Questions tagged [language]
Incorporating foreign languages, slang, dialect, and so on into a work.
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How to provide translations, moods, and registry in multilanguage dialog within an narration in English?
I am starting a serious writing project (a novel book from a story I once drafted as a TV show; I am not a script writer either). Furthermore I decided to write in English, which is not my native ...
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Language of other countries
I write the little girl calls her grandmother Bunica Rose. The father calls her Bunica Rose also. In the narrative, I use the words, Grandmother Rose. Is this appropriate to do?Will my reading get ...
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How do I make my characters sound British?
This might sound silly, but I am trying to make one of my characters British and I have a hard time portraying that idea on paper. My novel is set in a fantasy land, nothing like this world and I am ...
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Is it inadvisable to use a racial slur in my story?
I’m currently writing a story which is an erotic thriller/romance set in the music/TV industry. The protagonist is a Taylor Swift-type confessional songwriter who is the biggest popstar in the world, ...
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Should I write a foreign character's dialogue in their language? [duplicate]
When it comes down to story writing, it's always nice to have variety in characters. Such as a character who speaks Spanish more than English or is bilingual with both languages. But say if the ...
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Is it okay to use words from other languages as names?
I am writing a book that I planned out as a kid; I've completely changed it around so that only the characters have stayed the same. I love them a lot and I love the names I gave them back then, ...
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How does American English sound to non-English speakers?
The scenario is that a person from our present time travels millions of years into the future. A catastrophic event caused the Continents to shift and reform, and wiped out near all life. Earth is ...
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How do you explain that the people talking English in a comic book are talking in a language other than English?
How do you explain that the people talking English in a comic book are talking in another language that isn't English? Let's say that in panels 1, 2, and 4 the characters don't talk in English, but ...
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How to handle translation of a language in a comic, while preserving a sense that the language is significant?
I am producing a comic in which a fictional language is frequently spoken.
This language (and which characters are able to speak it) is significant to the plot, so it's important that the reader ...
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Any resources for writing in Anglish?
"Anglish" is a variation on modern English that avoids or replaces all words that have non-Anglo-Saxon roots.
I'm working on a story where I'll need to convert a lot of dialogue (just for a ...
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Is there a way to generate a list of the most used connector words and phrases?
I need to learn Spanish and German for my short novel and I need to learn the language fast.
One thing I wanted to do is to learn the 100 most used connector words and learn to write short and simple ...
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How to write dash after question mark?
I would have loved to buy her an expensive gift, but did I ever had money- for I was as poor as a beggar?
Is this sentence correct? I am having doubts about when to use a question mark. Is it ...
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How does one include sign language in a dialogue?
If one character is using sign language and lip reading while the other is speaking normally, how do you represent the lines of the former? Quotations with "he signed" attribution or italics?...
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Using different spellings for different characters in a story
I'm writing a story with an American character and a British character. I'm contemplating having the characters use the regional spellings when it comes to words like realise/realize or favourite/...
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What is good introductory book to learn scientific academic writing and publishing process?
I would like some help to find a good reference or textbook that covers the following points regarding scientific academic writing :
What are the types of different publications and explaining their ...
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What does the social idiom "not received" mean?
I am struggling with a use of the word "received" that I have never seen before, in conjunction with a social status in 19th century America. Specifically, in Margaret Mitchell's Gone With ...
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Would an equals sign as secondary language exact quotes be misinterpreted in literary fiction?
I have chosen to show an accented English that is only comprehensible to speakers of the secondary language.
The topic of translated sign language has been beat up and I accept that there is no ...
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Writing and proofreading a book in English as a non-native speaker
I started writing a book. I wanted to write fiction books for a long time, but never really got around doing it. I decided to write in English rather than in my own language for many reasons, one of ...
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Does writing well in one language translate to writing well in other languages?
I have been trying to improve my writing skills. Most of what I write is in English. To what extent do you think that writing skills are cross-language? I am concerned about my time investment into ...
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How should I include an English phrase that other characters have confused for a character's name (due to a language barrier)?
In a first person perspective story I'm working on the main character has a language barrier with most of the other people she meets. To such an extent that other characters have confused a phrase of ...
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Can I use an existing fictional language?
When creating a world where there are either aliens or fantasy races, you know that they should speak their own language.
But the truth is that for story purposes, such races will speak their language ...
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My characters speak a foreign language but I write them in English
There will be many scenes in my stories that would be akin to this:
"He would like to meet both of you" - he speaks to them in a foreign language here.
Is there a better way to write when a ...
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What's the best way to show a foreign language in a manuscript?
What's the best way to show a character speaking a foreign language in a fiction manuscript? Should the foreign words be italicized and include a translation? Should it just be included in the ...
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How do i properly name a fictional species and describe it?
I'm currently developing a fictional species set in a fantasy world, and I want to name it, but I don't want it to sound too... scientific? For example, our scientific name is Homo sapiens, but we don'...
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Is using Swahili inspired vocabulary and words similar to Japanese slang in my custom language cultural appropriation?
For context the species using my language are non-human with mostly human characteristics. This extraterrestrial race is called the Ilya and they differ from humans in the way that they evolved to be ...
