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You have two options depending on context: 1) If it's a quick exchange and can be figured out in context, put the foreign language in italics. "As-tu le livre?" "Yes, I have the book here." or...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-13T11:59:55Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/1743 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T01:17:07Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/1743 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
You have two options depending on context: 1) If it's a quick exchange and can be figured out in context, put the foreign language in italics. _"As-tu le livre?"_ "Yes, I have the book here." or inline: "You filthy _p'taQ!"_ B'Elanna snarled. 2) If it's a quick exchange without context, put the translation afterwards and italicize that. "Pour ma peine, ma punition, je tourne en rond," he sighed. _For my pain, for my punishment, I pace in circles._ Now Picard understood. inline: "Qa'pla!" _Success!_ the Klingon shouted. In any case, I would not have more than one or two exchanges in a foreign language. Either use a tag like "she said in French" so the reader realizes the characters aren't speaking English, or note in narration "they discussed the matter in French for some time, but as Malcolm didn't speak the language, he had to wait for a translation."
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2011-02-24T02:56:09Z (over 13 years ago)
Original score: 31