Science Fiction Fantasy Chronicles: forums - View Single Post - Novel Characters Speaking Dialogue in Latin

Sirathiel · 18th July 2007, 03:48 PM

Well, first off: I like the excerpts you have written. Though I have the feeling the first one portrays Leo's anger more consistently while the second is over all the better written one.

Concering Latin: Knowing that you used an online translator, explains why I don't even get a gist of what is being said. (Had to sit through seven years of Latin in school...) For example "cannot" is in no way a Latin word... and "ego" is very rarely used - mostly if the person speaking wants to emphasise the "I". Otherwise the verb ending is sufficient to subsitute the missing pronoun. - In any case, get yourself somebody with real knowledge of Latin for the rewrite. A simple dictionary or online translator won't do it.

Concerning how to get across the language that is spoken...
1) You should add in your second excerpt when Leo first speaks that he answers in Latin.
2) Another possibilty I have seen successfully executed - i.e. in a published book - is to write the spoken text in the foreign language and following that up with the English translation. As if the person is translating the text in their head into a more native tongue. But if you plan on having them speak lots of Latin, that might not be the best solution. In that case stick to referring that a person is speaking in the foreign language and give the text in English... (The two men were caught up in a heated discussion. As usual their language of choice was Latin. "....")

~Sira - hoping to have given a lil piece of insight.

18th July 2007, 03:48 PM	#14 (permalink)
Sirathiel Spy with looks and guts Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 306	Re: Novel Characters Speaking Dialogue in Latin Well, first off: I like the excerpts you have written. Though I have the feeling the first one portrays Leo's anger more consistently while the second is over all the better written one. Concering Latin: Knowing that you used an online translator, explains why I don't even get a gist of what is being said. (Had to sit through seven years of Latin in school...) For example "cannot" is in no way a Latin word... and "ego" is very rarely used - mostly if the person speaking wants to emphasise the "I". Otherwise the verb ending is sufficient to subsitute the missing pronoun. - In any case, get yourself somebody with real knowledge of Latin for the rewrite. A simple dictionary or online translator won't do it. Concerning how to get across the language that is spoken... 1) You should add in your second excerpt when Leo first speaks that he answers in Latin. 2) Another possibilty I have seen successfully executed - i.e. in a published book - is to write the spoken text in the foreign language and following that up with the English translation. As if the person is translating the text in their head into a more native tongue. But if you plan on having them speak lots of Latin, that might not be the best solution. In that case stick to referring that a person is speaking in the foreign language and give the text in English... (The two men were caught up in a heated discussion. As usual their language of choice was Latin. "....") ~Sira - hoping to have given a lil piece of insight.