Write about whatever you’d like, but write using regional slang, your dialect, or in your accent.
Being from the northeast, I was born in Astoria Queens and currently live in Massachusetts, both are places that have strong accents, I go though my days thinking that I don't have an accent which is funny because English is my second language even though I was born here. My parents immigrated here from France, they were joining my father's family who had immigrated here years earlier and so I was surrounded by the French language. Growing up bilingual, I didn't think of speaking and understanding two languages as anything special, it was only after seeing how other people had difficulty traveling throughout Europe speaking only one language, that I fully appreciated the gift that I had been given.
I know that I have an accent when I speak French, some say it's an odd accent while some say that it's a French southwestern accent, either way I feel good about having any type of accent, it's a good conversation starter. I dream in French more often then I dream in English and there are many times where I feel much more comfortable speaking in French. That being said, I am fairly certain that I don't speak English with an accent, or if I do have an accent, it is unidentifiable.
What I find to be funny is that I may on occasion prefer to speak French over speaking English, I speak both languages pretty well, but when it comes to writing my handicaps in the French language become very apparent. I learned how to write French in high school but as my French professor would write on all of my term papers later on in college, it was evident that French wasn't my first written language. I would get so frustrated trying to get the grammar correct, both the sentence construction and the phrasing just right with the proper flow. Basically I can speak French very quickly and confidently and those around me believe that I am a native to France, however if they read the verbal communication as I would write it word for word, they would be horrified at all of the mistakes with grammatical tenses that would be on the page.
I don't have as many of those issues when I write in English, probably because it is my first written language and I learned all of those grammar rules during my language acquiring years. There is a certain time frame that the brain has to acquire language effortlessly and that is between birth and 12 to 13 years of age. In between those years, one can learn any number of languages without trouble, the brain is a sponge ready and able to soak up as many as are presented to the child. I learned how to write in French after the age of twelve so perhaps that is why it didn't come as easily. French grammar is a nightmare anyway, if you want rules, the French have millions for you to memorize, trust me.
I realize that I have completely ignored the point of the prompt, I haven't written anything with my own accent or dialect. Is there a Northeastern dialect? I'm not sure, I think that the Northeastern way of communicating is direct and forthright, much like how our climate influences the people with its harsh winters, you must be direct and forthright with your actions and words, bearing with the cold makes you appreciate brevity and pithiness. The clip of our speech is also reflected by our geography, ask any tourist if a Northeasterner speaks fast, they will surely tell you, yes they do.
Going back to my French language, there are parallels between the differences in the north and the south, the same that we see in this country, my French southwestern accent reflects a slower cadence in my speech then the north, some would say that Parisians speak in an almost staccato fashion whereas the south has a slower and more melodic speech pattern. I find that it is interesting that in English my speech pattern is far quicker than my speech pattern is in French.
I apologize if I have bored you with my thoughts on writing and speech patterns regarding two different languages. I am still recuperating from Nanowrimo and Thanksgiving, my brain still feels knackered. My thoughts on this subject are all over the place, but I got them down on paper so perhaps sometime in the future, I can go further with this and turn this post into something more cohesive and logical.
laurieanichols 