History YouNoTakeCandle / Literature

* Friday from ''Literature/RobinsonCrusoe'' may be considered a TropeCodifier. He is a Caribbean tribesman rescued from cannibals by the eponymous castaway. Friday's English is basically a broken pidgin, which never, ever improves (he's a non-white servant, after all), even after being with Crusoe for years and living in England for a time (as established in the [[FirstInstallmentWins little-known sequel]]). An example from a dialogue between Crusoe and Friday:
--> Master. - How beat? If your nation beat them, how came you to be taken?
--> Friday. - They more many than my nation, in the place where me was; they take one, two, three, and me: my nation over-beat them in the yonder place, where me no was; there my nation take one, two, great thousand.
** The same applies to Xury, an Arab slave boy who accompanied Crusoe early on his journey:
--> Crusoe. - Xury, you shall go on shore and kill him (''i. e. the lion'').
--> Xury. - Me kill! He eat me at one mouth.
* Somewhat a SubvertedTrope in Creator/RickRiordan's ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' with Ella; who despite her intelligence speaks like this because she is a harpy and that's just what they do.
* Seemingly averted in Creator/JRRTolkien's ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. While the orcs' lines appear to be perfectly good, clean English, the narrator reveals that the orcs actually utter such repulsive profanity in such a degraded gibberish that he feels no need to bother reproducing it, instead merely paraphrasing them. To a philologist like Tolkien, using language so improperly was a clear sign of how degenerate and inferior they were.
** One character speaking sub-fluently is Ghan-buri-Ghan. His people have no real contact with Westron-speaking peoples, so it is not strange that he barely speaks it. Also, his people are [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue actually rather smart and wise]], and even the characters are a bit surprised at what they thought to be stupid primitives.
* Subverted in the ''Literature/PhulesCompany'' novels. Tuskanini, one of the Legionnaires of the titular military company speaks, rather brokenly, the [[TranslationConvention English equivalent]] of the series. However, he is the company clerk, incredibly intelligent, capable of reading 10-15 books in a night, and plans to become a teacher. He speaks it brokenly because he learned the language manually, and chooses not to rely on a translator, despite the presence of normally functioning [[TranslatorMicrobes translation devices]].
** To be clear, said character is not human, but speaks a human language (if somewhat badly). He's essentially a warthog minotaur and half his problem is that his mouth is the wrong shape.
* ''Five Get Into a Fix'' by Creator/EnidBlyton has Aily, a Welsh girl with extremely broken English ("Aily hide", "Aily not tell"), but [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue speaking beautiful Welsh phrases]] no one is able to understand

* Lampshaded to a degree by the titular character of the ''Literature/{{Firekeeper}}'' series, who was RaisedByWolves. She [[ElectiveBrokenLanguage insists that using more words than she needs to make her point is pointless.]] Also {{Subverted|Trope}} to a degree in that when speaking with animals (which is her native "language") she is depicted as having normal grammatical skills.

* ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'': Turtle Heart is to be surprised he is not to be mentioned yet. But Turtle Heart is to have been a small part that is to be served purely to be questioning Nessarose's father.

* Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'' inverts this--the supposedly civilized scientists who intend to conquer Malacandra don't bother much with the local lingo, and as a result sound crude and vicious next to the linguist they've brought as a hostage.
** One scene in the last third of the book has the scientists, linguist (named Ransom), and some of the natives all in one area performing an impromptu 'trial' of some of the scientists' ideas. The scientists know they can't defend themselves adequately, so have Ransom 'translate', since he actually spent time learning some of the vocabulary. The problem is, Ransom knows it's going to come out as "No Take Candle"; especially since he doesn't understand (or even support) some of the concepts involved. At one point he even lampshades it, effectively saying "He says... he says... you know what, I have no clue what he's talking about, and doubt I could say it even if I did."

