How do you feel about including colloquialisms into dialogue?

I have only seen one author use them to brilliant effect - Jasper Fforde, in the Thursday Next series of books. I'm not sure I can explain it well here, but he uses them as a meta-fiction device whereby characters from published books (and literary detectives who can hop in and out of books to police the book world) can communicate with each other between books via footnoterphone. One half of the dialogue is in the main text on the page, and the other half is in footnotes. It's mad but it works

 

sure. I am learning English all the time but I prefer reading in its proper correct written form.
I learn English colloqualism by speaking and hearing it and that is fine.
When reading I prefer the standard form because I will help write English it correctly.
Readin influences writing and so I personally prefer to read the standard correct form.

 

If you want to learn English grammar, read books designed for ESL. If you want to see real English, in all its forms, read a good novel. Novels are not designed as manuals for students, although well-written novels will enhance your skills in the language. There is no 'standard correct form' of writing in contemporary novels because English is a living language and writers aim to give an impression of how people actually speak (of course, they don't try to reproduce verbatim the wandering and repetitive way people actually do speak). Even Shakespeare used dialect for his characters' speech sometimes--are you saying that his work therefore has a degenerative effect on people's grammar?

 

No it does not mean that at all.
It means that I do not read Shakespeare because I do not understand.
I steer clear from me because the language in which it is written does not make sense to me.
Lots of people I know said the same to me.

 

This is excellent advice, the best way to develop and enlarge your vocabulary is to read voraciously. Especially works that you have a hard time to understand, because staying within your comfort zone won't enlarge your vocabulary.

 

I tried reading Don Quixote with footnotes. I'm sure in Spain in the 17th century it was a very funny and entertaining book, but to have to stop constantly to understand the references or context was just too much.

 

I must say, don't discount Cacian's stance against colloquialisms.

They can be EXTREMELY localised. I remember speaking with Paul Jennings an Australian writer. He told me about the times his work has been published in America and they've had to change words, phrases etc. because even with context, they felt that most Americans wouldn't understand them.
Also in my personal reading experience, I've read text by Americans where they use what I'm assured is common and recognisable sentence structure (usually when swearing) that is completely different to that used in Australia. This breaks it for me.
I wonder if people outside of Australia would understand the phrase "It's out whoop whoop."

 

This is only relevant in regards to being published in a different country.

I've been to many U.S. states and though I've come across localized terms here and there, I've never heard any colloquialism I couldn't decipher.

Not a clue.

 

One of the pieces in the Writing Workshop received a lot of discussioin over the use of the colloquiallism, "as happy as Larry" in the narration. Personally, althoigh I had never heard the expression, I thought the context made it clear enough what the author was saying. In other cases, the author could couch the phrase in a context that indicates the meaning.

Sure, an overuse of obscure colloquiallisms can muddy the writing to the point that the reader is lost, but that is no reason to turn away from slang entirely. You can have the reactions of other characters reveal the meaning. On occasion, you can have a character explain it to an equally puzzled third character (do NOT overuse this trick though!).

I wrote a short future tech story once with slang that was created specifically for the story. I made sure the context made the meaning clear, thereby teaching the slang to the reader. None of the responses I received indicated I had confused the readers in the process. The existence of the slang terms said something about the subculture that had developed around the tech.

Don't be afraid of a few colloquialisms. Just slow down and drive carefully so you don't lose traction and spin out.

 

I used to live in Aus and now I'm in the UK. Like people move around, so should the language, especially since it's the same language, only different dialects. So I think it's great to share slang words and phrases, that's the way we make our language grow. Besides, it's usually the Americans who change things to suit themselves, whilst having no issue with spreading their culture and language around, so I think they should receive some of it too.
"Whoop whoop" is a great little phrase, it is the name (real or imagined, there seems to be a bit of disagreement over this) for a small place in the middle of nowhere, and it's very descriptive, such as:"I can't believe they are sending me to this Whoop Whoop."

 

See Jazz, I've NEVER heard it used in anything other than "out whoop whoop."
"It's out whoop whoop."
"They're sending me out whoop whoop for work."

Your example feels completely wrong to me, and if I read a character talking like that, it would break my concentration immediately.

 

Sorry Jet, but where I lived (Melbourne) we used to use "Whoop Whoop" in lots of different ways, and it was definitely a name for a place that is either "in the middle of nowhere" or it feels like it. In any case, it was just "Whoop Whoop", that was the phrase, not "out whoop whoop" even though I heard that before and it sounded a bit odd to me too. "Out in Whoop Whoop" is how we'd say it.

I think all this is even more of a reason to include things like this in the narrative (if one chooses to), because now both of us know other ways a familiar phrase can be used.
Having said that, nobody can please everybody, and while I understand that you'd be pretty upset with having your concentration broken, someone else might appreciate the variety or even learn a new phrase, should that be the first time they heard it.
It's all in the eye of the beholder and it is up to the writer to decide how to express themselves, keeping in mind that so many things, phrases, colloquialisms, opinions, attitudes, even physical descriptions can alienate some readers.

 

I write dialogue the way people speak. I could see it cheapening the story if it's overdone, but I don't do that

 

Exactly that. Those studying English will likely start off with some kind of study materials anyway, and then go on to explore books. Plenty of 'easy' books about to get started on, and then move on to more 'difficult' ones.

Good example too of how a good writer can show just enough of a foreigh tongue, without going overboard.