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IanFraser
Member
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Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 01:43 pm |
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Hi all
Busy working on a play set in South Africa.
As folks may or may not know, there's an awful lot of verbal 'shorthand'
and multi-language slang that gets used in South Africa, by most people.
(Given the many many languages which all co-exist alongside each other).
Initially I began interrupting the script, to 'explain' the phrases, and words -
but it began slowing the script/story down radically. Even if I'm only explaining a specific word or phrase once, there's an awful lot of them.
I'm seeing that perhaps a Glossary is only the way to go.
Question: Should a glossary just cover 'unknown' words and phrases, or can it also
take the time to explain quirky African speech patterns which appear in the script?
For instance, South African 'Africans' often mix up genders, referring to a 'him' as 'her'
and 'he' as 'she' at times, which folks there generally don't even notice, or bother
correcting, when it happens - yet in script it can look quite bizarre..
MAN
Where's he?
AFRICAN MAN 2
Oh she's over there, sir.
MAN
Ah, okay, thanks.
There's there's behaviors which perhaps make no sense to Western audiences - where
people who are seeing that something bad has happened to someone, will 'apologize' to
them, for it happening. There's a general sense of unity and 'empathy' in African cultures
- so, if you trip on a sidewalk and fall over, the Africans in the area will tend to apologize to
you, on behalf of the world in general, and that naughty piece of sidewalk :)
And if you describe this fall to someone after the event, they'll also apologize to you, and
say 'sorry' in the course of the conversation.
It makes perfect sense in Africa, but I don't think audiences have seen this sort of stuff shown in action, in plays.
MAN
I fell over-
AFRICAN MAN
Oh, sorry man-
MAN
No, it's okay...
(I could 'Americanize' the speech - remove most slang, and quirky phrases, but that simply isnt reality, that isn't how people speak there - and I'd rather show the multi-lingual multi-cultural craziness in all its fun and glory).
Would facing a Glossary be intimidating to potential readers? Or would it show that
this is a pretty accurate portrayal of South African life and speech, and be generally helpful?
Also, just how 'in depth' should a Glossary be? I'm seeing that, damn, I could
probably end up with something that's book-size, just if I had to try explain the quirks
of dealing with and living with 10 or more cultures and languages, all co-existing..
Last edited on Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 01:44 pm by IanFraser
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Proboscisbunny
Member
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Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 02:30 pm |
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Hi Ian!
I don't know if you really need a glossary. The two examples you show aren't so off-base that I can't understand or that they take me out of the moment.
I did "Educating Rita" a few years ago...a lot of what she says is foreign to an American audience, but, in context, I believe everything was understood. There was a sign in the lobby titled "Rita Speak" with several of the words and their American meaning, but I think it was for laughs more than anything.
My two cents...
Vanessa
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IanFraser
Member
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Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 03:32 pm |
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I suppose I should've given more precise examples of 'non English' moments that I'm needing to 'explain'..
Given that 'UK english and slang to US comprehension, is very easy (they're both 'english' - compared to the multicultural mix of South Africa..which uses UK slang, US slang, half a dozen African languages slang as well as Dutch and its offshoot language Afrikaans..
I'll give you some examples of script 'explains' :
BEAUTY
Hau! Hau! Hau! Wena! Suga!
(roughly ‘Oh! Oh! Oh! Look out! Get away!!)
and
BEAUTY
Eish! Eish! Eish!
(roughly ‘Good grief!’ x3)
and
CHARACTER
No nooit, man!
(roughly 'No, never, man!')
and
CHARACTER
What you scheme?
(roughly 'What do you think')
then you get advanced mixtures.. this has about three languages in it..
CHARACTER
Eta howzit let's vie pozie, ek se!
(roughly 'Hey hi there let's leave, what do you say?)
Then there's the semi Tsotsi (criminal) speak mixtures - which spillover into english and afrikaans working class whites language..
CHARACTER
Etera my bro, hoe gaan it china?
(roughly 'Hi there buddy, how're you doing?')
'bro' (pronounced 'broo' - is often switched with 'bra' - which is a way of emphasizing someone is a good friend, more than just a casual acquaintance)
Then for street level greetings, amongst Black folk (usually 'hip' folk - not the 'traditional formal older Black folk).. there's a formal rythm to the greeting and response - which goes like this:
1
Eta-
2
Howzit-
1
Sharp-
2
Sharp sharp.
(roughly hey/hi - how are you?/I'm good/that's good.. )
then the conversation begins..)
Into this mess, comes most of the UK slang, and a fair amount of US slang ontop of it. (Both British and US film and TV product is widespread - so people have grown up with both. British stuff isn't really 'foreign' to most SA english speakers.
Naturally, coz there's a large Jewish community, which bring Yiddish phrases into the language usage. (They're called 'kugels' (the women) and 'bagels' ( the males)..
