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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47382
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47382
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

## Don't, under (almost) any circumstances write a Roman-script foreign language "the way it is pronounced".

It is not helpful to anyone. If I (as your reader) don't speak Spanish, the text is gibberish to me whether it is rendered in proper Spanish, or in "the way it is pronounced". ("Romanisation" isn't the proper term here, as Spanish _already_ uses Roman script.)

If I do speak some Spanish, it would be much easier for me to read it if it is spelled properly, for the same reasons it is usually recommended to avoid phonetic accent in English. (For more, see tvtropes - [Funetik Aksent](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FunetikAksent)).

In fact, if I speak no Spanish, but have a basic grasp of Romance languages in general, I might understand a little of what is being said if the text is spelled correctly, but not if it is deformed.

Under what circumstances would it be acceptable to write a foreign language the way it is pronounced? When a foreign word is sufficiently well-known _and_ you wish to use a misunderstanding for humorous effect.

> You know, ooh-jar boards and cards [...] and paddlin' with the occult (Terry Pratchett, _Lords and Ladies_)

Meaning Ouija boards, of course.

**Note that this section only talks of Roman-script languages. If you were dealing with, say, Japanese, you wouldn't want to use Japanese letters. Those would be incomprehensible squiggles on the page that would make no sound in the reader's mind.**

## Don't just insert foreign language

Your readers (mostly) don't speak Spanish. If you write in English, your target audience is English-speakers. Long passages that are entirely incomprehensible to the reader don't help anyone or anything. They take your reader out of the story and into boredom and annoyance.

You can use short interjections if they can be understood from context. For example, it isn't too hard to figure out what '_Hola_' means, even if you don't already know. But you don't want too much of this in your text - use it as a spice, don't let it overwhelm the main dish.

## Do render everything that is understood by the POV character in English

This is common practice. All the dialogue in Hemingway's _For Whom the Bell Tolls_, for example, is "really" in Spanish. You can mention "she said in Spanish" if it isn't clear enough from context that she did.

## If your POV character doesn't understand what is being said, don't provide the dialogue.

"She said something in Spanish that Lily didn't understand" is enough. Or it might be that some other character is providing a translation.

Original score: 6