Are there good UK-centric forums or websites where I might post a query? The gist of it is I have a couple of very old Scottish books I’d like to have audiobook-ified. They’re full of dialect and there’s no way in hell I would ever butcher them with my profoundly American accent, so I thought I might nose around and see if I could find someone willing to do the job properly.
Any ideas?
You might try the RNID to see if someone’s already done it.
Thanks for the link, but I’m not sure I understand the connection. Help?
What are the books, how many pages, and how would you want to have them recorded? I know a Scot who could maybe possibly conceivably be up for it if he could do it locally (US).
FWIW, RNIB surely.
Otherwise, as a Scot myself, I’d tentively query how directly authentic the “dialect” is likely to be. You don’t want to be digging up someone with a native accent only for them to discover it’s some horribly faux-Scots stuff they’re having to read. There’s a lot of butchered approximations about in older books, particularly post-Walter Scott.
Examples? Titles?
Well, damn do I feel dumb.
The two books in question are Bob, Son of Battle and Greyfriars Bobby. The first one is English, not Scottish, and the dialect is rural Cumbrian.
The second one is set in Scotland but written by an American; I hadn’t read it in years, but thought it was an old Scottish story. Looking again, I see this does come from that tale, but this particular book is written by an American. I have absolutely zero idea how authentic it is, but the full text is at that link. She could have had Dick van Dyke for a dialect coach, for all I know. Wiki has this to say about it:
With this information in hand, if it would give a native Scot ulcers to read, I’ll willingly drop that one.
The recordings would be public domain and posted to LibriVox.org. There are full instructions there for how to record, it’s easy to do at home. I can pay, but not a whole lot. They’d have to be willing to do it pretty much pro-bono, though I would happily hook them up with a sexy collar or leash or something if they’ve got a dog.
So, yeah, it’s a bit of a ridiculous request, but… you never know ;).
Doh! :smack: :smack: :smack:
You are quite correct.
That makes much more sense. 
It looks like they have access to a collection, but you have to be in the UK to subscribe.
Hell, I’d take a Scotsman reading anything- a telephone book, cook book, 1988 Ford F-150 manual, I’m not picky. Bonus points if he was naked.
Well, I’m a transplanted Scaot with a Canadian accent now, but still do a pretty decent Glaswegian. Too bad I’m still a couple of thousand miles away!
(It’s a braw, bricht, moonlicht nicht t’ nicht.)
Word.
What I mean to say is, I swear this is just a plea for authenticity!
Maybe if we pool our money together, we can buy one!
Recordings can be divided up, too, as much or as little as you want. Someone willing to do even a page or a chapter is great.
RNIB site doesn’t seem to have that title.
There are audio versions online although i’ve no idea how authentic the accent would be, you could be dissapointed.
I’ve got a 3 week old baby at home so this is a really bad time for me to volunteer, if you still need an Edinburgh accent in about 6 months let me know and i could audition for you.
Out of interest can you paste a wee snippet of dialogue, i’d be interested in seeing if i actually knew how to pronounce what is claimed to be my mother tongue!
Hey rocksolid, thanks a million for the offer–I certainly may send you a PM in six months or so ;). Where did you spot the audio versions online? I couldn’t find them anywhere, except Abebooks.com which had one set of short stories that included the tale of Greyfriars Bobby.
If you really were interested, I certainly don’t need an audition. In post #6 I put up links to the full text, available free through Project Gutenberg since they’re public domain books. Greyfriars Bobby is the one set in Scotland. If you click the link, then scroll down a bit, choose to view as plain text in the main site link, you’ll get the whole book. I’d be very interested to know how accurate native speakers think the dialogue looks. Here’s a snippet:
Well stone me, i’m not even sure what some of that text means! Some rolls off the tongue quite naturally, others i think i’d sound a bit odd saying out loud but maybe that’s just becuase i don’t use some of those words naturally.
I haven’t read the book but most Edinburghers know the story, after all you can’t walk past this every day and not know what it is…
Not being sure of the exact story i’m not sure the passage you posted is supposed to be an Edinburgh accent. Certainly in this day and age you’d be more likely to hear most of those words from a Fifer, just a smidge further north.
Anyway, I just googled ‘greyfriars bobby audiobooks’ and one of the first links (uk google of course) was this:
You can even listen to a bit of it, i think he sounds much better than i ever would supposing you’re willing to fork out the cash. I didn’t look much further but you may get it cheaper elsewhere, although this site offers free postage worldwide.
Curse all you right-ponders with your sexy woman-melting accents! [sub]And man-melting too, on the right woman.[/sub]
-Sunspace
(English enough to have the teeth but not enough to have the accent…)
Could it just be that it’s a bit archaic? The language in ~100 year old books always sounds archaic to me, but I have no idea how much language in Scotland has changed. American English is quite different now.
Hey, thanks!
Um… anyone happen to know anyone who speaks with an English Cumbrian accent? 
By the way, is there a mod willing to move this to CS or maybe IMHO? I sort of think I had a GQ when I originally wrote the OP, but seems to have been misplaced along the way, possibly in the first edit…
I wouldn’t say it’s very archaic, more contrived, and of questionable accuracy. The only word I didn’t know was “snod”. I hadn’t heard "gaen-aboot’ before but it obviously means “stray” since it’s the same as “gone about”. I don’t know why “dog” is written, since everyone says “dug”.
Anyway, here’s an cut out and keep guide:
“Laird” is Scots for “Lord” and means a land-owner. The Tweed is the river that marks the border with England. “Tak a cup o kindness” is a quote from “Auld Lang Syne”. “Tay” obviously means “tea” but I’ve never heard it pronounced that way (and I live in Edinburgh).
The long quote translates as: "I’m not denying the Provost [the Scottish equivalent of mayor]'s good hearted. Once he founded a home for stray dogs, and he had nothing to gain by that. But he can’t keep his spoon out of everyone’s porridge [not a common saying in my experience but it obviously means he can’t mind his own business]. He’s very daft to tear down the walls that cut St Giles [the very large church in the centre of Edinburgh] into 4 snug chapels, and make it into one big church like it was before the Reformation. There are people that say, if he doesn’t look out, another working class woman will be throwing a little stool at his meddling head [this refers to the first violent act of rebellion against Charles I in any of the 3 kingdoms, ahead of the Civil War, which happened in St Giles church when he tried to impose a prayer book on Scotland].
Yes, no doubt, there are plenty fools in the world."
Have you thought of trying an acting agency in Scotland?
Moved from General Questions to Cafe Society at request of OP.
Gfactor
General Questions Moderator
