I hate working with multiple languages

[maderr]

so most the story has been in Kria. When they switch to another language, those get italicized. This was something I meant to do in Prisoner, but always forgot.

However, now I have a batch in Ilussor. I cannot tell if the Krian should be italicized at this point, which would mean two whole pages of the stuff in italics, or keep them normal and just state that they switch to Illussor, or what. If it's not questios of executing plot that slow me down, it's stupid technical crap like this.

Also, is it srsly only Wednesday? Slow week is slow.

Comments

[alice_montrose]

I suggest just mentioning the language switches. No need to wrote pages upon pages of dialogue in italics. Maybe use the italics if there are random words/phrases in another language, but make sure to mention the language in the process?

This more than two languages stuff is always confusing. x_x

[maderr.livejournal.com]

Yeah so far that's what it's been, with the italics--just short little bits. I'm so sticking to two languages or less from now on, I swear.

Also, those liquer chocolates did not last long. They are mad tasty.

[alice_montrose]

*nod* Makes sense. Stupid language switch - I can see why they dropped the foreign languages issue for TV shows, it's annoying and ridiculous and painful.

The Mon Cheri or the others? (The Mon Cheri never last long with me. *sweatdrops*) Hmm... I should have included a box of the ones with vodka filling, too. I just wasn't sure how they would be received?

[maderr.livejournal.com]

It's always funny the weird issues that crop up. I should have just kept it the way I did in prisoner. Ah, well ^_^

Mostly the other ones, though the Mon Cheri won't lst much long either. Vodka would have been interesting, though the cherry brandy are my favorite right now ^__^

[alice_montrose]

I'm sure you'll manage! =^_^=

I <3 the cherry brandy ones! *snuggles* In any case, consider it a Valentine's Day present or something. I'll make sure to send some more at random points in time - Kitty seems to enjoy the idea of decent chocolate, so far. I don;t see why you shouldn't indulge, too!

[naatz.livejournal.com]

who dropped what foreign languages issue for TV shows?

Translation, please?

|Meduza|

[alice_montrose]

Take Stargate, for instance. In the original movie, the foreign population spoke a language that had evolved from ancient Egyptian. In the series, the population of almost every planet speaks English. How is that possible, I ask you?! But not speaking English would negate the premise of exploring thousands of planets, therefore they just... stopped mentioning languages at some point.

[naatz.livejournal.com]

Gotcha. Thanks.

|Meduza|

[mechante-fille.livejournal.com]

Slow week is SO slow. I was so sure that yesterday was Thursday, at least. Argh. Here's to a good hump day and beyond.

Good luck with the languages. <3

[scarletempyrean.livejournal.com]

I think not having italics at all would be fine.
Readers ought to smart enough to know there's more than one language taking place, but I think that if you really want to, then language that started in italics should end in italics. Less headache that way, it seems.
Hope this helps? Just thinking here, you may feel more than free to ignore. :)

[tsubaki-dono.livejournal.com]

I think you could mention which language it switches to and also keep the non-English (whatever you stated them to be) in italics. It just visually impresses that its not in English --which I think is all you really need to differentiate.

[cagarash.livejournal.com]

I myself use
ex. "...", he said in French to those around him.
Makes it easier for the story to flow and a whole lot less complicated, because then you've stated the character's speaking a different langauge, and most likely speaking to others that speak said language. Different variations of "he said, she said, they said in Blah" I think makes it less harsh on the brain and doesn't look so funny if its long passages of dialogue.
Hope that helps. =3

[ciraarana.livejournal.com]

I just finished reading Prisoner (for the second time and I still love it to pieces), and I had no trouble understanding what was said in what language. ^__^

Although, if you totally want to make the different languages visually clear, you could try a different font. Like Arial if you usually use Times New Roman, for example. Just a thought; I've got no idea how praticable that is.

[evilgeniuskoji.livejournal.com]

You know, you could always bold one of the two. Of course, that's still a pain in the ass and more work for you.

[rustedinkwell.livejournal.com]

I always saw italics as either emphasis or detonating a flashback/dream/narration scene before jumping back to the character of choice. Whole pages of it might seem kind of weird.

I agree with what some of the others have suggested, but I think that you might want to be careful where you place the random italicized bits so that they don't get mistaken for emphasis. But then again, I thought Prisoner was pretty easy to follow with the language switching.

If nothing else you could post it like you have it now, get feedback, and then either adjust or leave it as is.

[rykaine.livejournal.com]

mm.. I agree. You should just mention that there's been a shift in the language. I wouldn't mess with the italics. They're good in small bursts, entire pages and the words start to run together.

But then, you also have to consider consistency. If you've been doing it one way the whole time and then decide to change it...

Only Wednesday? Shit, I had to work the last six days to get here. And the weekend? x_X But I'm sorry your week is going so slowly.

[nga130.livejournal.com]

Since you keep the Krian as normal font from the beginning, why don't leave it normal? As for the Illusor, I don't know if all the conversation was in Illusor language, but letting it be normal would be find. The language things is not really that important, unless for example, Dieter say something in Salharan to Beraht just to piss him off (because just Beraht understood Salharan, while everyone else was Illusor, you know what I mean?).