Writing the Kunos' manners of speech

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Just like it says on the title, I was hoping people could tell me how, precisely, I should convey the 'unique' speech mannerisms and accents of each member of the Kuno household (and Sasuke, if you know anything about him) through my writings. I just can't seem to get a grip on how to spell their pronounciations, or even what words/wording they would use in a given situation.

[lwf58]

Well, first off, try to avoid the overblown stuff used by most fan fiction writers. Their language is fairly normal, although they tend to use upper-class phrasing and are a little condescending toward other students. Comes of being rich and knowing it.

Kodachi speaks the most normally of the two siblings, except when addressing the other suitors of Ranma, when she tends to be deliberately insulting. It's not normally overt, but she speaks down to them.

Tatewaki, on the other hand, thinks of himself as a modern-day Samurai, and tries to act and speak as he imagines they would. His notions are probably based more on television than reality. Since the idealized image of a samurai is an ultimate warrior who also excels at the arts and graces, he tries to sprinkle his conversation with allusions to classical Japanese poetry. (Viz, in an attempt to make that comprehensible to western audiences, changed it to quotes from Shakespeare. However, that's a poor attempt at best, since there's no direct correlation.)

Principal Kuno is a fanatic when it comes to all things Hawaiian, so he sprinkles Hawaiian words into his speech, along with an odd smattering of English.

Sasuke is anime-only, and thus not canon. Other than his constant bemoaning of his status, I don't know of any noteworthy speech characteristics.

[Spokavriel]

I think Sasuke would be best thought of as a less easily frightened Gosenkugi. He replaced the skeletal boy in many stories that carried over from Manga to Anime. No matter who he's talking to unless it is bragging about a scheme or describing some trap that must work he's subservient but in those rare moments he can put on a superior air even though he still uses common words doing it. It might be too subtle to write easily.

[Ezvir]

It depends on which version you are trying to imitate. The VIZ version of the anime? The VIZ manga? The anime, but without VIZisms? The original manga?

In any case the original manga is the only version I'm sufficiently familiar with and at the least it should offer a contrast and opportunity for reflection.

Kunou Tatewaki's speech actually is pretty normal there. He doesn't use slang and tries to talk in a dignified way, but except for his introduction where he talks to himself there is nothing really out there. There is the occasional classical/ "samurai speech" construction, but everyone in the manga slips some those in, particularly in fights. (e.g. shouting 隙あり when they exploit a distraction or X, 敗れたり after beating X)
For emulating his speech in English not using slang, avoiding contractions and occasional words like "shall" should be enough. No middle English pronouns, he definitely doesn't use their Japanese equivalents.

Kodachi is similar, but talks in feminine style and is much more polite. There is no good way to convey the feminine part, but exaggerated (superficial/ false) politeness should be doable.

The principal doesn't use any Hawaiian in the original manga, but huge amounts of random English. Hawaiian seems like a good way to replace that in an English translation, though. He also stretches his deeesu and maaasu at the end of his sentences. There is no good way to imitate that in English I can think of.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I'm attempting to use the dubbed anime, if that helps. Of the trio, it's the principal who I have the most concerns with- Tatewaki and Kodachi, as you've pointed out, simply have different styles of speech. The principal, however, not only has a tendency to sprinkle Hawai'ian & American words into his speech (keiki, wahini, headmaster), but he also mangles his "english"- referring to himself as "me", saying "brother" as "bruddah", that sort of thing. I once heard someone describe him as talking like Tia Odonna from Pirates of the Carribean.