Foreign Language Texts

[lonnie biko]

Stuck and not sure as to how to proceed with foreign language words and phrases in my story and whether I should translate them and if so where I should place the translations. Any form of help would be highly appreciated.

[Carlos Hazday]

I try to limit the foreign language words I use to a minimum. It distracts the reader if he has to keep lookig for the translation no matter where it is.

 

My translations are always placed as an endnote to the chapter

[Graeme]

There's a lot of different techniques that can be used. I know of one print novel that has French phrases scattered through it and the author doesn't bother to translate. They're short and the intent is usually clear from the context.

 

Other authors use italics to give the English translation, but to indicate that the person speaking is using a different language.

 

You can also include a character who doesn't understand the language so someone in the story can give a rough translation.

 

Without knowing the context, I'm not sure what else to suggest, but there are usually ways around the problem

[lonnie biko]

I try to limit the foreign language words I use to a minimum. It distracts the reader if he has to keep lookig for the translation no matter where it is.

 

My translations are always placed as an endnote to the chapter

Agreed, I can barely keep up and I'm the one writing so I can imagine how difficult it would be for the reader.

I'm thinking of doing the same (placing translations at the end of the chapter).

English isn't my first language and the story being set in my country of origin (Kenya) unfortunately makes it difficult not to use Swahili words and phrases.

[lonnie biko]

There's a lot of different techniques that can be used. I know of one print novel that has French phrases scattered through it and the author doesn't bother to translate. They're short and the intent is usually clear from the context.

 

Other authors use italics to give the English translation, but to indicate that the person speaking is using a different language.

 

You can also include a character who doesn't understand the language so someone in the story can give a rough translation.

 

Without knowing the context, I'm not sure what else to suggest, but there are usually ways around the problem

The italics bit certainly would help and reduce the repetition in the story but I fear meaning would be lost as some of those words don't feel the same written in English.

[Drew Espinosa]

Agreed, I can barely keep up and I'm the one writing so I can imagine how difficult it would be for the reader.

I'm thinking of doing the same (placing translations at the end of the chapter).

English isn't my first language and the story being set in my country of origin (Kenya) unfortunately makes it difficult not to use Swahili words and phrases.

The italics bit certainly would help and reduce the repetition in the story but I fear meaning would be lost as some of those words don't feel the same written in English.

How about you translate the first time thee word/phrase comes up in a chapter? So in subsequent chapters a translation of that phrase won't be needed.

 

For instance, if for example I had a Spanish-speaking character and he or she said, "Te amo," in Chapter 2, I would translate it as an endnote as "I love you" and the next time it appears in say few chapters later, I won't have to translate again.

 

I am not sure if what I suggested is conventional, but I hope it helps

[Cia]

The only caveat is that you ensure the story is predominately in English. Using the non-English phrases with a character that has English as a 2nd language, and possibly having difficulty with speaking it, or setting the story in a country that has another language as their official language is fine as part of the authenticity of the story, but we do need most of the content to be English.

[Timothy M.]

I use Danish phrases as part of one story, I usually try to give a sense of the meaning from the context, but I also have end notes to give exact translations, if readers want to know. But it's something I've discussed quite a bit with my editors / beta readers, and I don't think there is a perfect solution.

[Thorn Wilde]

I'm working on a story that has a few scattered phrases in Irish, but there the point is that the main character can't understand what that person is saying, so it's translation-free.

 

Otherwise end notes are good places to put translations. That's what I've done when I've used a few too many Britishisms and I figure providing a glossary might be a good idea...