Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40193
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40193
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Welcome. You do not need to use footnotes in a novel. In fact, they're usually distracting. Sometimes you can do it, but it's pretty unusual. An example of one that worked was really a chapter endnote and it is for a book in the Little House series. It let the reader know that “fever 'n' ague” (which was the topic of the chapter) is now known as malaria.

It's tempting to translate things from other languages but often the best route is to just leave it be. A lot of readers will know it or be able to figure it out, others will look it up. As long as it's not important to the story, you probably don't have to translate it at all.

An example of an author writing in English who doesn't translate is Luis Alberto Urrea. His novels are filled with words and phrases in Spanish. To be honest, I think I got more out of his work because I know Spanish (though I don't know most slang), but it wasn't necessary to know the translations to get the gist.

If you feel it's important to translate, and it's not possible (or too awkward) for a character to translate, you can put the translation in parenthesis after the phrase. If it comes from the character's thoughts, this can work well. If it's from dialogue, it's a bit harder. Don't translate anything more than once.

If you feel you have to use a footnote, do it once per phrase. Only translate words if it's important and there is no cognate to the language you're writing in.

If your novel is peppered with footnotes, it will feel more like an academic book than a story.

Original score: 7