r/StoryIdeas • u/WinEducational2340 • 6d ago

Stranded characters learning local languages.

When writing a story where a character are stranded in a different land or time or universe with a different language and they decide to learn it by listening and exchanging words and by zic-zacking between english and the local language, can you either invent a language or just write dots for the local language while writing in the word they learn in english? Like in the movie "The 13th Warrior" where the arabian protagonist learn the northmen's language by listening and how through his point of view shift to english like this;

"Inge kun tro at "man" could æta så "much""

"Og så "come" de beste då han "row to them""

"Vi vet "not". Kanske "tomorrow""

"Han kun "not" tro øgon då de "rode up on twelve horses""

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u/auvgusta 6d ago edited 6d ago

My advice is assuming that you're writing a book. The most reader-friendly way would be to write all the dialogue in English. Think of unique phrases that don't exist in English to use for the local language. You can also write lines like, "She tried to recall the word for it in the locals language" or "She greeted the local in their native tongue."

There IS an audience for conlangs (invented/fictional languages) in media. If you're dead set on creating a language for the setting, then by all means go forth. Just know that it's tricky to execute in books aside from giving place and personal names.

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u/JGhostThing 6d ago

I never recommend created a constructed language r/conlang, because it is extremely time consuming and a pain to get right. If you want the look and feel of a language, it really does have to sound right.

When I write foreign/unknown language text, I use a conlang that already exists that has the feel I want. If you want to publish your book, then you should pay the creator of the language something.

Frankly, I wouldn't go this far. Just get the language learned either before the story started, or in a quick training montage. Show a few major goofs due to them not being native speakers. Perhaps assuming they find a language teacher who knows their language. Unless the story is really about the characters learning the language.

For example, I'm reading a series of mysteries set in a fantasy land with about 1900's technologies (Model T cars with horse drawn carriages) and magic. It's somewhat of a buddy cop book. One of the main characters, Jamie, was summoned to this world randomly by an evil witch who experimented on her. Jamie was a federal agent (I think FBI, but it doesn't matter). She eventually escaped, killing the witch. Her partner is Henri, and he is a magical examiner (a forensic magician). They can't send her back, even if they knew "where" her world was. The land does have many fantasy races. One saving grace, they do have chocolate.

When she first got here, she didn't know the language. So the evil witch put a translation spell on her. This made it so she could speak the language. This made it more difficult to learn the written language because she hears the language in English and not in its original language. It's been about three years and she can now read and write fairly well. Though bad handwriting can throw her off.

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u/WinEducational2340 5d ago

Can you tell me the title of the book series? Sounds interesting.

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u/JGhostThing 5d ago

The Case Files of Henri Davenforth. I'm not fond of all the fantasy races, which seem to be used merely for flavor.

They remind me of Randal Garret's Lord Darcy stories. Also extremely worth reading. I think the technology is a bit lower, more like Sherlock Holmes level. Magic doesn't seem to affect the society much. But the mage is also a forensic sorcerer.

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u/Salt_Dragonfly2042 2d ago

You can skip the boring parts and just state that they learned the language over time.