* In the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' novels by Creator/PiersAnthony, Ogres supposedly speak in broken-English couplets. However, as evidenced by more than one book, if one abandons their prejudices, they can hear the ogre as he actually is speaking, in complete sentences. Now, Ogres pride themselves on being both ugly and stupid, but seriously.
* In ''Literature/ManifoldOrigin'', Neanderthals speak more English, but the grammar is still broken. The Daemons (no relation) hear something similar when humans try to speak their language, though it's poorly represented since MostWritersAreHuman.
* In David Sedaris' essay collection ''Me Talk Pretty One Day'', the essays detailing his attempts to learn French contain many examples of the translated English of his horribly mangled French. For example, when attempting to ask a butcher if those are indeed cow's brains, he asks "Is [[{{Pluralses}} thems]] the thoughts of cows?"
* Kimy, Henry's mother figure and neighbor, in ''Literature/TheTimeTravelersWife'' is a subtle example.
* Lakota Indian Nannie Little Rose talks like this in the book ''[[Literature/DearAmerica My Heart Is on the Ground]]'', which is supposed to be her diary as she goes to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlisle_Indian_Industrial_School Carlisle Indian Industrial school]], an (actual) school meant to teach Native Americans how to be "white" (no, really). [[labelnote:*]]The school founder's motto was "Kill the Indian to save the man!" There were many such schools, and [[https://www.npr.org/2021/07/11/1013772743/indian-boarding-school-gravesites-federal-investigation there is a movement now to account and atone]] for the thousands of children who died in them and the survivors whose descendants still carry the scars of abuse.[[/labelnote]] Then, as if to make up for this, she learns fluent English in ten months of being there.
** Actual Lakota were [[https://web.archive.org/web/20090806050309/http://www.oyate.org:80/books-to-avoid/myHeart.html rather less than pleased]] by the language used.[[note]]The author also 'adapted' [[https://web.archive.org/web/20090320220649/http://www.oyate.org:80/books-to-avoid/myHeartMore.html several passages and incidents]] from authentic Carlisle narratives.[[/note]]
* Creator/ChuckPalahniuk's novel ''Literature/{{Pygmy}}'' is written entirely in pidgin English.

* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs' ''Literature/TheMonsterMen'', Lin, the Chinese servant, speaks entirely in very bad pidgin.
* In Creator/JohnSteinbeck's ''Literature/EastOfEden'', the Chinese servant speaks "Chinee" until a white man observes how very odd it is that no one Chinese ever speaks good English, whereupon he reveals it's intentional, for those who expect it. He was in fact born in the United States and has lived his entire life there. He only reveals his true fluency and personality to people he trusts. He switches to standard English with his employer while the employer is suffering HeroicBSOD.
* In Creator/EEDocSmith's ''Literature/SkylarkSeries'', a Japanese servant speaks pidgin. In the second book, his employer speaks of it, and the servant says he started to learn English too late, and it's too different from his native tongue. (Then the employer invents a gadget to allow people to transfer linguistic knowledge.)
* The Chinese Assistant Premier in ''Literature/CharlieAndTheGreatGlassElevator''.
* Mannie's narration in ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' comes off like this, as it's in Lunar English. He reveals in the narrative that he ''can'' in fact speak standard English, [[ElectiveBrokenLanguage but it's not what he prefers]]. And anyone who says differently is a yammerhead.
** Consider that his narration bears a certain similarity to Russian, most notably the omission of the definite article, which neither Russian nor Chinese (among a variety of other languages) have. A smattering of other Russian-inspired or -rooted words and phrases appear throughout the book, unsurprising considering that apparently many of the first colonists of Luna were Russian prisoners. Think of it as a sort of heavily watered-down [[Literature/AClockworkOrange Nadsat]].
** Also, clipped syntax fits need to conserve air. Oh, you have free air here, don’t you?
* The Coyote Dialect as we hear it in the ''Literature/HankTheCowdog'' series. Hank talks about it as if it's an actual language, but it's never clarified whether or not we're just hearing a translation.
* This was TruthInTelevision for author Amy Tan as related in her autobiography. The mothers in her books -- particularly Lindo and Su-Yuan in ''Literature/TheJoyLuckClub'', Lu Ling in ''Literature/TheBonesettersDaughter'', and Winnie in ''Literature/TheKitchenGodsWife'', use English speech that is by and large based on that of her mom and other relatives, while quite EloquentInMyNativeTongue.
** Discussed in ''The Bonesetter's Daughter'', in which the main character is concerned about her mother Lu Ling being misdiagnosed in a dementia test because of her poor English and the fact that she usually translated things people said to Chinese in her head, then responded in English.

