A character in a novella thingy of mine is an African, and I just realized that means he probably doesn't speak how I usually write. I haven't quite decided where in Africa he's from yet, (It's not South Africa, though. Probably from one of the many poorer areas ) but does anyone know of any recourses I could use to learn a little more about speaking mannerisms native to Africa, or anything you've learned from experience? Thanks a lot!
If you don't know an accent or regional speech pattern very well, don't even try to simulate it in writing. Even if you do, putting it into writing is tricky, and you're nearly always better off understating it.
You could try look up on Youtube. There may be Video News Releases where people from Africa are speaking. Africa is always in the spotlight, so you might be able to find something to help you.
This site... http://accent.gmu.edu/ ...has lots of accents from a bunch of different regions worldwide. Maybe it'll help.
i'd listen to cog's sage advice on this, if i were you... it's a recipe for disaster to try to write characters from a world/background you've no knowledge or experience of... i'd say your chances of pulling it off successfully would run from nil to none... but if you have to try, do a test piece and then post it on a site where people from that country hang out and brace yourself for the feedback... love and hugs, maia
A good african to base it off of is Jim from the Adventures of Huck Finn, but of course that may not be what you're looking for.
it's nice of you to offer, but africa's a huge place... and folks in north africa might as well be on another continent, when it comes to having anything at all in common with subsaharan africa... carosene... the first thing you have to do is decide where in africa this person is supposed to be from... there are great differences, you know... for instance, algerians are africans, but are nothing at all like nigerians... and egypt is part of africa, but the people there are nothing like those in rwanda... and so on... so, 'african' is not just one thing, and all africans won't speak the same way... even in any single country, you can find many different speech patterns...
Accents are difficult. A lot of my characters I try to portray are British. But I am Greek...lol! Personally, I think all you need to do is research a little. Watch a little African television. Get a feel on what kind of African you want. Then write. I think it makes a lot more sense if you research it first before you write it.
i am aware of the fact that southern and western are totally different but it all depends on where your character is from. if you can do that im sure you will be able to find what youre looking for
I'd say going out of your way to show the phonetics of an accent would be a little annoying. Or at least, a heavy one. Changing a few things, like for instance how Germans pronounce W as V. but if you change every word to be phonetic, it gets a bit annoying to read. Not to mention difficult. I'd go with describing the accent as a whole instead of transcribing it. Also Ivan, your bookmarks never cease to amaze me.
