: Re: How to write a character speaking in broken english? I found a slightly similar question from 2014 on here but a lot of the answers weren't helpful in my case (as they brought up points of

@Goswami879

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This answer is from the point of view of someone who hears Russians speak English poorly all the time.

In my experience English learners suffer from an uncanny valley of language difference.

If words sound completely different then the speaker will learn the new word. On the other hand if words are close like English "School" and Russian "Shkoola" they will often say the native word instead. It seems to come from a cognitive load idea. There are so many words to learn, why not just leave these for last.

I think this not only sounds realistic but is also good from an aesthetic point of view as you are writing. Readers will recognize the similar word and will pick up the meaning, but will also feel the strain of your protagonist as she tries to process the slight incorrect word. This is also a great improvement on the word order and bad use of tense that most authors use, which is by far more derogatory and unrealistic.

When I write sections like this I will look up every word the character uses with google translate, and if they are close replace them for the other language's version. If you are lucky you get something like this.

“You. You kill my father, and then you stroll in here with your little
våpens. You come to see Maud the Fifth. You think he is weak, and
frail and can be pushed around? No mine babyer. Maud the Fifth is
going to give you the punishment you deserve.”

I would warn that as this is difficult to write and read, not to do it for long. If this is a main character then perhaps he should just speak English well. The more time the reader has to spend understanding what someone is saying, the less time they will spend understanding your plot, characters, and theme. And those are things you really want them to pay attention to.

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