Need help with Irish dialect

[Scorpioforu]

I'm working on a middle grade children's novel where one of the supporting role characters is a middle-aged, lovable Irish nanny, named Emma. I'm having the worst time getting her dialect/accent down, or at least I think it sucks. I would love some opinions or suggestions on the following text excerpted from the novel:

“Charlie, Honey, could ya come down here a minute, please?” Emma called over her shoulder to him.
She walked over and righted Charlie’s chair and juice glass. Emma stared at the money lying on the table and Chelsey wondered what she was thinking.
Emma sighed and sat down between her and Kitty. She fiddled with the pink bows on Kitty’s long pigtails for a long time. Reaching over, she patted Chelsey’s hand.
“Did ya hear your mother? Ernie’s gonna take ya. Don’t ya always have a great time with Ernie?” Her voice sounded like music to Chelsey.

[Mister Micawber]

.
Well. it doesn't read much like stage Irish to me.
.
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[Scorpioforu]

Wow, thank you. That helps me a lot.

[Molly]

Where's the dialect? I don't see it.

[Stew.t.]

hi scorpio

the dialogue isn´t enough to see an accent. Are you wanting to write it as it sounds? (like Irvine Welsh or Ian Banks) or just have some distinct Irish phrases.

Good try, but if you want some input check out Black Books, Father Ted, and Catherine Tate who does Irish accents.


(Belfast accent)


Try picking up the phrases like "would you look at the buns on him" ; )

Good luck!

You have to decide if you want a general Irish accent or a specific one.
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[Scorpioforu]

Thank you so much for the links. Since one of my characters is a ten-yer-old girl who thinks the nanny's Irish voice sounds like music, I was specifically looking for ways to make it so, both in phonetic spelling (but not to heavy as to be distracting or off-putting) and phraseing.
Thanks again.

Becki

[Stew.t.]

Hi

so maybe you want to look at more traditional Irish lilt.

Try this film;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_That_Shakes_the_Barley_(film)


Might help.
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[Ralf]

Hi Becki,

'Stage Irish' pronunciation can sound quite terrible (as in this example) or rather funny (as this)

Here's an interview with Olivia Tracey who sports a fairly neutral country accent.
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[Scorpioforu]

Thank you for your suggestions. I watched the trailer for 'Wind that Shakes the Barley' and it looks like a wonderful film! I also watched the youtube clips. However, these don't help with my problem. I'm writing a novel and trying to find the best way to convey the Irish accent on paper. I originally wrote the dialog from the Irish Nanny phonetically and my critique group cringed and said I should instead use correct spelling. The selected text I included in my first post, I tried to change the sentence structure just enough to hint at a general Irish accent, which is all I really need. The manuscript is a novel for middle graders (10-12 years old).
What I would really like to know is if the selected text even feels like how an older Irish woman (in the states for at least 12 years) might speak? If not, suggestions would be most appreciated!

[Ralf]

Okay, here are my suggestions:

[Scorpioforu]

OMG, Ralf, that was awesome! Exactly what I was looking for help with.

Becki

[Ralf]

Hi Becki,

Please let me know if you need more help with your Irish nanny.

There are a few gimmicks you could use. For example "I'm after having dinner" which means "I've just had dinner". Expressions as "I do be here every day" reflect the richness of the verbal forms of the Irish (Gaelic) language which can express the habitualness of an action or state. Irish syntax, too, is to be found in such expressions as "She came in and I writing a letter", where the 'and' + 'pronoun' formation, which is not possible in terms of formal English Grammar, is legitimate by reference to Irish Grammar.

A few expressions you could use: craic (fun); what's the craic wit'ya - what's the fun wit'ya - what's the story wit'ya = all meaning 'how are you'; wee (small); colleen (girl); wee colleen (little girl); your man (some guy); 'me' instead of 'my' etc.

All the best,

Ralf
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[Stew.t.]

Hi Ralf and Becki

Was wondering if there are any Irish writers like Welsh or Banks (Scottish) that write how an accent is spoken?

Maybe would help.

cheers stew.t.
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[Ralf]

Hi Stew,

Never heard of any. Roddy Doyle is probably the most prominent Irish writer, and yes, there's an Irish nanny emigrated to Chicago in 'Oh play that thing'.
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[Scorpioforu]

Thank you both for your help.
Ralf, I love your examples and will try to work some of them in. In the current novel I've written, Emma, the Irish nanny, has only a couple of pages of conversation, so to go back in and tweak your voice a bit, won't be that hard. This is a book in a series though and Emma, the Irish nanny will be more of a main character in the next novel, so my work will be cut out for me.
I don't want her accent to be REAL hard-core Irish because she's been in the states for at least 12 years or longer and I would rather it be a play on the arrangement of words with only the occasional contraction than so authentically written that a middle-grader wouldn't be able to read it.

Here is another excerpt from my manuscript. One of the children that Emma, the Irish nanny cares for is a 12 year-old boy named Charlie. Charlie has just invited her to go to King's Island (an amusement park) with him, his cousin and sisters:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accepting the teasing with a chuckle, Emma shook her head. "Excuse me? Would ya want a spectacle? I'd be screaming me blasted head off—that I would!" Emma glanced around at each of them. "Ya’ll go along with your cousin. Ernie will ride with ya what I'd not have the guts for."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know, it's probably pretty lame as far as sounding Irish, but it was the best I could do. I haven't had any luck at our public library in uncovering any books with Irish dialog in them, but then I don't really know what to look for. Is there anything in the above excerpt that REALLY sucks?

Becki