I'm trying to write a bit of a pirate story, and running into one major problem. I dont really know how British people talk, at least not how a lower-class person in the Elizabethan era would talk. As we have some British subjects here does anyone know some tips to help?
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A bit corny but perhaps a starting place
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/howto.html
The links from the page will likely be better than the page itself.
No!
No, not like that at all!
That is said to have originated with 17th century pirates who all allegedly came from Bristol or the West Country.
The accents of the time you require will be different to that. Your best bet would be to think of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. After all, he was writing in his vernacular and for his audience, who would not all have been from the landed classes.
Heck, the King James Bible would probably be a good start, as that was written about that time or slightly later.
Penny
literary
Go to your local library and get a copy of Treasure Island. You probably don't want to write your dialogue too authentically, since what 16th century English peasants spoke is practically a different language from the modern tongue.
Not quite the same, but ...
I'm chuckling here because currently I'm peddling a pirate novel ( yes, with a touch of tg to one of the major characters. )that's unfortunately late 17th century, so probably not much help in that regard.
I've found, however, that unless you're trying for a more scholarly story, you shouldn't need every spoken sentence to be dialect-heavy. For my purposes ( although the trappings of story stays true to the period evoked ) I use a broader speech so that regional slang and such can be added without making it unreadable to a modern readership. For example, this exerpt;
It was upon The New Eve, that a walking celebration was convened to see it in rightly, a mobile fanfare and fare thee well to a castoff year. And for the occasion, Red allowed herself to dress up more fanciful, adopting a fully made face and a pirated gown of lavender hue - to homage the Lady of Galway.
She’d been far less successful coaxing Alyssa into similar garments, yet her friend did allow that a few accessories might be in order. Thus attired with bangles and beads, to fit out the earthy tones of her bodice and skirt, the dark girl became almost Romany in appearance. And in keeping with the best of the mummers tradition, the girls donned white masks which pantomimed Passion’s Ladies.
“I feel several ways the fool, and I blame you for it. “ Alyssa grumbled, yet she flitted through the mob in the coquettish manner of her guise. Red giggled at this reversal: with her comrade unsure for once, as she added a sly aside of her own. “Just be thankful it’s not Spring Rites, Dearest. You’d be fitted to be tied come May Day. “
“And with such poles as stand straight at your approach - you might be both fit and tied yet, vixen.†her fellow tart advanced roughly, giving The Maid a twirl.
Now again this is set later, but I believe that something similar might work with your story. The other thought is that you rent films like Lady Jane or any of the Elizabeth films with Cate Blanchett ( or even the tv one with Helen Mirren ), perhaps even see if snippets of the script might be available online.
And why not try Mark Twain's The Prince and The Pauper, which takes place during the reign of Henry The VIII? Much of that is set within the slums of London.
Good luck with your story.
Wayne Z
Prose and speech
A thing you have to be careful here is to distinguish between prose and speech. It is perfectly all right to have your characters talk in dialect or even just using words appropriate to the day.
Your example above shows you writing the entire story in that language and if I were to read it I would probably find that approach quite tiresome.
If you had been writing it in those days, then your audience would not find it anything out of the ordinary but for a modern audience it can sound long-winded and obscure. Just try and read any novel by a 16th-17th century author!
Providing that you don't use modern anachronisms or figures of speech in your prose you can get away with a more flexible approach to the text which will sound acceptable to a modern ear while still evoking a historical atmosphere. There are many stories on this site which do precisely that, including my own.
Penny
Use it as Colour not Default
My recommendation is to only use accents or "realistic" speak for bit players, not your main speaking characters. Other than that, my recommendation is to imply the period more via terminology than dialect. Don't use words not in effect at the time, but do use words like matchlock/blunderbuss rather than gun, privateer rather than pirate and the concept of a Letter of Marque, 4 pounder/falcons for cannon, and so on.
The research will be part of the fun.
A lot of Help on the web.
So this subject is so popular, that within a second of my starting a search, too many sites to post here popped up. It would seem that everyone wants to speak Elizabethan English. And - add the sound of a head slap here - I'd clearly forgotten about the Ren Faire people. I would tend to think, however, they aim for the more flowery version.
Despite the theme of your story being somewhat piratical ( God, I hate when people use that word ... hee. ) you just want to know how people talk. This educational site caught my attention if only because of the scholarly tone of it.
http://www.rammuseum.org.uk/web/data/elizabethanspeech_6.pdf
So good luck with your own searches, I'm sure your story will be great.
Wayne Z