I would like to use a few words from different languages but I am not sure on how to handle the fact that the words are read one way in English and sound totally different in their original language?
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1Is this a work of fiction? Do you think pronunciation is important to the story?– AlexanderCommented Oct 27, 2017 at 18:51
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1Why is the sound of the words of importance to you? Will you be using them in a context where their pronunciation is going to have a role in the plot (e.g. used in a pun, rhyme, or a scene where a characters(mis)pronounces some of them). If you plan none of this, the way the readers pronounce them will not matter - even if they do not know the source language and mess up the sounds.– user23425Commented Oct 27, 2017 at 18:53
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Yes it is fiction. I guess it could be that I put to much thought into it but I liked the idea of linking our reality into my fiction world. The connection between the two is a major part of the story and I felt like using the proper pronunciation was another way to solidify the connection.– SecretsCommented Oct 27, 2017 at 18:57
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If your other language is non-Latin, you are in luck (sort of), because you just use English transliteration. But if this is a language with Latin script, you need to do a lot of extra work (in a fiction book, in non-fiction it's Ok to use IPA) to convey the pronunciation. "Paris" is spoken very differently in English and French, but there is nothing usually done about it.– AlexanderCommented Oct 27, 2017 at 19:04
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Okay thank you! It probably just ment more to me then it ever would a reader.– SecretsCommented Oct 27, 2017 at 19:07
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1 Answer
I wrote a memoir of my years in the Holy Land and had to use Hebrew often (and occasionally Arabic). I simply used a transliteration in English and put translit. in brackets. Where I used the Hebrew script I put an annotation at the end of the chapter.
