Accents

[Marisa]

And yet she has used a few Italian words in-game, as if Vavardi translated into Lithmorran somehow becomes Italian. Without intending to offend either you or her, I think Marisa's character is a clear example of the things you say are NOT good roleplay.

In my own defense, I can only assume you mean the use of 'palazzo'. Before deciding to use this term, I determined that at least dictionary.com recognizes the word as adopted into English (as I did with, for example, atelier). It is not meant to suggest that Vavard is Italy, and in fact I often use both French and Italian influences to supplement those that exist defined for Vavard (and English-accepted words of distinctly foreign origin), but instead to develop a slightly foreign feel. Roleplay with Marisa is intended to feel not like roleplay with a Lithmorran but with a foreigner who has established herself in Lithmore, and so I introduce these small touches into her roleplay. I use her accent only when speaking in Lithmorran, not Vavardi (unless I slip up and type it by accident - it becomes habit, whoops), to bring to life her foreignness. I specifically keep it consistent and minute (all 'ih' sounds in words become 'ee'), so that it doesn't become a chore for those I RP with, and I would invite anyone that feels it is hard to understand to consider Marisa hard to understand ICly. Accents are not always easy to interpret even when you are hearing them, and misunderstandings have led to some great RP. Sailing on a sheep is a perennial favorite.

[Leech]

Definitely in the eye of the beholder. I went back and forth on accents with Naer while he was trying to come to grips with being a poor ass smuggler from Tubor suddenly turned Thief leader. He wasn't stupid, so when he set his mind to it I figured it'd be rather easy for him to consistently throw away his accent and talk like a noble - which I did, when doing deals with them, to begin with.

But I noticed something. The character didn't feel natural, like at all, without me using prolific curses, and endin' e'ery word that I damn well could with ah apostrophe. So I quit. ICly, it was because Naer ended up not caring one way or another if people thought he was uneducated. It became a part of his persona as he began to (instead of dislike) actively hate the nobility.

Long story short, we don't use accents specifically to annoy people. We use them to characterize, and sometimes we really can't get into character without them. Consider Andrew Lincoln from the Walking Dead. A British actor, he plays an American from what, Georgia? HARDEST friggen accent change to do, I've heard, is British to American (we americans talk funny, I guess). I bet now all he has to do to get in character is start talking without his British accent.

Edit: Don't we have a room titled 'Palazzo Damassande' or some fancy shit? Anyways, I don't mind accents at all. Yes, I do think they should be discarded when dealing with blind peeps. No, I won't change my character's accent because you don't like it and won't RP with me otherwise.

[Onyxsoulle]

I happen to be a fan of accents, a good portion of my characters have had them.I even had one character whose use of "English" was so poor, it even gave me a headache at times. But, that was his theme. Should we do away with them? No, in my opinion they are just as important as a characters description. However, if you are someone who does have problems understanding it due to ooc translation problems, by all means ask oocly, most people will tone it down( and from experience it does take a few tries to stop thinking in the "accent", so please be patient).

[Marisa]

Edit: Don't we have a room titled 'Palazzo Damassande' or some fancy shit? Anyways, I don't mind accents at all. Yes, I do think they should be discarded when dealing with blind peeps. No, I won't change my character's accent because you don't like it and won't RP with me otherwise.

The Palazzo Damassande is my phome, and the only reason that I can think that Applesauce thinks I use Italian words interpspersed in my dialogue. I described my thoughts in using it above.

Interestingly, I've been told by one blind person that I rped with that Marisa's accent was well-handled by their screen reader and read out the flavor for them. I was pleasantly surprised, but it's probably a personal thing as to whether it hurts them or not.

[Leech]

Lol, whoops. I thought that was a town square in the Vavardi quarter or something.

[Gavin]

In my view, accents are fine, except when every word is accented and it becomes difficult to quickly read the other person's words: of course, this line is going to vary for everyone involved, making this prescription somewhat worthless, admittedly.

I suppose it's just incumbent to fall on courtesy. Sometimes, whether because I was tired or she was being prolific, I've had a hard time understanding Marisa. The vast majority of times, everything goes swimmingly.

The general rule, really is: if you're exposing someone else to your variety of roleplay, then you ought to be accessible to explain it if called upon. Now, my character speaks Vavardi, meaning that if I don't understand a phrase Marisa's using (and sorry to use her as an example again), I'm fairly sure that I could ask her what she's intending; and I'm equally sure she'd respond.

The call for courtesy is really about knowing your partners and trying to ensure that everyone has fun. Again, difficult to define, but don't be afraid to explain the difficulty you're having, although "you're annoying me" is a fairly poor reason.

For what it's worth, another really important point in this thread is that just because one person of a region or socioeconomic class does something absolutely does not mean that's the right way to do it. It's just their way. Feel free to make someone that emotes "in a Vandagan accent," or to do an entirely different take on what Vavardi is.

[Cellan]

Palazzo is, as Marisa right says, an English loan-word; if you want to be pedantic about it, however, it is derived from the Latin 'palatium', from which several modern languages are derived.

[Geras]

Masel tov is also an English loan-word (or a pair of loan-words really).



:p

[SlyViolin]

One of the suggestions when I started up the Physician's guild was to have titles that were unique, not overly modern, and would be words that people could wear with pride. One of the sticking points I wanted to get rid of was the Guildleader titles of 'Royal Physician' and 'Head.. something.. surgeon?' because the head of the guild won't always be the royal physician, or the second in charge might be a herbalist in the future.

It took me a few weeks of agonizing over what words to use and in the end I ended up ripping off Latin and other languages to a high degree. Now I have a bunch of words that sound cool and upon hearing them people have a vague idea of what it is exactly without having to ask which I think suits the assumed knowledge of the city.

/language borrowing confession

On a second note, I'm the God of healing, bitches.

[Applesauce]

Interestingly, I've been told by one blind person that I rped with that Marisa's accent was well-handled by their screen reader and read out the flavor for them.

This is a nice touch, and as I said I didn't intend to offend with my comment. I almost didn't want to mention anyone by name for fear of derailing into a million overly defensive posts about one specific case, when I don't think that was the original point of the thread.

Personally, I like when people use accents ICly. Without having to check remember notes, you can tell certain things immediately about the character. Even before meeting certain people you can often guess a character's region, class, and sometimes profession without any details explicitly exposed in what they say.

If it's so bad that you as a player cannot understand what's being said, I think it's safe to assume that your character just literally doesn't understand them. Ask them to repeat it. Again. Again, in Lithmorran this time. Again. Eventually they'll most likely clear it up.