No problem!
> What does provenance have to do with finding Banks accessible?
Well, for instance, my first fiancée was Norwegian, and she really struggled with both Feersum Endjinn and the Bridge. She spoke superb English, better than native level (I am among other things a qualified TEFL/TESOL teacher, and I'd assess her as better than C2 level) -- but she could not handle phonetic English that was not in RP. (Received Pronunciation, that is, "standard" British English, or BBC English.)
Banksie was Scottish and sounded Scottish. (She met him with me, I think. I don't recall if she had problems with his spoken English.) To read the phonetic parts in IMB/IB, you need to read them in a Scottish accent -- the phonetics don't work with RP English.
(Not a clue how they work with American English, which like most Brits I understand fine but cannot speak.)
Another comparison: a few years ago in Brno in the Czech Republic I went to see Trainspotting 2 with a bunch of people: Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, German... and one other Brit, a friend of mine. It was shown in an art-house cinema, not subtitled. I told them they were brave. "Why?" they asked. "It's in English, isn't it?"
"Well, not really..." I replied. "It's in Scottish. It's not the same."
Later they told me that they barely understood a word.
The only people in that showing who did were me and the other Brit.
I am learning Czech. After 8 years, I am approaching B1 level. (Getting to A1 German took me 3 days, for comparison. A1 Czech took about 2-3 YEARS.) The more Czech I learn, to my dismay, the less Slovak I understand.
Scottish is to English as Slovak is to Czech: they are similar, quite close, but not the same. Knowing one as a foreign language may not help you to understand the other. Written English is standardized on the RP British English dialect. When Bankie wrote phonetically, he is recording a different dialect.
So, in my personal experience, a non-native speaker trying to read IB or IMB's books might struggle a lot more than they might do if they were, say, listening to an audio book of the same material.
> I've always felt a certain regret for never having met the guy.
I am very happy I got to spend a little time with him. He is one of my all-time favourite writers, and it was a privilege.
I have in fact got to meet quite a lot of my favourite writers... since you said:
> Or Pratchett.
Yes, Pterry too. I also have his first-ever novel in hardback first edition, as I was a fan of his before he wrote the Discworld books, and met him many times. About half my Pratchetts are signed.
And Douglas Adams, just the once.
>> And Douglas Adams, just the once.
Oh gosh, now I'm even more jealous :)
>> Banksie was Scottish and sounded Scottish. (She met him with me, I think. I don't recall if she had problems with his spoken English.) To read the phonetic parts in IMB/IB, you need to read them in a Scottish accent -- the phonetics don't work with RP English.
Well that's interesting. I read Feersum engine back in 2004 I think, a year before I moved to the UK. Once arrived, it was a couple of years before I could make myself undestood by, or understand myself, any person of the British persuasion. I distinctly remember an hour-long conversation with a man from Glasgow, in which I did not understand a single word. For all I know, I nodded along and smiled politely to him claiming that the Holocaust was all made up and Hitler was right to exterminate the Jews anyway.
I know Glaswegian accents are hard. I think I get about 60% of Burnistoun. It never occurred to me that Feersum Engine must be read in a Scottish voice. I wouldn't be able to pull it off anyway. But it just really clicked for me and I didn't find it a drag, in fact the parts of Ergates the ant where the ones I liked reading the most. You know, because they were the most fun!
I certainly don't have an RP. After 17 years in the UK I have a soft, but firm, South European accent. I once watched a recording of myself giving a presentation and my accent is very, very there. It could maybe sound like a very poor attempt at imitating a Scottish accent, by someone who had only heard a very vague description of it. Maybe. Dunno.
>> "Well, not really..." I replied. "It's in Scottish. It's not the same."
More weird. I've watched Trainspotting a few times, with subtitles on or off, can't remember. I can always understand it just fine. Spud is the only one I have trouble understanding and I think that's partly on purpose.
Maybe has something to do with being Greek, at a very wild guess? Scottish people speaking English sound to me like they're making the sweetest sounds that remind me of home. We have strong "ARRRs" (like in "Rory") and "CHAAAs" (like in "loch") too.
Thank you for being kind to my curiosity!
Not the OP, but I'm curious (sorry). What does provenance have to do with finding Banks accessible?
For the record, I'm Greek and I read most of my Sci-Fi in Greek translations. Banks was one of the first writers whose work I read entirely in the original English (the other two were Terry Pratchett and Jeff Noon, both of which I started reading around the same time as Banks). I don't remember ever feeling that his writing was inaccessible, not even Feersum Engine, discussed in the sibling comments, and which was his first I ever read. At the time my English was not too good, so, like I say, I'm curious, why do you ask the OP where they're from? Is it because of the Scottish thing you mention below?
Reading your other comments here you say you met him many times. I'm envious! Me and my friend who have both read all his books (and all the M-less books also) managed to mix up the dates and miss his visit to the town we lived at the time. That was a couple of years before he died. I hate being a fan girl but I've always felt a certain regret for never having met the guy. Or Pratchett. I'm the worlds' worst fan :)