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What is this linguistic device called?
Consider these two sentences:
I was considering taking a taxi, but realized that Uber was cheaper and more convenient, anyway.
I was considering taking a taxi, but then I was like, "Hey, Uber ...
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How to list complex Spanish names in Last + First order in an index?
I am writing a book that covers Latin American history, but is written in English.
There are many Spanish names. Here I've listed some examples, and marked their surnames in bold:
Francisco “Pancho” ...
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How does a novel writer explain the meaning of foreign words without giving the English translation?
I am currently reading a historical fiction novel about the Second World War. The characters are German and the setting is Berlin. The author uses German words or short phrases almost routinely, ...
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How can you make up a convincing dialect?
I often need to introduce one, if not several, made up dialects.
We're talking about fictional worldbuilding: so any real world dialect is ruled out. They can be used as a source of inspiration, but ...
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Interspersing German in English dialogue?
My situation is this: in the dialogue I’m writing, the characters speak primarily English but occasionally use a German word for lack of a proper English equivalent. German capitalizes all nouns ...
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How to write in a way that makes it easier for an ESL reader to parse and understand?
This question recently began percolating in my mind after some conversations at work, and hopefully it's not been asked here before and is applicable to this site. After searching I wasn't able to ...
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My characters sound too eloquent. How can I strike a balance?
Here's a critique I've received more than once: "your character talks like a character from a book. He's too eloquent, nobody really talks like that, unless they grew up in a library."
Now, to some ...
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How to show, not tell, a character has an accent in the narrative?
India has a diverse range of languages and accents. Moreover, people from different parts of the country have different accents of speaking the same language as well. For example, a person from ...
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How to write a character who speaks with Russian mannerisms
One of my characters is Russian and speaks English as a second language. I know that people with Russian accents tend to leave out words like “the” and “a” because they don’t exist in Russian.
My ...
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How to write character accents in dialogue respectfully?
When writing dialogue how should one tackle accents? Changing the spelling for certain words (V for W in German) is effective but may come off a little cheesy.
Then again, not doing this might cause ...
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Where can I publish poems I translated to Pali?
I have been studying Sanskrit for 6 years, and have published short stories in magazines. I recently became interested in Pali and translated some classical English poems to Pali.
But unlike Sanskrit ...
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Referring to sign language in conversations
I am writing a story in which one of the main characters is Deaf, and therefore communicates with other leads using sign language. Not being a native speaker of English, I am having trouble with ...
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Could I reach the level of good writing style as non-native language speaker?
I currently write in Russian, but I think of switching to English to gain more audience and to play with both languages and linguistics.
So could I ever reach the level of native English writers and ...
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Is it acceptable to call my grandmother, nanny in my essay
I’m writing a senior reflection paper and I refer to my grandmother as nanny just as she called her grandmother. However I’m wondering if that is too informal for an essay. Also maybe a little ...
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If I use symbols like '@#$^^' would this be able to replace the need for me to write out the curse word in the story?
In my earlier question Could I use strong language?, I was wondering if I could use strong language in my mid-grade book. This time I wanted to ask if someone could tell me is it okay for me to use ...
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Could I use strong language?
I know that some books contain strong languages that aren't appropriate in stories but in the end, I think my book needs them for extra violent highlights that would do well for the villains. I aim ...
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Improving my English
I'm keen to write stories from my imagination. However, my grammar is not up to the mark. I use very simple words, not complicated words like the ones used in novels.
I read many great books, such as ...
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Would it make sense to use words from other languages such as Latin?
By this I mean, if I used a Latin phrase or used a Latin title for something, would that make sense?
For example, I was thinking of using a Latin title for an in-world book. Or a Latin species ...
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Writing Deep Things
Pleasurable to many is thought evoking language and words never heard in the past. So how does one advance to the level by which they can form them?
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How should I include foreign language into my story if the main character/s is/are multilingual
I am writing a story in English and my main character is bilingual and of a different culture. The characters and narrator uses common words in the familiar language (e.g. Spanish).
Do I need to ...
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Is calling a character a "lunatic" or "crazy" ableist when it is in reference to their erratic behavior?
I am considering writing a line of dialogue in which character A calls character B (not to their face) "a lunatic". In the context of my story, it is clear that character A has a simplistic ...
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Methods for creating slang
I am interested in creating slang or a vernacular for a particular group in my story. I want it to be distinctive and a definite marker for in-group/out-group, but not incomprehensible. I'm not ...
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Would incorporating a constructed language into my story this way cause confusion later?
This is part of the story I'm working on:
“Imikagaw” a feminine voice called out as she put her hand on the back of the man in cape. “Usamiakusta ow ihsataw aw amas Enna “Uoyustih ag imikagaw aw nah ...
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Is it better to avoid names with a difficult pronunciation in Middle Grade fiction?
Many languages are written using Latin letters, but often these seemingly familiar letters aren't pronounced in the way that we are used to.
For example, an English speaker might read the name ...
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How many different words are in the average novel?
I realize there's going to be a bit of variation here from one author to the next and depending on length of the novel, but the range shouldn't really be too large.
The thing is, I really have no ...
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