WIP challenge: March 8 check-in

[insignia]

Tell me about your day! How did you spend it?

• Writing
• Editing
• Planning
• Research
• Posting
• Taking a break
• Something else

Discussion: Playing with foreign languages! A lot of fanfiction is written in a different language than the original fandom, or there are foreign characters in the series, or there's some other reason why language is interesting. Do you make anything of that in your fics? Do your characters spout Japanese puns, or swear in French? And if/when you do use foreign expressions, do you make a lot of effort getting it just right, or is it okay if native speakers snicker at you? :)

Comments

[dhae_knight_1]

Well. Another 491 words of my Jack-doesn't-like-daddy's-girlfriend series. Such awkward conversations all around.

Anyway. I try to not add in languages I don't have at least a modicum of proficiency in myself. But, by and large, I just take the easy way out and write everything in English. Yes, even my personal webpage. Yes, even though English isn't my native tongue. I've been writng in English for so long, now, that it's just easier.

[roane]

Wow! I had no idea it wasn't your native language. What is, if you don't mind saying?

[dhae_knight_1]

I'm Danish, so I'm part of a little exclusive flock of people speaking my native tongue. :-)

[roane]

Heh. These posts always come before I've had a chance to do anything (since I usually write in the evening after work and I'm on GMT -5). I think it's going to be a good night's writing though. I had a veritable STORM of dialogue and description come to me in the car on the way to work (the car seems to be a very good place for me to think), and I can't wait to go transcribe it. Plus, you know, I have a playlist! That means something, right? :)

I only know one language, sadly, so I tend to stick with it. Writing in the Firefly fandom though, random Chinese phrases are pretty much required. Fortunately, there's a lot of resources out there for wacky Chinese curses, so I usually just find one that says what I want to say and go with it.

[dhae_knight_1]

Sounds good! Yeah, I don't think anybody got out of Firefly without the ability to mutter at least a few things in Chinese... XD

[lullabymoon]

Managed about 200 words of my big bang. Not nearly enough but that's two days in a row I've written so I'm taking what I can from it.

[insignia]

Words are awesome, even if they're few. Keep up the good work! :D

[lullabymoon]

Thanks! :D

[dhae_knight_1]

200 words a day equals 72,000 words a year. :-)

[lullabymoon]

True and ordinarily I would be very happy with that but OMG-deadline-is-approaching-itis is starting to strike. :)

[dhae_knight_1]

I don't have the nerves to sign up for anything with a fixed deadline. Getting my thesis done in time is bad enough for me... ;-)

[samecgh]

Today was a break day, whether or not I planned it. I feel like reading, but hopefully that urge has settled and I can write tomorrow.

Sometimes. One of my older stories is named Reproba Letum, False death in Latin. I've had to use Klingon a couple of times because of Chuck, but most of my fics remain in English throughout. And most of the time, I'm using online translators for quick words, so it's mostly 'Does it sound close enough to what I need? It does, using it'.

[insignia]

I didn't think I'd get anything done, because I woke up with a headache that wouldn't go away. But after some painkillers and tea, I managed to work a bit on the big WIPs during the evening! Just a little brainstorming, but I think I'm getting back on track. I've had plot- and character-related problems with all three of them lately, and it looks like I can finally sort out some of the tangles. (Yay!)

[dhae_knight_1]

Yuck, headache! Go you for plotting anyway!

[linaewen]

I haven't had any free time the last couple of days, so no further writing has happened. I am taking a few days off, so perhaps I'll have some time to get back to my chapter this weekend!

I don't usually use foreign words and expressions in my work unless they are very familiar to the fandom and everyone knows what they mean already. However, I have one story that involves use of a foreign language for one of the cultures in the story, but the language I am having them speak is one that I am familiar with, so I know it is accurate! Even so, it does take some work to find/think of the right word for the situation. I provide a glossary at the end of the chapter for those who want to know what my characters are saying. For the most part, they only use a word or a phrase, not whole sentences.

[terajk]

I wrote a drabble! (Soul Eater, Death the Kid, Blair)

I write in a lot of anime fandoms, so characters will use honorifics and such, and once I wrote someone who's German-Japanese who canonically uses German words on occasion, so he used one. But I'm most comfortable keeping it to single words or very simple phrases. (The only language I could probably do more with is Latin, but that doesn't come up very often when I write fic.)

[crowdog66]

In spite of a murderous production deadline I managed to grind out a ~800 word short story, "Charm" (Garak/Bashir, 1920s AU).

The Universal Translator renders the discussion problem a bit moot in the Star Trek universe, but when I have to use an alien language I try to get it right (if it's an established language). Because I'm a stickler for that kind of thing I tend to avoid real world languages as much as possible. :)

[dhae_knight_1]

You are incredibly productive. Go you! :-D

[terabient]

Worked a bit on my first bingo fic again, and assuming I keep the same tortoise-like pace I may actually be done around Monday. Also, reading over what I've written for my second fic...I think I'll have to start over, something just isn't clicking.

When it comes to foreign languages...I avoid using words/expressions because I'm painfully uni-lingual, and peppering a work of English with what would surely be mangled phrasing from a different language would probably annoy people and/or hurt a reader's ability to suspend disbelief, since SUDDENLY LANGUAGE CHANGE! But on some occasions it's necessary to borrow phrasing/words, if I'm writing something where there's literally no way to convey the concept in English.

[snowynight]

Today I finished my space AU story. Now I have to brainstorm for 2 fic. Fun time.

As a rule, I don't use expression of languages that I don't know. It's too easy to make mistake and jot the readers out of the story. So I just don't.

[riceishere]

I was able to write a little on both of my two WIPS and plan a couple of scenes ahead. Not much but still. Words! I'm taking victories wherever I can :D

As for writing in a foreign language: once when I wrote Slam Dunk slash I used Japanese dialogue/phrases occasionally -- I had been taking intermediate Japanese as an elective then so I wasn't as hesitant in using it in fic. It was practice! (At least that's what I told myself). But I did counter-check the sentences and phrases I used with Japanese media and books so I did make an effort to get it right.

I think generally when you're in an Anime/Manga fandom you can't really get away without using any foreign words (I mean the honorifics alone). It's just more immersive that way.