In this video, we dive into when it’s okay to use foreign words in your novel, how to approach characters communicating in a language different from the language you’re writing in, and important considerations if you choose to use a foreign name for characters in your work.
Good luck with it!
Hello, Jane Cleland here. Is it okay to use foreign names in my novel? And how about a character who speaks another language? How do I handle that if I’m writing, of course, in English?
These are pretty challenging issues, and I do think you have to be careful. First of all, you want to be certain that you need to have the foreign words or names or language there.
So let’s make sure that’s just a given, that this is appropriate, it’s an important part of the character, it’s what that parent would name that child—that sort of thing.
Then decide how you want that character referred to. Do you want them to anglicize it, or is it important for your character to use the same language that whatever it is? For example, I’m thinking of a Russian friend of mine named Nikolai, but he went by Nick. And the only time he ever used the more proper Russian name was when he was signing legal documents.
So I think there’s a lot of flexibility based on who the character is. It is fine to insert a few words—remember to put them in italics, all foreign words go in italics—to show the cultural differences, the food, the way holidays are celebrated.
This would add great verisimilitude, I think, to the characterization.I’ve had a character sometimes speak a sentence or two in a foreign language and then it’s either immediately translated or the next comment makes it clear what was said. But I’m very careful about doing it rarely, because I do think it slows the reader down and you don’t want to do anything that’s going to slow your reader down.
And my final comment, make sure that the names you pick, if you’re picking foreign names, consider the meaning of the name. Does it mean brave or strong? Does it mean, Benson, the son of Ben? Pick the names themselves for the meanings they communicate—the hidden agenda they may suggest.
This can be powerful, thematic information that many readers won’t notice, but some will.
I know you can do it.
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