Tag: Language

tips for writing bilingual characters

animeismybestfriend104:

ironinkpen:

ironinkpen:

  • there are different types of bilinguals
    • the All Around: speaks, reads, and writes both languages pretty well
    • the Conversational: one language is stronger than the other; can speak the other language a lot better than they read/write it (a lot of kids of immigrants are this type)
    • the High Schooler: understands what’s being said to them in the other language, can’t really speak it
  • don’t have your characters randomly drop words from their other language mid-sentence around people who don’t speak it lol
    • languages are a mindset thing. like personally if i’m around english-speakers, i’m speaking english and i don’t really switch to my other language (which is portuguese)
    • so like if you’re writing a bilingual character who speaks spanish and have them say something like “hey chad let’s go to the biblioteca” to an english speaker i’ll probably spend 5 minutes laughing and then close your story lmao
  • exception: the character is speaking in their weaker language and forgot a word (”where are the…? uh… llaves…. keys! keys, where are they?”)
  • otherwise really the only time your character should be randomly switching languages mid-sentence is if they’re talking to another bilingual
  • like i don’t speak spanish but i’ve legit never heard a spanish speaker say “ay dios mio” to gringos lmao
  • conversations between two bilingual people can take a few different forms:
    • Pick One: they pick one language and kinda stick with it for the whole conversation (a conversation i might have with my portuguese-speaking mom: ”you okay?” “yeah, i’m good. how’re you?” “i’m fine, but your dad-”)
    • Back-and-Forth: someone says something in one language, the other person replies in the other (”tudo bem?” “yeah, i’m good. how’re you?” “tou bem, mas o seu pai-”)
    • Combo: they speak a combo of the two languages, a popular example being spanglish, though basically every bilingual has their own combo language (”tudo bem?” “sim, tou bem. how’re you?” “i’m fine, mas o seu pai-”)
  • when in doubt: just ask a bilingual to look at your stuff and tell you if anything sounds weird
  • combo languages can look different depending on the bilingual
    • me and my cousin (native english speakers) speaking our portuguese/english combo sounds a lot different than my mom and my godmother (native portguese speakers) doing the same thing
    • the kids of immigrants usually come up with their own unique way of saying things that are different than native speakers
  • if you’re writing a bilingual family the older kids’ll probably be more bilingual than the younger ones
  • also, to clarify: bilingual characters might say words in another language on purpose in front of non-speakers
    • either to fuck with them or just ‘cause the word captures what they’re feeling more (i use “caralho” a lot)– basically the point is that accidental switching is relatively uncommon
  • i know earlier i said that people will forget words if they’re speaking their weaker language but tbh i do it with my stronger language too so really it works both ways
  • filler words are weirdly universal
    • so like while bilingual people don’t usually switch languages around people who aren’t bilingual we’ll throw filler words in
    • “ele me olhou e, like, eu juro que eu quase deu um soco nele-”
  • a lot of languages borrow words from english so it’s not too weird to have a random english word in an otherwise non-english conversation (my aunt @ my mom: “lilian você viu meu post no Facebook?”)
  • also sounds in general are just kind of a language transcending thing
    • you wanna find out what someone’s first language was?? break one of their bones lol
    • legit me when i cracked my rib: “AIIIIIII JESUS CHRIST TAKE ME TO THE HOSPITAL”
    • so if your character gets hurt they might make a sound of pain associated with their native language but will probably still speak in the language of the people they’re surrounded by. probably. it depends on just how much pain they’re in
  • if two people start speaking another language in public there’s a 40% chance they’re talking shit and a 60% chance they’re having a conversation like: “where’s the bathroom” “i don’t know, ask the waitress she’s right here” “i can’t just ask-”

this is the most accurate bi/multilingual reference post on here y’all should take notes 👀

Want to use a fancy custom language for something, but don’t know how to make one?Use Vulgar!

tw-evan:

Vulgar is a conlang (constructed/fictional language) generator created to help literally generate a language for you. No, really. No tricks, and it’s super simple to use. It’s my favourite tool right now for writing fantasy, even as someone who loves creating his own languages, it’s an amazing starting point.

