D.Gray-man characters and language
So this is by no means an original idea for a post, but I wanted to share my own headcanons for what accents/languages the DGM characters speak in because I've been thinking about it a bunch lately. Long post imminent, so it's under the cut.
I accidentally deleted this post earlier so please give this one some love :(
I bring up details of stuff with the fourteenth once or twice, so here's a spoiler alert just in case.
Allen
Of course, we all know Allen is British, but that still leaves a lot of variety in accents. Now as far as I'm concerned, it's pretty much canon that Allen speaks in a stereotypical "posh" received pronunciation accent most of the time. He speaks very formally/politely in Japanese, and I feel like that's the best translation. But! that sure as hell doesn't cover young Allen, or what he starts to slip into getting a little bit casual. For that, I've always liked to imagine him as sounding very northern, or maybe Scottish. At first, my only justification was that it would be a fun contrast between his two voices, but I've since realized that Campbell is a Scottish name, and since we don't know how the hell Allen was tangled up with the Campbells way back when or where they met, I'm using that as my excuse.
Also, since he spent so much time traveling around the world with Cross, I imagine that he probably knows a few key phrases in a lot of different languages, but he's only really fluent in English.
Lenalee
Since Lenalee grew up at the European branch of the Order, she probably also speaks British English with an accent pretty close to Allen's received pronunciation, just because that tends to be what's in dictionaries/what gets taught in schools. But, since she spends so much time around people from all different parts of the world, I imagine that there's a lot of miscellaneous words that she's learned from specific people in their accents, so her vocabulary sounds a lot more varied than Allen's.
I don't think she'd have a Chinese accent since she was brought to the order so young, but she can still speak it decently well. Once Komui joined her at the European branch, the two of them began to have some of their private conversations in Chinese, just for the sake of keeping up with it.
Kanda
To be honest, I'm not really sure what Kanda would sound like. On one hand, he grew up in the Order like Lenalee, so you could make a pretty good argument for him sounding the same as her.
On the other hand, though, he seems to have been born knowing how to speak rather than learning slowly like a normal kid, so his accent/dialect might depend on whoever he was in his past life. And if that were the case (assuming that his past self had a Japanese accent), would he keep it or would he lose it over time as he spent all his time around Europeans?
OR, since he has an artificially generated body, would his voice maybe also be programmed in from scratch? And if that were the case, would it be standard received British received pronunciation like what Lenalee was taught, or would it be something else?
In other words, I have no idea what the fuck Kanda would sound like. The only thing I can say for certain is that he speaks English and probably knows a few miscellaneous phrases in French from spending so much time with general Tiedoll. Other than that, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Lavi
As part of his Bookman job, Lavi would have to be very good at chameleoning his speech. There's no telling what accent he spoke in as a child in the same way that there's no telling what country he was born in or what his birth name was. I'd bet he's fluent in about ten languages, and he knows some basics in many more than that. He speaks however he needs to in order to blend in with whatever group he's with. At the order, that probably means something similar to Lenalee. Just a nondescript, textbook sort of British accent with whatever extra words and phrases he's picked up on his travels mixed in.
Bookman would, of course, be much the same, but even more advanced in his adaptability. He's been doing this for eighty some years.
Miranda
Miranda is German, and you can hear it. I imagine she learned English growing up, but she never had much reason to speak it, so she wasn't really what you could call fluent before joining the Order. Due to this, her accent was very thick at first. Over time, though, her vocabulary and accent both improve, and she's pretty fluent by this point, since she now has to use English for the day to day. Still, I imagine she's relieved on the rare occasion that she can speak to Link or Marie in German like she's back home.
Marie
Marie grew up in Austria speaking German, but he's also been with the Order for at least a decade. He's a pretty smart guy, so he's quite fluent in English at this point, but he still has a bit of a German accent. In a way, though, it kind of suits him.
Krory
Given his affluent but secluded upbringing, I imagine that Krory learned to read and write in English growing up, but he never really spoke it before meeting Eliade. As such, his accent was pretty thick for a long while, to the point of being almost incomprehensible to many people, and his speech wasn't very smooth/fluent. However, between speaking English with Eliade and at the Order, he's gained much more confidence speaking and his accent has been reigned in quite a bit.
In addition to English, it seems likely that he would have also learned the textbook version of another language, maybe Spanish or French.
Timothy
Timothy speaks French, but he was taught English as part of his schooling. He wasn't what you'd call a great student, though, so his English was pretty crummy until he was brought to the Order. He can speak it decently well now, but he'd still much rather speak French when given the chance.
Running with the Krory knowing a little French thread and the fact that he tends to big brother younger exorcists, I imagine that he probably goes out of his way to speak it with Timothy. Reviewing a language that he used to study gives him something to think about besides concern for his friends, and it gives Timothy a way to feel a little more at home there.
Chaoji
Seeing as he worked as a sailor in a big coastal city, I imagine that Chaoji was used to dealing with people from all different places. He knew enough English to get by in simple conversation before joining the order, but he wasn't quite what you would call fluent yet. He's been working hard on learning since joining, however, and though he still has an accent, he can keep up with just about anyone speaking nowadays.
I'm stopping for now with just the exorcists done, but expect sequel posts to this in the future.