is hell?

The latest issue was quite an improvement on the first.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I dropped it because, while #1 was decent, it didn't really do anything to distinguish itself as more than just a mix of war comics and Ennis' particular brand of ultraviolence.