Really Stuck: Writing Dialogue
I am currently working on my first novel so forgive me for making what is probably considered the mistake of a 'novice'. My novel is set in the present, however my antagonist has a history dating back over a thousand years. When I write dialogue for him, do I write it in English and ignore the fact that he is over 1000 years old and would not have spoken English back then, or do I rewrite thousands of pages and plot points so that he speaks English... any other ideas would be appreciated!
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If I understand the question correctly...
If he grew up speaking Old English (or whatever), is still alive, and communicates with present-day people, he will by definition have to have learned modern English. If he can't speak modern English (or whatever the modern form of language is), then he won't be communicating with anyone. You can allude to the fact that his language evolved over time (all living languages change as time passes).
If you don't write his dialogue in English (or whatever living language you're writing in), no one will be able to understand his dialogue. You can also have him use slightly stilted or idiosyncratic English to portray his different linguistic background.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/8867. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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If your antagonist is living in the present time (but is 1000 years old), then is there any reason to believe that his speech hasn't evolved? Think about what happens to people when they move to a new place with language patterns different from the ones they grew up with; don't they tend to adapt?
That said, people adapt slowly, and a 1000-year-old character probably has a lot of built-up habit/precedent. So perhaps he speaks a slightly different English than other characters, one infused with archaic words and odd grammatical structures. Don't go as far as Yoda, but you can make him linguistically different without having to write in a foreign language (which your readers probably won't understand).
As for the fact that he didn't speak English all that time, translation of dialogue into the reader's language is pretty common. Tolkein's elves speak Elvish but you can understand most of their dialogue -- but you still know they're not human.
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