Need help from other Readers/Writers - How to deal with foreign languages

30 Jan 2013

OK I hope this is the right place to ask my question. Any and all input is welcome!

My WIP is a YA novel that takes place in Germany with many of the characters being Americans studying abroad. As such, the protagonist is an American who is fluent in German and has many conversations with Germans in their native language.

This being an English novel, my challenge is how to convey the "switch", if you will, from German to English, for the benefit of the reader. I have read several stories and YA novels similar to this but most have central characters switching to English at some point, i.e. the natives are fluent in English. I don't want that to be the case in this novel. The Germans should speak German, and in fact the subject of "language learning" is central to the book, so it'd be silly to skip German all together, but I don't want to bore or burden the reader with a language they don't necessarily know already.

So, my questions to you:
* READERS: Do you have any authors or stories to recommend that deal with this issue? Perhaps I just haven't researched enough. Several of the books I've read thus far use a journal from the protagonist and he/she thus reverts to their native language. That idea won't quite work for my 3rd person novel.

* WRITERS: Do you ever write in a different language and if so, how did you deal with the language difference. One creative option I heard was to have the novel serve as a textbook of sorts with footnotes and lots of dictionary-like inclusions. I'm not sure I want to go that route for 100,000 words, but it is different. Any other ideas out there?

Thanks so much for your help!
-Diana

“Play the sunset."
― Mr. Holland (played by Richard Dreyfuss) on "Mr. Holland's Opus"

Find my fan page on Facebook "Diana Shallard" and follow me on Twitter too! https://twitter.com/DianaShallard

30 Jan 2013

Quote by DianaShallard
OK I hope this is the right place to ask my question. Any and all input is welcome!

My WIP is a YA novel that takes place in Germany with many of the characters being Americans studying abroad. As such, the protagonist is an American who is fluent in German and has many conversations with Germans in their native language.

This being an English novel, my challenge is how to convey the "switch", if you will, from German to English, for the benefit of the reader. I have read several stories and YA novels similar to this but most have central characters switching to English at some point, i.e. the natives are fluent in English. I don't want that to be the case in this novel. The Germans should speak German, and in fact the subject of "language learning" is central to the book, so it'd be silly to skip German all together, but I don't want to bore or burden the reader with a language they don't necessarily know already.

So, my questions to you:
* READERS: Do you have any authors or stories to recommend that deal with this issue? Perhaps I just haven't researched enough. Several of the books I've read thus far use a journal from the protagonist and he/she thus reverts to their native language. That idea won't quite work for my 3rd person novel.

* WRITERS: Do you ever write in a different language and if so, how did you deal with the language difference. One creative option I heard was to have the novel serve as a textbook of sorts with footnotes and lots of dictionary-like inclusions. I'm not sure I want to go that route for 100,000 words, but it is different. Any other ideas out there?

Thanks so much for your help!
-Diana

Cripes, right off the bat, don't complicate your life, that happens all on its own.

Writing in the 3rd person, I would suggest you set up the parameters of the story, its dynamics, characters, background, etc. In such a situation you, as author, can establish for each scene what is going on. If the interchanges are in German, then set the background for that scene in such a way that it is clearly so, albeit is written in English. If linguistic devices or the very real barriers, problems and confusion that do arise due to language differences are essential then incorporate them as well. There are ways of doing that, including the use of foreign vocabulary, that can work really well and serve the story itself, without being a hindrance or weighing it down as an educational device.

As a READER, that is my advice. Readers are astute and accomodating as long as the writer is doing her work and not sending us to a translation service in order to get through the text.

As a WRITER, yes, I read and write in two languages other than English, my mother tongue. I am also a translator of those languages. Dealing with the language differences, to me, means either using those differences as part of the story, which can lead to good, inventive and often funny devices, or setting the stage at the beginning and trusting my readers to follow me and accept that there are linguistic challenges as part of the structure of the text.

One creative option I heard was to have the novel serve as a textbook of sorts with footnotes and lots of dictionary-like inclusions

No, I would advise against that. Language textbooks are a totally different area of expertise and from what you have said here, not your purview.

30 Jan 2013

Thanks for your feedback, Gypsy. Your points about the writer doing her job do make a lot of sense! I definitely don't want readers to to feel they need a translation service in order to read my novel, so I'll avoid the footnotes. smile