So you also get Black yuppie kugels and bagels.. speaking in a weird not-quite Yiddish-meets-Dutch drawling voice.
so then you have a patois of slang and rythmns from Black, Dutch-Afrikaans, British, US, Yiddish and Portugese.. (big community in SA)
And if you're on the East coast - you'll have Indian added to the language mix (Hindu and Tamil) whereas around Cape Town, you'll have Malay+Afrikaans+Dutch+English+etc etc etc all fighting for prominence, as people speak..
Not forgetting that the Afrikaners, who themselves are a mixture of French-Flemish and Dutch, have a quiet loathing for the British English, because of the Boer War way back - so there's divisions and issues everywhere :)
The working class/blue collar folks of all groups, often slip in and out of different languages, as they speak. Its no big deal to (South African) Africans to be able to speak at least four languages, if not up to 7 or more..
Its way beyond the quite easy UK slang to US slang speech problem :) Or for that matter, the mostly 'mono-culture' of the USA.
Cockney rhyming slang's got nothing on communication in Africa, which has made pear shaped into a whole new art form of speech..
Last edited on Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 03:47 pm by IanFraser
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Proboscisbunny
Member
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Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 09:45 pm |
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I think the way you've noted the translation in parentheses is fine. Any actor worth their salt will be able to communicate emotion/urgency/etc. Many an improv exercise limits the actor to one word as they play out the scene in it's entirety.
I saw a snippet of a conductor doing some shtick - none of it was in English...I thought, at the time, how funny - I have no idea what he's saying, but I can tell from the tone (and the timing) it's meant to be funny. Some things are universal.
I applaud your effort!
Vanessa
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Moon
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Posted: Wed Apr 23rd, 2008 12:51 am |
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I think a glossary would probably be useful to potential directors or actors, but you might have to decide what information is most crucial. Perhaps it is too complicated to spell out every nuance.
I recently read "Fuddy Meers" by David-Lindsay Abaire, and there's a character who has had a stroke. Her lines are garbled, so there is a glossary in the back to help one translate what she is saying. I'm sure this happens in many other plays, too.
What a fascinating project. Best of luck!
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IanFraser
Member
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Posted: Fri May 2nd, 2008 05:40 pm |
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Just a minor update-
realized I had to find a middle ground between totally genuine SA speech patterns, and 'normal' Western speech - in order to create a work that properly 'speaks' to non South African audiences, so I revamped my initial approach quite a bit.
Scaled down my original idea - so that the authenticity of speech patterns is kept, but the main focus is making sure that the audience comprehends as best as possible, whats going on, with minimal translation needed.
No good making something which keeps pushing the audience out of total involvement, because they're not 'getting' what's being said.. realized its not a movie, so I should forget about using subtitles to help :)
the piece is now well underway - and into the final stages (I'm 70+pages in, and all hell (in a quite literal sense) is about to break loose on my characters, which I'm dreading writing. Very extreme extended violence - while obviously not 'fun' for audiences, is, for me, even less fun to write.
Still, one has to do what one has to do..
When it's finally complete, I'll put a sample up over in the regular area on forum..
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bkahn
Member
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Posted: Fri May 2nd, 2008 09:12 pm |
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I've set quite a few plays in non-U.S. settings. I try to keep the speech patterns and syntax of the native language while writing in English. Occasionally I slip in some native language. For simple words and phrases, I put the translation in oarentheses immediately following. For longer or more complex dialogue that may need explanation as well as translation, I use footnotes. When a play of mine was done in English in Paris, the theater company added a glossary to the programs. The play was set in Russia in 1913, so the glossary included translations of the occasional Yiddish dialogue, as well as some definitions of terms and background info. They compiled the glossary from the notes and footnotes in the script I had sent them.
I guess my feeling about this is that whatever is easiest is best. I try to keep notes on the same page as the original dialogue. People (I) don't like turning pages back and forth while reading a play. Within the text, I try by action or character to make things clear to audiences whatever language they comprehend.
Hope this helps.
Barbara
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leon
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Posted: Sat May 3rd, 2008 05:49 am |
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don't know if you can do this, but use some bits of dialog repeatedly. i'm making this word up, but "luddy". if a person says, "she's a luddy little thing." after she's cruel to someone, you know what he's saying, and if he uses the word a second or third time, you understand him very well.
remember reading clockwork orange in high school, and by page 30 or so, you didn't have to look at the glossary. you learn the slang if it's repeated a few times.
musicals use that trick using motifs, repeating a melodic phrase in two different songs or in interludes, cause when the audience hears the phrase a second time, there is a moment of recognition that allows one to sing along in one's head. am i saying this right? it's late.
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IanFraser
Member
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Posted: Sat May 3rd, 2008 03:44 pm |
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re reusing words which have key meanings,
yeah, I've been doing that here and there..
also though, it helps to have intro'd an American character who doesnt understand, so people are swiftly 'explaining' as well, when things get out of hand :)
now if I can just shut my characters up (they've spent a whole bunch of time discussing (and explaining) South African food) and now my misbehaved characters have decided to have a big political gripe session, instead of getting off the damn stage, so I can move into the nasty stuff.. much tolchocking, ultraviolence and krovvy, as well as a bit of the old 'in-out in-out'..
:)
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