* Ayla in the ''Literature/EarthsChildren'' books tends to do this when she's learning a new language.
** A non-verbal variation occurs when any of the Others apart from Ayla attempt to use the Clan's sign language. Complete fluency in the language requires the ability to read subtle nuances of posture and expression, but Ayla has taught a number of people a simplified version.
* This backfired on Alexandra (Zan) Ford in the YA novel ''Literature/SaturdayTheTwelfthOfOctober''. Thrown back into prehistoric times by a convenient glitch in the space-time continuum, Zan is discovered by two cave people about her own age. She goes into the "me Tarzan, you Jane" routine and says "Me Zan". For the rest of the book, the cave people call her Meezzan. She even starts thinking of herself as Meezzan during the year or so she lives with them.
* Tiger Lily and her tribe in ''Literature/PeterPan.'' Oddly enough, they use an AsianSpeekeeEngrish accent, despite being First Nations people. (Perhaps justified in that everything in Never Land is based on children's imagination, and children rarely do the research.)
* In ''Literature/PinocchiosSister'', Stashu and the other Pliskas speak in broken English because they're new to the United States.
* A fairly realistic one is done in Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Supervolcano: Eruption'' with a Filipina store clerk, whose English is understandable but displays some grammatical problems that actually do tend to happen to many Filipinos in RealLife. However, it gets ridiculous when a police officer has to mime out the word "mask" to get her to understand. English is common enough in the Philippines that many English-language shows and books are left untranslated, and the word ''maskara'' (a localized spelling of the Spanish word ''mascara'') is found in the major Filipino languages and dialects. She should have had no problem understanding "mask."
* In ''The Acharnians'' by {{Creator/Aristophanes}}, the Persians at the assembly in Act One (and later on) are depicted speaking butchered Greek, making this trope OlderThanFeudalism. Translations often attempt to keep the comedic nature of the depiction by applying YouNoTakeCandle in the translation as well. One notable English version translates one line as "No getty goldy, wide-assed Athenian."
** Also, in The Birds’’ Triballus, the representative of the barbarian gods, talks like this. Poseidon seizes the opportunity for TranslationWithAnAgenda.
* In ''Literature/GalaxArena'' by Gillian Rubinstein, the peb - children abducted from various third-world countries around the world, now imprisoned on a hostile alien planet - have developed a form of pidgin English they call ''patwa'', which serves as the only common language and means of communication between them all.
* In Primo Levi's Auschwitz memoir ''Literature/IfThisIsAMan'', this trope occurs frequently, owing to the communication difficulties inherent in living in close proximity to a group of strangers from all the nations of Europe. If two prisoners have no other language in common, they most often converse in butchered German, that being the language they all have rudimentary knowledge of by necessity. For example, one Pole says to Levi, "Du Jude, kaputt. Du schnell Krematorium fertig." ''(You Jew, finished. You soon ready for crematorium.)''
* Mila, of ''Literature/TheMusicOfDolphins'', had several odd quirks in her speech due to being a WildChild, including a seeming inability to use anything but present tense.
* Madame Akkikuyu, a Moroccan rat FortuneTeller from the ''Literature/DeptfordMice'' trilogy, speaks broken English.
* Played with in ''Literature/{{Snuff}}''. When we first see Goblins speaking (directly translated by magical means) it sound like this. Later in the book properly bilingual characters explain that it actually just has such a different grammatical system, and the culture that invented it is different enough in outlook, that it [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue doesn't translate well]].
* Foxes and coyotes speak this way in ''Literature/{{Survivor|Dogs}}s''. They're closely enough related to speak the same language as dogs, but not closely enough to be fluent with them. Or maybe that's just the way they speak.
* Downplayed with [[PoliticallyActivePrincess Fjotra]] in ''Literature/TheArtsOfDarkAndLight''. The parts of her early dialogue that are [[TranslationConvention notionally]] in the language of [[TheEmpire Savondir]] are not complete Tarnan-speak, but they ''are'' presented with occasionally odd-sounding grammar to represent her limited familiarity with it. Her command of the language grows noticeably over the course of the story, to the point that she speaks it virtually fully fluently by the second part of the first book.
* Happens briefly in Creator/TomClancy's ''Literature/ExecutiveOrders''; An argument between Clark and an Air Force pilot wary of flying him through bad weather yields this masterpiece of eloquence:
--> '''Clark:''' Me Colonel. Me say go, air scout. Right the fuck NOW!
* In ''Literature/AMillionAdventures'', Pashka [[ElectiveBrokenLanguage pretends to speak Cosmolingua, the interplanetary language, this way]]. First, he is disguised as a ditzy SpoiledBrat, second, [[ItAmusedMe it's just too much fun]].
-->'''Pashka''': Hey! We are will die of hunger, and you guilty!
* Yar the hyena in Louise Searl's ''Literature/TheWayOfKings2021'' speaks like this when communicating with Kachula the lion, since she learned lion language purely by observation.
* ''Literature/HopOnPop'': Some of the sentences are primitive, like "Pat sat on cat".
* In the sci-fi short story ''Course of Empire'' by Richard Wilson, a couple of humans are sitting around talking about humanity's attempts to colonize other worlds. Then an alien walks up to them and tells them in Pidgin English to get back to work. They do so, griping [[ElectiveBrokenLanguage that they know the alien is perfectly capable of speaking good English]], but is just doing this to rub it in [[VichyEarth that the aliens turned out to be better colonizers than humans]].
* ''Literature/GoblinsInTheCastle'': Igor's grammar is not the best, and Herky's isn't much better.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfDorsa'': The small men speak in the human common tongue this way, with understandable though ungrammatical speech. Being the LittlePeople who are very enigmatic they have limited contact with humanity, only trading occasionally.

