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The general advice is often to focus on the content of what's said in dialogue and just write it in the reader's language, largely whether the characters would use that language or not in-universe....
#5: Post edited
by
Canina
·
2020-01-21T15:14:06Z (almost 5 years ago)
The general advice is often to focus on the content of what's said in dialogue and just write it in the reader's language, largely whether the characters would use that language or not in-universe. See for example the answers to [this recent question](https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/8863/2533) or for that matter [universal translators](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TranslatorMicrobes?from=Main.UniversalTranslator).**However, what if you really _want_ to show that the point-of-view character _does not understand what the other characters say?_** As he or she sees it, they are _speaking_ to each other, but the words are gibberish.In the particular case I have in mind it's a made up language, but it could just as easily be a real human language.Obviously one shouldn't overdo it (there's a reason why the general advice is for the author to translate, and I mostly agree with it), but for something like a few lines, is it acceptable to make up some such dialogue or should I just stick with something like "she looked at him and spoke in [their native tongue]; I had no idea what she said, but [the result was ...]"?Put another way, in what situations might it be a good idea to actually write down the actual words, rather than a translation into the reader's language?
- The general advice is often to focus on the content of what's said in dialogue and just write it in the reader's language, largely whether the characters would use that language or not in-universe. See for example the answers to [this recent question](https://writing.codidact.com/questions/8592) or for that matter [universal translators](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TranslatorMicrobes).
- **However, what if you really _want_ to show that the point-of-view character _does not understand what the other characters say?_** As he or she sees it, they are _speaking_ to each other, but the words are gibberish.
- In the particular case I have in mind it's a made up language, but it could just as easily be a real human language.
- Obviously one shouldn't overdo it (there's a reason why the general advice is for the author to translate, and I mostly agree with it), but for something like a few lines, is it acceptable to make up some such dialogue or should I just stick with something like "she looked at him and spoke in [their native tongue]; I had no idea what she said, but [the result was ...]"?
- Put another way, in what situations might it be a good idea to actually write down the actual words, rather than a translation into the reader's language?
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-11T18:55:49Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/8903 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T03:05:02Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/8903 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
The general advice is often to focus on the content of what's said in dialogue and just write it in the reader's language, largely whether the characters would use that language or not in-universe. See for example the answers to [this recent question](https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/8863/2533) or for that matter [universal translators](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TranslatorMicrobes?from=Main.UniversalTranslator). **However, what if you really _want_ to show that the point-of-view character _does not understand what the other characters say?_** As he or she sees it, they are _speaking_ to each other, but the words are gibberish. In the particular case I have in mind it's a made up language, but it could just as easily be a real human language. Obviously one shouldn't overdo it (there's a reason why the general advice is for the author to translate, and I mostly agree with it), but for something like a few lines, is it acceptable to make up some such dialogue or should I just stick with something like "she looked at him and spoke in [their native tongue]; I had no idea what she said, but [the result was ...]"? Put another way, in what situations might it be a good idea to actually write down the actual words, rather than a translation into the reader's language?
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2013-09-14T18:26:44Z (over 11 years ago)
Original score: 3