I addressed this earlier in the last lines of my original post (regarding such words as "slave" and "panic"). Basically, if a word's cultural/ethnic connotations have been so lost and clouded that the word itself has become genericized (how many people think of Slavs when they think of slaves, or of the Greek being Pan when they think of panic?), then it seems fine to use it in a fantasy world, since EVERY word, when you break it down, has Earthly/cultural connotations. This obviously does not apply to German shepherds and Swiss cheese--they're still much too Earth specific.
I believe that in any other genre, except for maybe some Science fiction books takes place on our world so we would describe them as Hispanic. It still seems a little hard for me because Hispanics can have the complexion of a tanned white person or of a light skinned Indian. As for hair I don't know really how to separate it from say a white person's or an Arab's.
Then don't. Is it really necessary in a non-earth fantasy to have a racial category equivalent to "Hispanic"? First, that issue with the "Indian" coloring wouldn't necessarily exist in a fantasy world, because the colonizing of the New World wouldn't exist, and so there wouldn't necessarily be a group of people whose skin tones crossed such a wide range. There would be no Hispanic people (in all likelihood), so you would just need to describe the character as they are.
Yeah, but we're talking about stories that are not set on this planet, and therefore such names would not exist. If the character belongs to a culture that is resembles a Hispanic culture, but takes place in a world where Spain does not exist, you describe what the character looks like and have them do things that fit within the culture. Knowing that you based it on that culture doesn't matter to the reader. If they are smart and familiar with the culture, they should be able to make the connections. If not, the name won't mean much to them anyway.
I still say be carefull with words. Rendezvous still sounds very french. I had to think it over before posting. Muchaco is an english word that sounds spanish but is really not. I would suggest you do not use it. I say be careful because even Harry potter books were localized from English to American english. When Rowling's wrote she used words like, "flat", "lift", "queue", and others that had to be localized for our sakes. We know the book takes place in england but to maintain our connections with characters words like "apartment", "elevator", and "line" were used in place of some mentioned. I was flipping through some novels and most groups actually say they will group up or meet at a particular point. Rendevous is generaly used for more modern settings based on earth. As far as cultures go you can base them off our cultures today but make them unique. Combine customs or make up your own to define the region of people in your story. My two cents
I think you can get away with using the word rendezvous. It is a Fench word, but it is also English. About 40% of English words can be connected to a French word, and some are exactly the same other than pronounciation. But your point about Harry Potter is interesting. In the Canadian edition of the book, they didn't make those changes from what I can remember.
Beating a dead horse. English is spoking in Canada, but from what I have heard it is closer to the king's english. Add to that the fact that half of Canada speaks french and that would make sense. I believe this needs to be filed under a localization issue cause that is what it is. Use the language that is comfortable for your region and will keep your nations readers enthralled.
Actually, I'm not sure the percentage of French speakers in Cnanade is that high, and I'm fairly sure the vast majority of Canadians are Englsi first language speakers. Correect me if I'm wrong. I love learning good facts. I do agree that rendezvous tends to be used in more modern settings, after thinking it over. I still think it's a reasonable word, but your point is a good one. On HP, I really hated that localization crap. I was in elementary school when the first book came out, I think, and the title really ticked me off. I knew very well what the Philosopher's Stone was and every time they said "Sorcerer's" in the American edition I cringed. Same for the other three words you mentioned. Felt like quite an insult to my intelligence. They took a lot of the England out of the book when they published it on this side of the pond. /end tangent Back on topic, last time I heard rendezvous in a story, it was in Star Wars... lol. So maybe not so good with the fantasy setting. But it's an anachronistic translation as opposed to copying over a proper noun.
Rei is correct. Look at the Fremen. They are clearly modeled after Arabian desert dwellers. But again there is nothing wrong with the narrator using familiar objects to describe his fantasy world. You would be better off IMO saying the Bankeed looks like a hairy camel with bear-like feet and a head similar to a dragon, than trying to use basic language to describe the Bankeed. Such as: He was large and bulky and hairy with a long neck. It's paws are also hairy.
You're right, Etan, the percentage of fluent French speakers is nowhere near that high. more than a third of the population lives in Ontario, and of those people, only about 3 percent speak French at home. The majority of the ones who are fluent but don't speak it at home need it for work, e.g. French teachers and politicians. The joke is that a proper Ontarian drops French in grade nine, the only year it's mandetory for us to take it in high school. Incidently, I was thinking of Star Wars, and entirely American production until they got the Seneca grads involved in their computer animation, when I said you could use rendezvous. Anyway, that's off topic. I don't think you need to localize things to keep people interested. The Canadian HP was not localized and we understood it and loved it, including children who had never heard anyone use the word rubbish instead of garbage etc. Books like Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging have done well in North America and they are not even close to having locally familiar dialects.
