One of my characters is a leprechaun and naturally he has an Irish accent. The problem is I don't know much about the way the Irish speak. Anybody know any movies that could give me some insight into this matter?
I would shy away from any American movies where the accent is being goofed up for cinematic effect. Like all speakers of a given language, the people of Ireland do not have just one accent.
If possible, see if you can get hold of an audiobook of any of the Artemis Fowl books, read by Nathaniel Parker. The way he does his Irish accents is just about perfect. Obviously Irish, but not over the top as many media suffer from as Joker said.
yes, but since they're well-known as irish creatures, they should speak proper irish [the english version, that is, not the gaelic]... bein' a 'fay' [out o' the dublin o'fays] by birth, i'm a wee bit tetchy on the matter, doncha know...
Depends on how unique you want to be. I remember a story where only the fake leprecons were "traditional" and the real ones acted more like Irish soccer hooligans. That really boils down to what setting your story is.
Why don't you just look on YouTube, or even an Irish media website? You'll run across the regional accents and dialects, but you'll be able to tell what's a local word after you've heard a few Irish people speak.
There's a book by Neil Gaiman called American Gods. Other than the fact that its a marvelous book, it has an Irish leprechaun in it. Its really only near the beginning of the book, so you don't have to read the whole thing, but I recommend checking it out.
Bear in mind it’s a story you are creating, they can speak however you want them too, they could have an Irish accent and speak street lingo or slang or even a made up language
I'd say the same goes here as for any dialect writing: if you're not familiar with it, stay well away (or only have a tiny bit in passing, say, a phrase or two). Otherwise it's really annoying for people who know what the real accent is like. Alternatively, you could use a slightly Irish-seeming patois, spoken only by the leprechauns... And btw there are also leprechauns in the Isle of Man, and in Britanny (France), called Cannered-Noz. A visiting Breton-accented leprechaun...hmnn...
Good question. I'd like to know that for myself. I Googled, "How Does A Leprechan speak?" and came up with the following: Understanding What Leprechauns Are Talking About Should you find yourself in a situation where a Leprechaun wishes to converse with you, here is a list of their most common phrases and what they mean: Where's megold? [where is my gold] - oh dear i seem to have misplaced my fortune. Gimme [give it to me](used in reference to the afore mentioned gold) - give it to me now, please. Pssoff [ p*** off] - please leave my friends, family and pets now, and don't come back. your visit was much appreciated. This concludes my article, I hope you find it to your satisfaction. Happy Leprechaun spotting! Now, I took that from here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A595479 (I hope it's okay to post links here!) I also learned that leprecans have an average life epectancy of 15 years, due to them being underground. It also might help, as others have sugguested, to watch movies or listen to books on the subject, so that you become more familar with it. Good luck!
