Foreign words in stories

[Kumquatqueen]

In London they often spell it poké, to show it's two syllables. Whether it's meant to be 'pokey' or 'pokay' I have no idea, though the former seems to be getting the most use.

I've used a fair bit of foreign speech - giving it in English as reported speech can work, or in italics quoted, then a translation just after. I only leave obvious greetings and similar untranslated. Some readers don't like it, still.

Traditionally French wouldn't be translated in UK books as readers were expected to at least understand it if they were literate. Dorothy Sayers had some whole pages in French, plus paragraphs in Latin - the latter would get summarised at least for us plebs who didn't do much Latin at school. Conversely US writers often assume an understanding of Spanish words and phrases which I don't have. It's usually a foodstuff or a term of endearment or a swear word.

 

[Britva415]

“Pokey” would be pokē, I’d think.

 

[Writer61]

Traditionally French wouldn't be translated in UK books as readers were expected to at least understand it if they were literate.

Indeed, but the audience here is broader than for those.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

“Pokey” would be pokē, I’d think.

'English doesn't so much borrow or steal words from other languages, so much as mug them in alleyways and rifle through their pockets for useful vocabulary.'

Next you'll be saying karaoke isn't pronounced carry-oakey and chocolate isn't chock-lit.

Yeah, I think that confirms that poke has been assimilated, if we've bastardised the pronunciation.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

I just want to stand up for Brattleboro. Last I knew, there were two poke restaurants in Brattleboro, but it looks like one may have closed. That's actually a pretty high rate for its population and indicates that most residents are probably familiar with the concept, despite their lily white population statistics. Small town USA is not necessarily as out of touch as Manhattanites like to assume.

Okay, fair. I haven't been to Brattleboro in over a decade at this point, so I just searched yelp and called it a day.

 

[Actingup]

Many of my stories take place in countries or feature characters for whom English is not their native language.

To help set the scene, I like to sprinkle in a few non-English words. Sometimes I include the English translation immediately afterwards. For example:


Or, I try to make it clear using the text that follows immediately. For example:


But, sometimes, I only offer the sense of what was said/written, for example:


What do you think of the latter approach? Does it matter?

I think that all of these approaches are fine. It's important to take the readers with you, but not to pander to them too much, particularly when the languages are part of the story. I tend to sprinkle words in and give the context immediately, for example as below.

---------

The older woman in the other bath had been frowning more deeply as she heard us speaking English, and abruptly she got up and left, scowling and muttering something.

“Gomenasai,” said our friend to us, politely giving a slight bow in the water. “I am sorry. She has some…” and she then she broke into a quick side conversation in Japanese with Himari before turning back to me, “… some difficulty accepting foreigners.”

 

[Bramblethorn]

Many of my stories take place in countries or feature characters for whom English is not their native language.

To help set the scene, I like to sprinkle in a few non-English words. Sometimes I include the English translation immediately afterwards. For example:


Or, I try to make it clear using the text that follows immediately. For example:


But, sometimes, I only offer the sense of what was said/written, for example:


What do you think of the latter approach? Does it matter?

For me it's a matter of degree rather than one or the other. Sometimes I'll trust in readers to figure out the word from context, sometimes I'll spell it out if understanding is important and context doesn't seem sufficient, for long passages translation may be a simpler option.

And sometimes obscurity is the point:

Hey Nadja, what is "данные_проверки"?

From previous discussions on this topic, different readers have very different levels of tolerance for non-English vocabulary. I've seen readers get mad about just a couple of words of untranslated Spanish (in a story where the protag's Hispanic background is a major part of her characterisation) but it's not obligatory to cater for those readers; there are plenty of others who enjoy reading something that will stretch them a little.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I'm re-reading Shogun, and there are some interesting usages of italics. I'm reading the novel in English, but the majority of the conversations happen in Japanese, Portuguese or Latin, with a few in Spanish, Dutch or English. So italics are sometimes used for English words to show that they were spoken in English in a conversation that otherwise takes place in Portuguese or Japanese: "this kind of ship is called a brig." In conversations taking place in Japanese, Japanese words are left untranslated and in italics when the concepts don't necessarily have 1:1 translations. Neh is a big one here, which translates sort of to "isn't that so?", and is often used to soften a statement and make it more deferential. Portuguese and Latin are used somewhat interchangeably, with Latin written more archaically to set it apart from Portuguese.

 

[PennameWombat]

I have a few stories where I use non-English phrases in dialogue. I don't use italics in any of those cases. I also don't immediately translate, although as it's ongoing dialogue, the surrounding discussion usually provides enough context that the meaning of the dialogue is made clear.

But in Saturday in Paris, the POV character (American) doesn't understand an exchange in French (not the French you learned in high school, mostly) between the woman he's with (American fluent in French) and a Frenchwoman they encounter on the Metro in Paris. Okay, it's an argument with insults and angry screams. So it's left hanging for the readers who don't speak French, although the anger comes through clearly. Later on, when they're in his hotel room after having sex, it comes up and she explains the gist of the argument.

If I drop in a single non-English word, I'll use italics for it, unless, as discussed, it's a name.

 

[dirk2024]

My current WIP begins in Switzerland, where German is one of the official languages. I am only dabbling a very little with the German Language to provide a little atmosphere. One character speaks in broken English (mostly) with a few German words thrown in. I think the meaning is obvious based on context. I realize that my position may be foolish.

Another character, who speaks English quite well due to her profession, does say "Auf Wiedersehen" when she says goodbye to the MC. Again, I am assuming that most know that phrase.

I don't italicize the German words and I don't use specific quotes for them other than what I use for any other dialog.