Want a random conlang, straight away, with no prep or fuss? Just visit http://vulgarlang.com/index.html and click “Generate New Conlang”… and that’s it. Scroll down and through your brand new, generated, completely original conlang. 

If you’re a little more advanced in terms of conlanging and want to specify IP phonemes to be used, you can add them too, but even with no knowledge of linguistics you can create a language at the click of your fingers.

This version of Vulgar is completely free, sure…. but! the guy who created it has not only made an amazing thing (which I repeat, is absolutely free at it’s most basic point), but is also planning on updating it more and more!

Under the “Buy” tab on the Vulgar website, he links to his email, where you can offer to pay for the full version of Vulgar, which is a total steal right now at a sale price of only nineteen dollars. Considering professional conlangers and linguists could charge you, like, a metric fuck ton of money for the same data you’re getting here for just nineteen, that’s a major steal.

Not to mention, buying the alpha build now gives you free access to all of it’s updated versions, which I can guarantee are just going to get better and better! I’ve already bought it and I adore it, and this is a tool the likes of which we in the conlang community have never seen in such an awesome way.

Please consider helping Vulgar out, because the creator is a damn genius

mitochondrial-evil:

artykyn:

prideling:

gunvolt:

im going to have a stroke

Instead try…

Person A: You know… the thing
Person B: The “thing”?
Person A: Yeah, the thing with the little-! *mutters under their breath* Como es que se llama esa mierda… THE FISHING ROD

As someone with multiple bilingual friends where English is not the first language, may I present to you a list of actual incidents I have witnessed:

  • Forgot a word in Spanish, while speaking Spanish to me, but remembered it in English. Became weirdly quiet as they seemed to lose their entire sense of identity.
  • Used a literal translation of a Russian idiomatic expression while speaking English. He actually does this quite regularly, because he somehow genuinely forgets which idioms belong to which language. It usually takes a minute of everyone staring at him in confused silence before he says “….Ah….. that must be a Russian one then….”
  • Had to count backwards for something. Could not count backwards in English. Counted backwards in French under her breath until she got to the number she needed, and then translated it into English.
  • Meant to inform her (French) parents that bread in America is baked with a lot of preservatives. Her brain was still halfway in English Mode so she used the word “préservatifes.” Ended up shocking her parents with the knowledge that apparently, bread in America is full of condoms.
  • Defined a slang term for me……. with another slang term. In the same language. Which I do not speak.
  • Was talking to both me and his mother in English when his mother had to revert to Russian to ask him a question about a word. He said “I don’t know” and turned to me and asked “Is there an English equivalent for Нумизматический?” and it took him a solid minute to realize there was no way I would be able to answer that. Meanwhile his mom quietly chuckled behind his back.
  • Said an expression in English but with Spanish grammar, which turned “How stressful!” into “What stressing!”

Bilingual characters are great but if you’re going to use a linguistic blunder, you have to really understand what they actually blunder over. And it’s usually 10x funnier than “Ooops it’s hard to switch back.”

Okay I will say though sometimes you do fuck up at switching back. I live in an English speaking household, but not everyone’s a native speaker, and we live in a non-English speaking country (but the country’s language is none of our first language). Sometimes the non-native-English-speaking flatmate is tired and will just say things to me in his native language and be confused why I’m just staring at him and not answering. And last time I was back in an English speaking country I immediately was out for drinks with a friend and while she got us a seat I got us drinks at the bar, and the bar workers were speaking Spanish to each other and I accidentally asked for “a carafe (pronounced cah-rah-fey, aka not how it’s pronounced in English) of vino rosado” because I’d been listening to them and not speaking to anyone. They were like w a t and I was super fucking embarrassed and couldn’t fucking figure out how to pronounce carafe normally.

So like. It does happen. But it’s often either embarrassing or happens with complex thoughts that you were thinking about in your native language and are too tired to notice you don’t have all the words to translate the thought.