Good evening, everyone.

Today I want to ask a question. It’s about using accents in audiobooks, Scottish accents in particular.

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I’m not talking about dialect. Dialect is primarily word choice. If you hear “y’all” or “all y’all” or “bless your heart” you know immediately that the speaker is from Texas or the South. These represent regional vocabulary. No drawl required. You can supply that yourself.

What I’m concerned with is how I react to people pretending to have a Scottish accent, but doing it badly enough that even I, with no formal training and only my own family to listen to, can tell the speaker is not Scottish. I would rather hear the words in a plain, unvarnished English – an Everyman’s version, if you will.

No one disputes that the narrator of an audiobook ought to be easy to understand. But what about character voices?

In creating audiobooks of my novels, I am up against a number of problems. Even the very expensive hire a pro route does not produce Scottish accents done well enough that a trained ear can distinguish between a character from Aberdeen and a character from Glasgow.

Some drop in and out of character, which can be jarring. (There is a commercial running at present where the voiceover does that. You may know which I mean.)

Some are unable to get the vowels right, especially if their own vowels are strongly canted in one direction or another. Some can’t properly roll an “r”. Some can’t do age distinctions—an auld man, for instance when voiced by a woman.

I’m guilty of all of the above.

I’m going to expose myself a bit here. I used to sing opera. At one training session the coach told me he’d never heard a better mimic. We were working in Italian at the time. And he was right. I am a good mimic.

Which brings me to the question. I have an opportunity to record my novels myself and remove the Artificial Intelligence versions that are currently out there.

What do you think? Should I? And if I do, should I attempt to render Angus in a fake Scottish accent? What do you think?

Leave your votes, comments, and suggestions below. I look forward to hearing from you!

Scottish Diaspora is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.