slr2moons | A touch of sophistimacation...

I find it very amusing how much my speech and writing patterns are influenced by whatever I am reading. For example, before I found my lettering employment and began reading so much English-translated manga, my speech was rather formal and proper. The speech in English manga, however, is most decidedly not. (Particularly in Nana, where everyone seems to talk like a teenager.) I admit, I was rather disappointed at how very casual and informal the dialogue in all the titles I read seemed to me. But the more manga I lettered and read, the more informal my speech and writing became. Now, I barely notice the casual nature. And that has shown in my speech and writing, of which you are all quite familiar with, since that is how I write here in my LJ.

Now, you might have noticed that THIS post seems rather...different. That would be because I am currently listening to a delightful novel called "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell", by Suanna Clarke. This very long book is a magical AU set in the early 1800s, and is written as such. It sounds like I'm reading a very slightly modernized Jane Austen novel, or a Patrick O'Brian with almost all the military and naval terminology removed. And of course, the audiobook reader has an appropriate, cultured English accent.

So as I am writing this, I hear the words in my head spoken by the book's reader, and my mind's language pattern has changed to match what I am currently hearing. Rather bizarre, no? I could force myself to write in my "normal" informal manner, but I rather like it when my words come out like this. I'm not sure why, but I do. I wish I could speak this way all the time, but I'm quite sure that would hardly win me any friends. I imagine most people would either find it humorous--at my expense--or decide I was being pretentious.

Of course, my speech patterns aren't always influenced for the better, as evidenced by my casual cast after reading so much manga. I remember I once read a modern thriller where everyone cursed terribly all the time. I had to be very careful, as suddenly I was cursing terribly all the time. Mostly it was in my head, but still. I was very cautious while reading that book whenever I had to speak. Particularly since I was in high school, and nonchalantly spouting various four-letter-words would not go over well in class. --;;;

I do wish I could somehow "save" this formal pattern of speech and thinking, though. I could make great use if it! I've decided in my aformentioned original manga in development, the one starring elves, that elven speech will use a separate font from regular human dialogue, and it will be formal in nature, much as what I write here. To that end, I'm making note of the delightful phrases used in period writing, such as "as you say" for "okay" and "just so" for "yeah". Perhaps when I am writing scenes of proper elven dialogue, I can go with the flow, then read some Jane Austen or start up Jonathan Strange again until I've returned to the formal groove, then later revisit the elven lines and convert them into the type of language I desire. Hmm.

If you find this post particularly odious, I'm quite sure that in my next post, I'll be back to my usual carefree, emoticon- and *descriptive motion*-heavy language. Unless I've been listening to Jonathan Strange again, of course. It IS quite a long book. I am about to start disc #5 of 26! My my, I have a great deal of proper English to look forward to, no?

BTW, that word in the subject line is indeed intentional. Heeeeee.