Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4817
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I think it's less about which language is the main or secondary (or tertiary or...fourthary?) and more about **differentiating between them** (as I stated in [my answer to the other question](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/4811/how-does-one-include-sign-language-in-a-dialogue/4814#4814)).

But broader than that, I think it would **depend on the scene**. Do the characters understand each other? Are they communicating entirely in the secondary language? If it's yes and yes, I would say do the whole thing in quotes. If it's a yes and no, I would denote the secondary language in italics. If it's two no's, you're writing a sitcom.

**More thoughts:**

Something I didn't address before was consistency. If you decorate your second language in italics in one place, then do an entire scene in that language using quotes, I think you will confuse your reader. So the real assessment is what makes the most sense for your scene (and I stick by my conditional statement above), but then also what will not be jarring or strange for the reader based on what else they have seen throughout the rest of your piece.

Original score: 3