* In the sci-fi short story ''Course of Empire'' by Richard Wilson, a couple of humans are sitting around talking about humanity's attempts to colonize other worlds. Then an alien walks up to them and tells them in Pidgin English to get back to work. They do so, griping [[ElectiveBrokenLanguage that they know the alien is perfectly capable of speaking good English, but is just doing this to rub it in]] [[VichyEarth that the aliens turned out to be better colonizers than humans]].

* In the sci-fi short story ''Course of Empire'' by Richard Wilson, a couple of humans are sitting around talking about humanity's attempts to colonize other worlds. Then an alien walks up to them and tells them in Pidgin English to get back to work. They do so, griping that they know the alien is perfectly capable of speaking good English, but is just doing this to rub it in [[VichyEarth that the aliens turned out to be better colonizers than humans]].

* In the sci-fi short story ''Course of Empire'' by Richard Wilson, a couple of humans are sitting around talking about humanity's attempts to colonize other worlds. Then an alien walks up to them and [[VichyEarth tells them in Pidgin English to get back to work]]. They do so, griping that they know the alien is perfectly capable of speaking good English, but is just doing this to rub it in that the aliens turned out to be better colonizers than humans.

* In the sci-fi short story ''Course of Empire'' by Richard Wilson, a couple of humans are sitting around talking about humanity's attempts to colonize other worlds. Then an alien walks up to them and [[VichyEarth tells them in Pidgin English to get back to work]]. They do so, griping that they know he's perfectly capable of speaking good English, but it just doing this to rub it in.

* Friday from ''Literature/RobinsonCrusoe'' may be considered a TropeCodifier. He is a Caribbean tribesman rescued from cannibals by the eponymous castaway. Friday's English is basically a broken pidgin, which never, ever improves ([[UnfortunateImplications he's a non-white servant, after all]]), even after being with Crusoe for years and living in England for a time (as established in the [[FirstInstallmentWins little-known sequel]]). An example from a dialogue between Crusoe and Friday:

--> '''Clark:''' Me Colonel. Me say go, air scout. [[PrecisionFStrike Right the fuck NOW!]]

* Mannie's narration in ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' comes off like this, as it's in Lunar English. He reveals in the narrative that he ''can'' in fact speak standard English, but it's not what he prefers. And anyone who says differently is a yammerhead.

** Also, in ‘’The Birds’’ Triballus, the representative of the barbarian gods, talks like this. Poseidon seizes the opportunity to play UnreliableInterpreter.