Use of foreign language

[soflabbwlvr]

The story I am trying to finish contains a brief conversation between two characters in Spanish. The use of Spanish is purposeful, as they do not want bystanders to understand what they are saying. It is only about 10-12 lines. Will this create an issue for approval?

 

[TheLobster]

If you want to include the conversation in actual foreign language, then consider the impact of this decision on your readers.

Spanish is not a secret language; there are like a billion speakers of it. If the goal is for the conversation to remain concealed not just to bystanders in the story but also readers, then quoting it verbatim isn't going to accomplish this goal. You should rather just turn that dialog into a narrative passage, saying that characters talked in Spanish for a while and maybe allude what the topic was.

Otherwise, if you do want your readers to understand, then simply use speech tags while keeping the conversation in English. Something "he spoke in Spanish, mindful of his surroundings" and "she replied likewise," and then continue with regular dialogue, maybe noting at the end when they switched back to English.

 

[StillStunned]

Otherwise, if you do want your readers to understand, then simply use speech tags while keeping the conversation in English. Something "he spoke in Spanish, mindful of his surroundings" and "she replied likewise," and then continue with regular dialogue, maybe noting at the end when they switched back to English.

And perhaps add "speaking to swiftly for [whoever] to understand".

 

[AwkwardMD]

The story I am trying to finish contains a brief conversation between two characters in Spanish. The use of Spanish is purposeful, as they do not want bystanders to understand what they are saying. It is only about 10-12 lines. Will this create an issue for approval?

I have included untranslated German, Greek, Chinese, Singlish, and Spanish in my stories, and the one that garnered the most vicious ire was Spanish. One reader on another site was perplexed by Singlish, assuming it was just bad English from a non-English speaker and that I'd done a disservice to the readers with its inclusion, but the responses to the Spanish were vile. I'm not sure that there's a better explanation than racism.

Be prepared for that but, also, definitely include other languages. It's okay to give the reader information that the character doesn't understand, and language is a great way to do that.

 

[THBGato]

I include Spanish in some of my stories. One reader thanked me for encouraging them to take up duolingo again!

(Interestingly, the first chapter does have one of my lowest rankings, but I put that down to the presence of a non-binary lead character rather than the use of Spanish dialogue.)

 

[AwkwardMD]

For reference, Singlish looks like this:

To Wren, it just looked like mass indifference on the part of the crowd, but Bonnie was white as a sheet.

"That little girl throw stone at policeman, can escape leh. They shelter her some more. Normally ah, the police don't let go this kind of thing one. They normally will tekan her good good one. This time don't have leh!"

"The rock seems like an odd choice," Wren said.

"That's what you did," Bonnie said quietly, as she watched the looping vid in stunned disbelief. "I mean, yours was a little bit bigger, but..."

"Her one symbolic lah," he said, as he closed off his comm and turned back to them. "You stand up to police. She also stand up to police. We everybody stand up to police. Siao liao, everything siao liao. All because of you."

"Everyone knows about what I did?"

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I have included untranslated German, Greek, Chinese, Singlish, and Spanish in my stories, and the one that garnered the most vicious ire was Spanish. One reader on another site was perplexed by Singlish, assuming it was just bad English from a non-English speaker and that I'd done a disservice to the readers with its inclusion, but the responses to the Spanish were vile. I'm not sure that there's a better explanation than racism.

Be prepared for that but, also, definitely include other languages. It's okay to give the reader information that the character doesn't understand, and language is a great way to do that.

Thank you AwarkwardMD. That's the answer I was hoping to hear. I have included a few Spanish words previously, but never an entire conversation. This story is going in Fetish, so it will not receive too many readers and hopefully no racist trolls.

 

[GrushaVashnadze]

For reference, Singlish looks like this:

Aiyah, you so clever ah Awkward talk Singlish like that. Maybe you also like my Singapore story Pink - try lah!

 

[Writer61]

The story I am working on at the moment features a young English man in France. I have used a few French words to help set the scene, but giving a translation feels clunky, so am sticking to absolute basics that should make sense without one.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Aiyah, you so clever ah Awkward talk Singlish like that. Maybe you also like my Singapore story Pink - try lah!

I had a lot of help with translations. Two amazing women (@KatieTay and @skulltitti ) helped me with the Singlish and Chinese in that story, and I couldn't be more proud of the final result.

I'll definitely give that a read.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Aiyah, you so clever ah Awkward talk Singlish like that. Maybe you also like my Singapore story Pink - try lah!

That was delightful! Thank you for sharing that!

 

[joy_of_cooking]

The story I am trying to finish contains a brief conversation between two characters in Spanish. The use of Spanish is purposeful, as they do not want bystanders to understand what they are saying. It is only about 10-12 lines. Will this create an issue for approval?

I have a story with untranslated Chinese: https://www.literotica.com/s/snowed-in-with-a-predator-1

No problems from Laurel although a surprising fraction of the comments mentioned it, mostly negatively.

I'm not sure what you thought Laurel's problem would be. That you were telling a whole different story and it violated content guidelines? The site outright publishes stories in languages other than English.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I've never had complaints about my foreign language use, possibly because I'm careful to gloss the words as needed. Though my characters who use some Manglish (Malaysian English, similar to Singlish) when alone, haven't scored hugely well.

