Dave Weber dealt with it in reverse in the character of Michael Oversteegen. Ironically, what to our ears sounds like a "western" accent, which has a lower-class, is in his society an upper-class marker... but to Helen Zilwicki's ears, is *not* a mark of a good ship captain, the upper nobility not being noted for having the stuff of command. The fact that Oversteegen turns out to be one of the better captains in the fleet... is kind of a shock to our young heroine...
Personally? I take my old English teacher's lesson to heart. Learn how to use English (or whatever lingua franca - now there's irony for you - is current) correctly... *then* learn how to abuse it to advantage. (I tend to abuse it for shock value. :)
Because the real trick with language is clarity. Making sure your target audience knows what you mean, both literally and with all the connotations. And for that, you must know how to use it correctly (and, preferably, also how to abuse it. Sometimes you *want* them to wince!).
(That was awkward as hell to punctuate... it's early yet. :)
"I don't read so good." "Well. You don't read so well. [ANDY realizes TOMMY doesn't have the slightest idea what he's talking about.] Uh, we'll get to that.
Even Tommy, who wanted to learn, took convincing.
I think the whole thing works both ways. Lewis Grizzard:
Yankees think we talk funny. God talks like we do.
Unless they're taught differently from the get-go, as I was, people give that which is different than they are the hairy eyeball.. whether the "class" direction is up, down, or just "Y'ain't from aroun' here, are ye, boy?" Learning another language, especially with its culture, opens the mind. One has to understand one's neighbor first....
ok, this is rambling and early and I must go... much left out here, perhaps to come back to.
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Dave Weber dealt with it in reverse in the character of Michael Oversteegen. Ironically, what to our ears sounds like a "western" accent, which has a lower-class, is in his society an upper-class marker... but to Helen Zilwicki's ears, is *not* a mark of a good ship captain, the upper nobility not being noted for having the stuff of command. The fact that Oversteegen turns out to be one of the better captains in the fleet... is kind of a shock to our young heroine...
Personally? I take my old English teacher's lesson to heart. Learn how to use English (or whatever lingua franca - now there's irony for you - is current) correctly... *then* learn how to abuse it to advantage. (I tend to abuse it for shock value. :)
Because the real trick with language is clarity. Making sure your target audience knows what you mean, both literally and with all the connotations. And for that, you must know how to use it correctly (and, preferably, also how to abuse it. Sometimes you *want* them to wince!).
(That was awkward as hell to punctuate... it's early yet. :)
"I don't read so good."
"Well. You don't read so well.
[ANDY realizes TOMMY doesn't have the slightest idea what he's talking about.]
Uh, we'll get to that.
Even Tommy, who wanted to learn, took convincing.
I think the whole thing works both ways. Lewis Grizzard:
Yankees think we talk funny. God talks like we do.
Unless they're taught differently from the get-go, as I was, people give that which is different than they are the hairy eyeball.. whether the "class" direction is up, down, or just "Y'ain't from aroun' here, are ye, boy?" Learning another language, especially with its culture, opens the mind. One has to understand one's neighbor first....
ok, this is rambling and early and I must go... much left out here, perhaps to come back to.