...I've come into a problem in rewriting some dialog in one of my recent stories.
The situation is this. The main character is listening to another character through a translation program. [For all intents and purposes, it's translated into English.] But the translation does not provide an exact match, and unfamiliar words sometimes come through.
How do I express that in dialog? I've been putting it in by typing it like this: "...[word]..." But this seems inadequate. I'll know what the character intended to say, but I need to clue the reader in a little better.
Should I:
(a) use "...[untranslatable]..."?
(b) find some less-familiar or foreign word that means what I want and stick it in?
(c) try to have the character aware of the translation problem and have him come up with alternatives that can be translated?
(d) something else altogether?
I'll get back to you on this...I'm plunging forward but it's by no means ready to send out.
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
So, basically, you're asking what we think you should have the translation software do when it comes to a word it doesn't know?
How about having it bleep?
Posted by nitewriter (Member # 3214) on :
I wonder if maybe the word could be worked into a sentence worded in such a way that the meaning is implied and the reader can figure it out for himself.
Posted by spcpthook (Member # 3246) on :
Or italicize it and the first time or two it happens that he doesn't understand break to him thinking he's going to have to get a better translation program or something of the sort....I am of course assuming that this is your POV.
Posted by tigertinite (Member # 4803) on :
The mistranslation can be used to great comedic effect. Often I will translate pieces in French and discover that the words I am writing make no sense in English. Play this to your advantage, place the words into the translation as mistranslated (Not so much that the rest is no longer understandable) and enjoy the confusion and additional conflict instantly embedded into the novel. Translators don't ever think they are wrong they just translate their approximation especially if the translation is done orally. If it is from a book a translator will often just insert the untranslatable word within the text.
[This message has been edited by tigertinite (edited May 17, 2007).]
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I'd better fill in a little background...
The story is another one of those "surviving product of advanced civilization" things---essentially, a primitive savage is speaking to a sentient robot, and the robot, the main character, is using a computer translation program to speak with the character. (There's more to the story than that---God, I hope there is---but that's the part where this knotty problem comes in.)
The translation program has the language down---but languages evolve, borrow words from hither and yon, change forms and styles and, above all, meanings. Predictably, it's out of date.
(I should also mention that, in rough draft, I had the untranslatable "...[word]..." in boldface. (I forget how to do that here---I can remember italics, but not that.) Now, of late I care little for the formal rules of manuscript formatting and submission...but that just won't do for me here. I generally like things to be right---I'm willing to make exceptions but I'd like to have it look better than that.)
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
It depends on the format of the story you are writing. This is a style question, and it's something that the author should decide for himself, IMHO. Otherwise, you're going to water down your voice.