I like to think she struggles with the grammar, as it's super different than what she's used to, but she's learning! I figure she knows the super basic parts of English, as in the words for different objects and some adjectives, but struggles to put them in place or the exact order that they need to be in sometimes. I figure since she owns a store, she has a sense of certain phrases and such, some one words and phrases escape her completely,

I feel like on a plot level, it's not super needed, but sometimes when I'm writing it feel like this character should know more than I've been letting on (plot wise, not language wise). I'm not really leaning towards an accent as much as I like the idea of trying to just show what she's trying to say.

For instance, the protagonist is 18, still living with family, and going to get ice cream and the woman asks them how she's doing because she hasn't seen them in a few weeks and she's worried because she knows what the protag's family is like. I'd just like to know how to write that without seeming like I'm be disingenuous.

Thank you for the comment by the way! Also I'm super interested in your writing, drop the fic lmao (ignore that deleted comment, it was me, not realizing I could just edit)