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Roleplaying as a person from the UK


Vanity

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Hi! I don't know if this is the right place for this question, so if it's not, my apologies. I'm interested in roleplaying as a character from England, but I wanted to RP it "the correct way". Does anyone have suggestions as to how to properly RP the accent, various phrases, and things of that nature?

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hey, i've lived in the UK my whole life and to answer your question, the accent and phrases depend alot on which part of the UK you want your character to be from. These things vary a lot depending on which region you're born in just like most countries. I'd suggest deciding which specific region you want your character to be from and going from there.

There is also just some general language differences between UK english and american english, so whilst an american character would say trash, a british person would typically say rubbish. Crisps, instead of chips, then chips instead of fries, car parks instead of parking lots, etc. It would take a while to list them all so i'd recommend just a quick google search of something like "british alternatives to american words".  I usually roleplay an american character so i've had to do the same thing just the other way round. 

hope this helps, feel free to PM me and I can try to provide more useful information about any other questions you might have or what region you decide to go with. have fun with your character ?

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Yeah, as kilowatt said above, it's very much dependant on the region. Between the UK and the different countries that form it (e.g. Wales, Scotland, England, and Northern Ireland) and the counties between them (e.g. Greater London, West Midlands, Yorkshire, etc) all have massive differences in some words that are used. 


There's obviously just key British terms that get used and the differences between US and UK language (e.g. sidewalk and pavement) that you can slip in. I, for example, spend an awful lot of time correcting mistake in my RP (before pressing enter) of replacing words when the word I am using is the British equivalent.

Edited by Tree
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8 minutes ago, kilowatt said:

hey, i've lived in the UK my whole life and to answer your question, the accent and phrases depend alot on which part of the UK you want your character to be from. These things vary a lot depending on which region you're born in just like most countries. I'd suggest deciding which specific region you want your character to be from and going from there.

There is also just some general language differences between UK english and american english, so whilst an american character would say trash, a british person would typically say rubbish. Crisps, instead of chips, then chips instead of fries, car parks instead of parking lots, etc. It would take a while to list them all so i'd recommend just a quick google search of something like "british alternatives to american words".  I usually roleplay an american character so i've had to do the same thing just the other way round. 

hope this helps, feel free to PM me and I can try to provide more useful information about any other questions you might have or what region you decide to go with. have fun with your character ?

This is extremely helpful, tysm. 

Just now, aldo said:

depends where u r

 

Thanks so much for the reply. I forgot to mention, but I planned on them being from London.

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Hi,

 

There are a lot of characters that originate from the United Kingdom within GTA:W, so I always do suggest to start off with something like an American from Los Santos for one's first character and general introduction to the server.

 

Nethertheless, there are indeed things that I can and can't tell you about role-playing a person from the British Isles! As said above, there are regional linguistic and cultural differences - not only from country to country, but city to city. You're not going to be able to learn everything about roleplaying a British character prior to actually getting in-game and immersing yourself somewhat in the character, but I'd try hard to to avoid falling into the trap of role-playing a stereotype which often happens when done when role-playing an unfamiliar culture (for example, don't go around asking for cups of tea in bars!)

 

As a final piece of advice, consider how they got to Los Santos - it's unlikely, even as a Briton, for an unskilled British worker to end up with an American visa outside of marriage - normally you'll need to be in your late twenties or early thirties with that much experience in an industry or, at a minimum, a MSc/MA. Remember that not being a citizen will prevent you from owning weapons and so on.

 

Ultimately, as any character, roleplaying a British character is roleplaying a unique person with their own wishes, desires, traits and flaws, some from culture, some from their own experiences, it's ultimately what you make of it and what you choose to do.

 

Good luck!

Edited by HaveADream
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3 minutes ago, Vanity said:

Thanks so much for the reply. I forgot to mention, but I planned on them being from London.

I think you're best bet is to just try and not fall into the stereotypical Londoner, who talks like they're the queen and has a cup of tea every two seconds. The accent, even in London, isnt nearly as posh as its depicted on TV. It is true that we definitely have our own culture but each individual is different and unless you're planning on roleplaying a much older british person, its unlikely that the language you use will be much different than an american apart from the odd change here and there. Because of television and movies, alot of english is Americanised and you'll find younger generations of british people using a combination of american and british english. 

Overall, aside from basic information about where theyre from, how they got from there to Los Santos, and little language changes, I don't think theres anything big that would be too difficult to quickly research or would effect your portrayal of a british person. It will only be a bad portrayal if you took every stereotype from british culture and tried to mash them all into one person, as that would become very obvious and less of a character and more of caricature. 

dont overthink it too much and have fun. 

 

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3 minutes ago, kilowatt said:

I think you're best bet is to just try and not fall into the stereotypical Londoner, who talks like they're the queen and has a cup of tea every two seconds.

What, that's not all English people DO?????

Moving on, as a person who isn't British, I feel what's said above my Killowatt and HaveADream is great advice, what you see in media, etc, is mostly stereotypes. London is like every big city, there's nicer parts and worse parts. If you're roleplaying a Londoner, I'd advice you to pick your characters area of origin in London, and then move on from there.

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Accents aside, never call Football 'Soccer'. I recommend you look into the different phrases used for common every day things used by both Americans and British people. 'Potato Chips' versus 'Crisps', 'Bonnet' versus 'Hood', 'Boot' versus 'Trunk' and so forth.

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