I get complaints on most of my stories about the British English, though. [shrug] Some day, I'll write that long-planned story where two Brits talk in strong dialect about a Yank who can't understand a word.

 

[Writer61]

I get complaints on most of my stories about the British English, though. [shrug]

Sod 'em, lah.

I love the way that English is spoken differently around the world, including Malaysia and Singapore.

Some day, I'll write that long-planned story where two Brits talk in strong dialect about a Yank who can't understand a word.

GB Shaw is usually credited with the saying ‘England and America are two countries separated by the same language’. Churchill used a variant of it.

 

[THBGato]

Aiyah, you so clever ah Awkward talk Singlish like that. Maybe you also like my Singapore story Pink - try lah!

Brilliant! I've left you a comment.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I have a story with untranslated Chinese: https://www.literotica.com/s/snowed-in-with-a-predator-1

No problems from Laurel although a surprising fraction of the comments mentioned it, mostly negatively.

I'm not sure what you thought Laurel's problem would be. That you were telling a whole different story and it violated content guidelines? The site outright publishes stories in languages other than English.

My concern - now alleviated - was that it might violate formatting, grammar or spelling conventions and thereby cause a rejection.

 

[AllenWoody]

I have a story with untranslated Chinese: https://www.literotica.com/s/snowed-in-with-a-predator-1

No problems from Laurel although a surprising fraction of the comments mentioned it, mostly negatively.

I'm not sure what you thought Laurel's problem would be. That you were telling a whole different story and it violated content guidelines? The site outright publishes stories in languages other than English.

I’ve written passages like, “his new friends spoke briefly in Mandarin” when the main character didn’t speak it and therefore is clueless what’s being said. I don’t think I’d include untranslated Chinese characters as that would likely confuse the readers. If the main characters had to have an exchange in any foreign language, but especially one with a radically different written character set, I’d probably write something more like “They switched to Mandarin” and then either write out what they said in English, or paraphrase it for the reader.

That said, now I’m curious to read your story and see how you did it…

 

[Voboy]

I've included many single words and/or short phrases in languages as obscure as Macedonian, and the stories featuring that have never seen any backlash.

But I make it awfully damn clear, through context, what I intend those terms to mean. It annoys me when I see untranslated passages that give the reader no clue what they mean. That probably annoys me enough to back out of the story and leave a 3*.

I don't care for stories that intentionally confuse the reader. I think that's bad storytelling.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

That said, now I’m curious to read your story and see how you did it…

Most of it is profanity and the surrounding narration makes that clear. There's one scene where she remembers a more complicated phrase and there I included a translation immediately afterward. So I think I'm not that far off from your approach!

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I don't care for stories that intentionally confuse the reader. I think that's bad storytelling.

Depends on what you mean. Taken too literally, that would mean mystery and unreliable narrators would have to go.

-Billie

 

[Voboy]

Depends on what you mean. Taken too literally, that would mean mystery and unreliable narrators would have to go.

-Billie

Obviously I don't mean to disqualify mystery and unreliable narrators, both of which presumably have resolution.

If they didn't? They'd be bad stories.

edited because I was being needlessly querulous. But I DO NOT like having words put into my mouth. Please don't assume I mean something I don't.

 

[oneagainst]

Ch 7 of A Place For Us All To Belong has a German character injured in the snow. The FMC can't understand him as he details life threatening injuries. It was a good way of building the suspense. And then she breaks the 4th wall and learns German on the spot. I liked the way it came together in the end, with the equivalent of the Hunt For The Red Oktober tea drinking scene where suddenly we can understand what he's saying

 

[Jorunn]

Ch 7 of A Place For Us All To Belong has a German character injured in the snow. The FMC can't understand him as he details life threatening injuries. It was a good way of building the suspense. And then she breaks the 4th wall and learns German on the spot. I liked the way it came together in the end, with the equivalent of the Hunt For The Red Oktober tea drinking scene where suddenly we can understand what he's saying

I've had thoughts of writing something like this, where the main character is in a country or place or time and doesn't understand any of the people around them. Not unlike Shogun. The closest I've come is my story, The Zebrafish, where an ancient frozen Viking is re-animated in a modern hospital. Fortunately, a caring Irish assistant shows him love, and together, with the help of an anthropologist who speaks the Old Norse language, they are able to calm him down. They set the Viking up in a replica longhouse within a fjord, and the Irish assistant goes to live with him to learn the ancient ways. But the script is flipped, such that the Irish assistant must now learn to speak Old Norse. I don't know whether it is the element of sci-fi or the language issues, but it is one of my lower rated stories. However, it has received some nice comments and likes.

I often include a short exchange in a foreign language. In my recent story the female character says something in Spanish. The male character asks in Spanish if she is from Mexico. She replies she is from Barcelona in Spanish. Then the male character translates this in his mind by saying to himself, 'So, she's from Barcelona. She must be one of the international students'.

 

[GrushaVashnadze]

That was delightful! Thank you for sharing that!

Thank you! Please do point me towards your Singlish story, and I'll give it a read.

 

[GrushaVashnadze]

Brilliant! I've left you a comment.

Thanks so much!