Hello. I am currently writing about Paris and I was wondering what should I do with the names. The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower I wrote in English, since they are so very famous, but I was writing Jardin des Tuileries, Avenue des Champs-Élysées and some other landmarks in french so as to leave some french ambient in the book. It doesn't seem right to write Eiffel and Louvre in English and the others in French. Should I write all of them in English or French (I prefer French then), or can I write the names of landmarks in two languages? Thank you.
I'd say do both, if that's what you want to do. You could also just establish the French names in the first couple mentions and then switch to using them full-time, if they come up often. I like the idea of sneakily teaching the reader what the French names are.
Le Tour Eiffel and Musee du Louvre aren't too big of a stretch. It's pretty obvious to what the narrator is referring.
I agree with izzybot, there are certain things that are so famous many readers won't think of them in their original language. French is close enough and familiar enough to English that most readers shouldn't have too much trouble with the other place names. If you were to call the Forbidden City in Beijing "Zijin Cheng" or "Gugong" on the other hand, you'd just confuse the heck out of people. (yes, I had to look those up)
Ok thank you for your answers. I was afraid that maybe I would sound too pompous if I were to use french names. But I like the idea of writing all names in original language (I will also write about Barcelona) as well, so that's what I'll do. Thank you
Actually, Eiffel is a surname (the tower was named after the guy who designed it) and so it's not really English or French unless you write the full name tour d'eiffel. I've read spy thrillers wherein all landmarks were written in their native language. I don't think it's a problem to do that and it might add to the ambiance.
I think a big part of it is the nationality of the POV character. Yes, you're using third person, but the narrator is sort of perched on a single character's shoulder, right? If the character is a native Francophone, they'd likely use the names they grew up hearing.
I agree with ManOrAstroMan - Whose the mc?- if they're French I could totally see them keeping things in his/her language or if the mc is a foreigner but embracing the culture - but a tourist might just say Eiffel Tower.
That's a very good point. Three characters are English and one is American. So it's better if i keep it in English?
If they're Anglophones, yeah, use the English names--unless the character happens to be kind of pretentious. The French characters, however, can use their native language however they like.
In my opinion, you should write the names in French as it brings a touch of uniqueness. I don't know about you, but when I read something such as a name or a place written in its native tongue, I can picture it better and it's more enjoyable for me.
I think the safe route is to do both. That way it keeps it realstic since they're constantly referred to as both.
Well, after looking for English terms I found out that for most (except the most famous ones) the English also use French names (Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Place de la Concorde, Arc de Triomphe) so I decided to use french names, except for the places where there are also English (Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, The Catacombs). This brings me to the next problem. I intend to write French names in italics and English names in normal font, but that just looks weird... I like the idea of using both, but I don't think I can write both languages in the same font, French should be used in italics, I think... I may have to stick with only French names for stylistic reasons.
