Thursday, June 07, 2007

Well Done Dialect-- Rick Riordan Rules

After my rant yesterday, I finally got a copy of Rick Riordan's The Titan's Curse in my hand (every time I tried to take it home, a student wanted it). I was greatly enjoying it, when I came across this section (Thanks to the Penguin Australia web site for having this!http://www.penguin.com.au/lookinside/spotlight.cfm?SBN=9780141382906&Page=Extract)

"'Ha!' the man snapped, which made me jump. 'Visitors are not allowed at the dance! You shall be eee jected!'
He had an accent – French, maybe. He pronounced his J like in Jacques. He was tall, with a hawkish face. His nostrils flared when he spoke, which made it really hard not to stare up his nose, and his eyes were two different colours – one brown, one blue – like an alley cat's. "

The rest of this man's dialogue was slightly stilted, but just that small description and the one word made me imagine that everything he said sounded like Pepe Le Pew. In fact, my children and I cracked up and spent a long time speaking in terrible French accents ("If you do not return zee overdue librarEE boooks, I vill zing on ze morning announzements and you vill pray for death!"); unfortunately, while I was doing that, one of my children snuck off with the book and refuses to relinguish it. Drat. Riordan also hints at Zoe Nightshade's accent, saying that she talks like someone out of an old book, and using "thy" just a few times. Perfect. Now, in my mind, I know what she sounds like.

1 comment:

  1. I actually listened to this book in MP3, and found the French accent pretty funny. Zoe's accent I found a little annoying over time, but of course in a book you can keep thinking about, or not. I do agree that Riordan has a nice light touch with the dialects.

    I was wearing my Hunters of Artemis t-shirt (from Rick Riordan) out yesterday, and I had a hard time explaining it to the guy at the store, let me tell you.

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