How do you handle terms/dialogue in a language you are unfamiliar with? To be specific, Egyptian and Moroccan Arabic are used in something I'm working on. I'm using them to be culturally accurate to the fantasy setting.
Few of your readers will be able to read foreign language dialogue, so use it sparingly if at all. Foreign words and phrases are one of the few legitimate uses of italics in writing. In general, write dialogue in the same language as the narrative, even if the speaker is speaking in a different language. Indicate in the narrativbe that the person is speaking in a different language.
Few of your readers will be able to read foreign language dialogue, so use it sparingly if at all. Foreign words and phrases are one of the few legitimate uses of italics in writing. In general, write dialogue in the same language as the narrative, even if the speaker is speaking in a different language. Indicate in the narrativbe that the person is speaking in a different language.
Yeah... but also, how do you handle writing words that have sounds which don't exist in English? And is it ok to refer to say, the days of the week in the foreign language?
Why? If there isn't an accepted transliteration to a Latin character set, why even try to put it in the story? How does it help tell the story better than either showing it in translated form or saying that someone said something the POV character didn't understand?
But it's the POV character who's using those words in conversations with some of his people and his close friends. It's his native language. (I'm not going to write whole sentences, just a few words, and then the rest of it is in English)
