Conversations in dialect

Hi all,

I’m Dutch, and so English is my second language. I read Strike books in English and feel very comfortable doing so.

I wonder though, since TB, IBH and now TRG, Galbraith has Strike and Robin talking to a lot of people who speak a certain dialect or regional “form of English”, whatever you would call that.

These sometimes lengthy conversations use literally transcribed forms of English words, like “Ah, thass right” or “The’re olluz like this”.

Now, I perfectly understand what they are saying and I can even “hear” the sounds in my head. And I’m sure that is the whole point of this being used in the books. To give that local, personal flair to people.

But is it just me as a non-native English speaker, or do these conversations sometimes become a chore to read, written like this? I’m especially interested what English person think of it.

Cheers!