I’ve experimented a bit with accents over the years, and I’ve ended up preferring a simpler approach. Often when trying to write out some Yharnam dialect I’ve just made things harder for myself and others, it’s hard to keep yourself consistent, at least when it’s not your own dialect.
Instead, I’ve leaned more into word choice and picking out a few flavour words, like saying chu/yous instead of you, or words like laddie or innit go a long way in conveying a tone. That and focusing more on how your character talks more than what the words they’re saying sound like.
You’re right in that its the consistency that matters more in the long term about a character. The more someone interacts with them and learns their nuanced dialect the more it endears someone to that character over awkward incomprehensible word butchery.
I’ve found that dialect terms for Dwarves, mostly Scots and colloquial Northern English, and Trolls, mostly Creolé and colloquial West African English, are far better than trying to transpose what your ear -thinks- it hears into writing.
Because these things will sound different to someone from one place than they do to someone else in another.
For some races like Draenei or Orcs, i.e alien races, I’ve found it more entertaining to use terminology or phrases that translate oddly into the common tongue, or sound unusual out of context.
For example a Draenei could praise someone with an unusual term like “You have the grit of a Rangari” or express frustration along the lines of “Talbuk’s Horns!”
Consistency and not going too crazy with it (a’ see’ abov’ wi’ ov’ cutt’n) or having an IC excuse to dial it back when nobody understands you, are most important. It absolutely should feel natural to type (or say, then type) for it to feel like it works. If it requires a lot of active thought to the point you have to slow right down, it’s probably a bad accent.
There’s also some fun in going “too far” for comedy, but having a plausible reason to reach for something closer to a more dialect-neutral “proper” english version.
For example:
In Geordie: Hadaway man, ye cannit be taakin like that aboot worr lot’s aald hyem like, me marra’d gan radge at ye for bein’ a workie ticket.
In “Normal” English: Get off man, You can’t be talking like that about my team’s old home, my friend would get very angry at you for being annoying.
Obviously the first one without the below translation both IC and to most people OOC is going to result in “What?”, but it works for comedy timing if you’re able to naturally produce it. It’s often best to find a middle ground of a “soft” version of the dialect, sprinkling enough of the dialect words that people generally follow, but the character’s upbringing accent comes through.
In this example:
Hadaway man, ye cannit be talking like that aboot worr team’s old hyem like, me mate’d gan radge at ye for bein’ an idiot
Which keeps some of the cultural dialect parts in, but is now a bit more obvious what is being talked about. You gather the tone much more easily and what the dialect words are easier to infer from “normal” English around it.
Personally if a character walked up to me like that (i’d imagine a dwarf would work with it) i’d have no problem understanding it. But that may be because of my inherent familiarity with the dialect.
I usually assume the accent of a race upon sight regardless of how they type their speech.
Typing out the accents can be exhausting to keep up for some. It can be a nice flavor that helps deliver a more accurate portrayal of a character but entirely optional, in my opinion.
I say this as someone who RPs an almost unintelligible Kul Tiran.
I only dislike Draenei’s “vhat is zis?” and I will hypocritically remain firm in my disdain for it.