Avaarst there me 'earties. It 'ave become appar'nt that thar be some 'earabowts wot be 'avin a bit o' trubble lernin ter talk proper, loike a pirate.
I 'ave dun me 'omewerke and 'ave compiled a list o' suggestions ye can pracktiss and ye'll be talking loike a pirate in no toime!
Pleeze note that this list be written in Henglishe fer the easy consumtshun of Land Lubbers, so enny pirates wot look in 'ere may become a bit confuzzed, but that be sommat we'll jest 'ave ter risk ter 'elp out those less fortunate than ourselfs.
How to Speak Like Pirate
- Try not to over do the creative spelling - a few changes gets the idea across without making it too hard to read
- When creating a spelling, it works best for short common words. For example I becomes Oi. Similalry like can become loike.
- Dropping the h from the beginning of words is a common touch, generally an apostrophe to indicate that a letter is missing is a good idea, especially if removing the h makes another English word OTOH adding an extra h to the beginning of words starting with a vowel, hespecially e works well if not overdone.
- Replacing vowels with an apostrophe can sometimes be eff'ct've
- Adding e to the end of some words can add to the effect, for example fishe 'ead stewe
- Changing the vowel to one that has a similar sound can work, err werke
- Longer words can be altered, but generally it is best to keep most of the word intact and just change some part of it to a phonetic equavalent for example relations, could become relashuns.
- Part of the joke is that pirates are uneducated and childlike, so using common spelling errors of children can be good.
- Remember, these are not rules and you do not have to apply all of them, at least not all in the same sentence.
- Try to develop your own style, but remember that this is meant to be fun and if you make your 'Piratese' too hard to understand it can make it hard work for others and spoil it a bit.
- Also, never forget that wantonly misunderstanding what others say is an integral part of Pirate intercourse, feel free to indulge.