How to Write British Speaking Characters

Yes, but there is 'non-entity' and then there is the genuine non-entity. I am something of a figurehead in the movement.

 

Ya, achully, the reeally posh schools don't even play 'rugger' - as in Eton. Rugby was merchant, industrialist class vehicle of the 19c - as exemplified by the likes of 'Rugby School.'

 

See, I have to agree with the people who have said that it massively depends on 1) WHERE your character is from (as specifically as possible - hell, there are dialect words that vary from village to village in some places!), 2) how OLD they are - as younger people have grown up in the age of television and the internet and are less likely to use regional terms (and more likely to use American slang), and 3) their social CLASS, because people with money or prestigious jobs are more likely to have had to soften their accent in order to be clearly understood by people from different places.

The English language has a long and complex history, and different regions take words from different languages. Some of them have become more prominent, others have disappeared.

See, I grew up in a working class home in Lancashire. My native accent is not just northern, but VERY northern. My speech is peppered with phrases like "ey up", "owdo?" and "owt/nowt". But here's the thing, since I started university, I found that I needed to soften it to make myself understood to my peers. When I started my PhD and completed the teacher training element necessary to teach the students, I was told I needed to soften it still further, because otherwise international students would struggle to understand.

And after all that, my girlfriend (from Lincolnshire) keeps telling me I sound very northern. I've actually had to translate northern accents for a native speaker from Birmingham before now.

This sounds complicated (and yes, it is - I know a linguist who is studying exactly this for his PhD), but you're not writing an academic paper here. The best thing you can do is find someone who roughly matches what you want to achieve (celebrities, movies, youtube, whatever you like), and pick out a few key phrases and ways of speaking. Don't try to write every phonetic difference between their accent and yours, that's just distracting. But the odd word and phrase does the job - give it to someone from the area you're trying to write about to read through if you don't think it works.

 

My Dad used to transform up the motorway. Past Burton Agnes, I could never understand him. South Yorkshire is the most beautiful voice. North Yorkshire - I was so disappointed, they all speak...well, Geordie. Lancashire has been appointed voice of honesty & community in all political advertising, that's ongoing - 'Do you treasure our national health?' says the nice lady in the commercial, 'werking people who strive, blegh blegh...'

 

Could be worse...

 

Important for Americans, the term geezer has a rather different use in the U.K. than in the U.S. In the U.S. a geezer is a cranky old man. Heavy emphasis on the old. Though the term may well be used for an older person in the U.K., it's not as exclusively used in that sense as in the U.S. In the U.K. it can be applied to any bloke.

Feel free to correct me if I've gotten that wrong.

 

Well, this buzzfeed link popped up on my FB feed this morning - it's pretty funny and it might help you get a grasp on parts of British culture I think perhaps even more important than how your character speaks is in fact how your character behaves. As for speaking, do your best and then get a British beta reader. I don't even know what particular mannerisms is really British (even though I'm from the UK) but when I hear an American speak, I can point out straight away the terms and phrases that sound foreign to me lol.

Apparently "cheers" is a very British phrase. I never knew until recently.

I've also heard Americans don't use the "have got" construction.

Then you have your typical ones: lorry vs truck, bin vs trash can, rubbish vs garbage, rubber vs eraser, biscuit vs cookie, crisps vs chips, chips vs fries, jelly vs jello, jam vs jelly, petrol vs gas.

For the longest time, I thought peanut butter and jelly sandwich was literally that - peanut butter and jelly, as in, English jelly. As in - this:


Needless to say, I was rather puzzled. Until my American friend whipped out a jar of jam and I'm like, oooooh riiiiight! Funnily enough I knew jelly was jam in American terms but I just never made the link.

We use the word "fancy" to mean "to want" or "to like someone". I think that's British anyway.

I think that's all I know

Anyway here's the link: 21 brilliant British problems Enjoy!
https://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/british-people-problems?utm_term=.ad6LwEeY2#.enzXBY8xq

Side question: if jelly is jam and jello is jelly, why on earth are jelly beans called jelly beans, and not jello beans?

 

We use it as a drink toast, but never to mean thank you.

We do, but it's not a usual construction, and it sounds to American ears the way our very young people speak.

 

Ah, understood. Still quite different to the way that word is used in the U.S. In America a geezer is a crotchety old man who sits on his porch and yells "GET OFF MY LAWN!!" to young people.

ETA: Also, I will add that geezer feels like an old fashioned word to this American tongue. I'm not sure this is a term younger people would use these days. Not 100% sure on that, though.

 

'Cheers' is all over the place, same goes for moniker 'mate' which can set teeth to grate. Though, step up from 'mush' which I got all day from one knuckle-dragging 'enemy.' Guy tending the roadworks called me 'chap.' As in, 'alright chap, this is a non-through road...'

Curmudgeon - for your old guy?

Language disappears - my daughter and friend didn't understand 'gallows.' My manager had never heard the word 'precarious.'

 

I am an ex-American who has lived in Scotland for nearly 31 years now, so I've got a foot in both camps, so to speak.

If you want people on the forum to help you, pinpoint as much about your character as you can ...age, sex, exact place of origin/upbringing, social class and what time period your story is set. We should be able to point you in the direction of movies or TV that would be appropriate, so you can get a feel for what the language sounds like. No point in watching "Notting Hill" if your character is from Newcastle. No point in watching "Pride and Prejudice" if your character is from 21st century Yorkshire. And there is no such thing as a 'Scottish accent,' either. It may be obvious that the person speaking is from Scotland, but there is a huge amount of variation here as well.

There are so many regional accents in the UK it's not real. You'd be better off giving your character no notable language quirks than giving them the wrong ones. And it's more than just an accent as well. Sometimes it's the phrasing and/or the slang that makes the difference.

However, here on the forum we're from all over the place. So if you are specific in your request, somebody will be able to help.

 

I pretty much know most of it, to be fair. This is, of course, my favourite recurring thread: my opinion on my self. We need a 'Booking a table in Wendys' thread to even up multi-nationalism, in my opinion, again.

 

@Mckk, we use the term jelly for seedless jam as well as the dessert in the UK. Scoop some out with a spoon and you'd be hard done to tell the two apart.

 

Where are you from? I've literally never heard of this before.

 

I wouldn't technically say that jelly is jam. In the US:

- Strained jelly-jam-whatever that comes out clear/transparent and is a little bit extra stiff is jelly. If you can hold the jar up and see wavery images through the stuff, it's jelly. Edited to add: The classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich uses concord grape jelly.
- If you (well, that is, the factory, since not that many of us make their own fruity preserves) don't strain it but there are no large globs of fruit, it's jam.
- If there are large globs of fruit, it's preserves.

However, "preserves" appears to have more snob appeal, so, really, the difference between preserves and jam tends to be price and marketing, rather than any real difference in the food.

Edited to add: I just asked my SO, also American, and he described jam the way I described jelly and preserves the way I described jam. I didn't ask him to describe jelly.

 

We say raspberry preserve, mint jelly, & toe jam.

 

Same. The only condiment I'd refer to as a jelly is mint jelly, as @matwoolf said.

 

http://www.finecooking.com/item/37082/jelly-vs-jam-vs-preserves

This is consistent with my usage (Ontario, Canada) - it's like a spectrum of fruit chunks - none in jelly, some well-ground ones in jam, and big chunks in preserves. The stuff between the fruit (the congealed juice) is fairly consistent in all three.