Thursday, February 19, 2015

creative writing - How can I introduce languages that will be spoken in the long term?


My story is a little bit weird because it starts in a Spanish speaking country and then moves to Japan where everybody speaks japanese and I don't know how to introduce this new language that will be spoken for almost the rest of the book.




Extra notes:


My Main Character speaks fluent Spanish, English and Japanese.


My MC is a 15 y.o. mixed girl.


Some other speaking language Characters will appear in the future.



Answer



Does it actually matter to the story that the language they are speaking changes? Most of the time in international stories, the difference is language is not germane to the plot in any way and is simply ignored.


A well-told story focuses the reader's attention on the elements that matter to the story. It does this first and foremost simply by leaving out any mention of environmental factors that don't impact the story directly. Thus they don't talk about the weather unless it affects the story. They don't talk about food unless it affects the story. They don't talk about clothing unless it affects the story. And they don't talk about language unless is affects the story.



So unless it affects the story, simply don't mention it at all.


If it does affect the story, though, then how you handle it depends on how it affects the story and you will have to tell us that before we can suggest anything meaningful.


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