On 12 Jan 98 at 14:03, fanfic@fanfic.com wrote:

Daniel Friedrich <s0152586@fhtw-berlin.de> wrote:

How do I best write a German accent?

Being german myself dosn't help any (it simply sounds too normal).

Vell, zhere is ze classic transleeterated Che'man ackzent... but as you
can see, this tends to give you something rather exaggerated and cheesy
unless you're extremely careful to do it in moderation.

There's also the comic book method (used with Nightcrawler of the X-men,
for example). In this, the character speaks normally except for
inserting German phrases here and there that the reader is likely to
know (or be able to figure out) the meaning of. "Professor, what's that
machine? Mein Gott! It's a thermonuclear bomb!" This gets the point
across, though it's a little unbelievable that a character would forget
how to say "My God!" in English, but remember "thermonuclear". :)

Actually, I think this approach works quite well. People often fall 
back to their native language under stress. The character isn't thinking 
about how to say "My God!" in English; he's responding reflexively.

Granted, that doesn't help in characterization in non-stressful 
situations.


Hassheen!