: Re: Does misspelling words for the sake of bad English improve the immersion or distract the reader? I am trying to write a character that speaks English poorly. I do not want to grossly misspell
I think the main point is not to "subtract" from good English to achieve their way of speaking, but how to build it up as a "Gestalt".
If you can't hear them speak in your head, or in real, I think this will be difficult to pull off and sound natural, because it's not about this or that defect, the entire way of speaking – and thinking! – has to show a consistent appearance.
As said before, with speach impediments or accents, it's easy to end up having a comic effect, intended or not.
One practical idea would be to use lists of common words; in your example, I wouldn't write "scroll" or "frail". But again, it all depends on the character's background.
Are they simply uneducated or maybe unintelligent, are they tired or angry, drunk or drugged, from Japan or Sweden, etc, etc.: there is not one voice called "poor English", but whole universes full of different voices!
Certainly, poor spelling is not the way to show poor English, unless you're literally quoting something they wrote.
Concretely, in your example, I'd avoid the words "scroll" and "fair", as well as "is going to give you" a construction foreigners don't have in their language. Also, avoid sophisticated punctuation and phrasing, like compound sentences connected by "and" or commas.
And what on earth does "mine babyer" mean? "Våpens" is crazy enough ("væpens" seems better, in fact) but don't write stuff the reader can't understand…
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