"Fargo"

[Beverly Flanigan]

See my just-sent note on MN speech.  Depends on where in Minnesota you've
stopped; gas station people and telephone operators may not represent
long-time local speech (though I'm often pleased at how they do).  "Fargo"
is set primarily in the Brainerd area, southeast of Fargo but pretty far
north, and I assure you, the local speech is close to (not identical with)
that of the woman cop.  Minneapolis speech varies more, of course, with
newcomers and mixed speech; I like to think that the auto dealer (Macy) was
originally from out-of-town, though not from northern Minnesota.  It's a
long state, with predictable changes from north to south and between large
urban and small urban/rural areas.



>All exaggeration aside, the characters in "Fargo" sound like nothing
>in small-town Minnesota I've ever heard (stops at gas stations, telephone
>calls--admittedly not extensive contact) as much as they do Southern
>Manitoba Mennonites (six years in Winnipeg, I'm a Russian Mennonite
>myself, though from Southern Ontario).  My take on the movie was
>that basing it in Minnesota made it caricature, but had the action been
>shifted a hundred miles north across the border it would have been
>very realistic.
>
></amateur opinion/impression>
>
>Don
>_______________________
>Don Rogalski and Toni Kuo
>"A Billion Bridges"
>Chinese<>English Translation Services
>Tel: 905-308-9389
>Fax: 801-881-0914 (24 hrs)
>Web: www.billionbridges.com
>Email: translation at billionbridges.com