Regional dialects in English literature
June 21, 2011 5:53 AM Subscribe
What famous novels in the past 50 years have the characters speaking in a particular regional (English language) dialect?
I'm interested in how translators deal with regional dialects when translating novels like Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird into other languages so I'm trying to gather a list of novels where the main characters use some kind of regional dialect in their speech. I don't mind whether they are British, US, Australian etc. dialects, but the novels have to be famous enough to likely have been translated into several other languages. Mark Twain would be the obvious candidate, but I'd like to look novels of more recent times (post WWII setting). Many thanks.
I'm interested in how translators deal with regional dialects when translating novels like Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird into other languages so I'm trying to gather a list of novels where the main characters use some kind of regional dialect in their speech. I don't mind whether they are British, US, Australian etc. dialects, but the novels have to be famous enough to likely have been translated into several other languages. Mark Twain would be the obvious candidate, but I'd like to look novels of more recent times (post WWII setting). Many thanks.
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston.
posted by sister nunchaku of love and mercy at 6:08 AM on June 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by sister nunchaku of love and mercy at 6:08 AM on June 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Does Riddley Walker count? Russell Hoban created the language of the narrator by extrapolating modern Kentish dialect into a post-apocalyptic world.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:16 AM on June 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:16 AM on June 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Look up James Kelman and Alan Warner.
posted by fire&wings at 6:19 AM on June 21, 2011
posted by fire&wings at 6:19 AM on June 21, 2011
Dickens. For instance, the character of Joe Gargery from 'Great Expectations'.
Yorkshire dialect in 'Wuthering Heights'.
The Welshman Fluellen in 'Henry V' - 'look you'.
You could also take a look into the reverse, for instance how Kansai and Tohoku dialects are translated from Japanese into English (tvtropes).
posted by plep at 6:25 AM on June 21, 2011
Yorkshire dialect in 'Wuthering Heights'.
The Welshman Fluellen in 'Henry V' - 'look you'.
You could also take a look into the reverse, for instance how Kansai and Tohoku dialects are translated from Japanese into English (tvtropes).
posted by plep at 6:25 AM on June 21, 2011
(sorry, missed the 'last 50 years' in the question on first reading!).
posted by plep at 6:30 AM on June 21, 2011
posted by plep at 6:30 AM on June 21, 2011
Various Toni Morrison novels have been translated into several European languages.
posted by SomeTrickPony at 6:33 AM on June 21, 2011
posted by SomeTrickPony at 6:33 AM on June 21, 2011
There's some of this in Zadie Smith's White Teeth. It's not famous-famous, but according to Google, it's been translated into over 20 languages (though I'm not sure how reliable that source is). It looks like it's been translated into a few languages, at least.
posted by miss_kitty_fantastico at 6:34 AM on June 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by miss_kitty_fantastico at 6:34 AM on June 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
May be of Interest :The Rhythm of a Tongue": Literary Dialect in Rosemary Sutcliff's Novels of the Middle Ages for Children.
John Fowles used dialect in Daniel Martin
posted by adamvasco at 6:56 AM on June 21, 2011
John Fowles used dialect in Daniel Martin
posted by adamvasco at 6:56 AM on June 21, 2011
Amos Tutuola, The Palm-Wine Drinkard and My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
posted by jayder at 7:08 AM on June 21, 2011
posted by jayder at 7:08 AM on June 21, 2011
Anglo-Indian dialect in All About H. Hatterr by by G. V. Desani.
posted by canoehead at 7:44 AM on June 21, 2011
posted by canoehead at 7:44 AM on June 21, 2011
The James Herriot novels have some great examples of Yorkshire dialects and I think they are popular enough to be translated, but I'm not positive.
posted by TooFewShoes at 8:35 AM on June 21, 2011
posted by TooFewShoes at 8:35 AM on June 21, 2011
Roddy Doyle.
posted by drugstorefrog at 8:53 AM on June 21, 2011
posted by drugstorefrog at 8:53 AM on June 21, 2011
someone even wrote their thesis on the subject of Roddy Doyle translations.
http://doras.dcu.ie/14885/1/GhassempurPhD.pdf
posted by drugstorefrog at 9:07 AM on June 21, 2011
http://doras.dcu.ie/14885/1/GhassempurPhD.pdf
posted by drugstorefrog at 9:07 AM on June 21, 2011
Look at the children's books about Junie B Jones. Their whole appeal (in English) is the speech patterns of the main character. When I tried to read them in Spanish I thought the sentences were very straight forward and not at all interesting, especially for a child to read.
posted by CathyG at 9:21 AM on June 21, 2011
posted by CathyG at 9:21 AM on June 21, 2011
Did The Shipping News do this with Newfoundland dialect? I can't quite recall. But as a Pulitzer Prize-winner, it's sure to have been translated extensively.
posted by pineapple at 2:39 PM on June 21, 2011
posted by pineapple at 2:39 PM on June 21, 2011
Morvern Callar and the sequel These Demented Lands. As an aside, they highlight the awesome insanity of the more isolated parts of Scotland.
posted by dougrayrankin at 5:26 PM on June 21, 2011
posted by dougrayrankin at 5:26 PM on June 21, 2011
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt has been translated into more than twenty languages.
posted by Georgina at 8:12 PM on June 21, 2011
posted by Georgina at 8:12 PM on June 21, 2011
Several of Alexander Cordell's novels about Wales have been translated into various languages.
posted by Abiezer at 3:09 AM on June 22, 2011
posted by Abiezer at 3:09 AM on June 22, 2011
Anything by Larry Brown. Fay is a great place to start.
Also anything by Tom Franklin (Poachers or Smonk for starters)
posted by GreatValhalla at 9:01 AM on June 25, 2011
Also anything by Tom Franklin (Poachers or Smonk for starters)
posted by GreatValhalla at 9:01 AM on June 25, 2011
« Older Help me get to the bottom of a constant cough | Can I rent beach huts in South East Asia? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by modernnomad at 5:53 AM on June 21, 2011 [1 favorite]