Does anyone on my flist speak Spanish? Well, I mean? I have two years of college classes to fall back on but I'm really crap, and anyway, I'm trying to write colloquial speech.
I think I'm going to need a full spanish beta by the time this is finished, though it's mostly just the part of this I'm on. There isn't that much of it, really - just I'm not done yet.
I need a mother to tell someone off before he wrecks her son's nice church clothes, for sure. And something someone would shout when a certain sneaky boy tricks a certain someone else into throwing a snowball at him...
And something along the lines of "and how are we going to get you home, huh?"
Why are you saying it in Spanish? Why don't you just mention that the particular character is speaking Spanish. I mean, if you can't say these things, then your readers won't understand them.
My suggestion would be to just use dialogue tags and MAYBE some well known words or phrases. Like, the mother could call the kid 'mijo' without you having to worry to much about the level of understanding. However, 'Que haces, pendejo?' might be beyond most non-Spanish speakers, you know?
Plus, if you're looking for colloquialisms, well, those vary with the culture. Mexican Spanish is different from Puerto Rican Spanish and Spain Spanish is COMPLETELY different from either of those two. Your beta would have speak the same TYPE of Spanish as your character.
The dialects make my head hurt sometimes. Like, I can understand Puerto Ricans 100% of the time but I only understand Spain Spanish about 70%. It's frustrating.
If this is Jay's POV then, as he doesn't speak the language, his ear wouldn't be trained to understand the individual words anyway. It would all run together into nonsense for him. If your story is third person omniscient, then you could pull it off but if you've got Jay as your imperfect narrator, then you're boned anyway.
I think a few quick, well known phrases would be fine. If you need any help with translations I might be able to help a bit. However, once again, the slang I know is Puerto Rican slang. I have a friend who knows the Mexican stuff. She would be THRILLED to make me speak with her in Spanish. D:
Well, this Jay knows SOME Spanish. And my characters haven't had their nationality stated, but kirax2 and I had pretty much decided the mother is Puerto Rican.
I've thought about how funny Tim's Spanish Spanish would be to these characters, but I'm not confident enough in the language to actually write that scene.
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no subject
Date: 2009-12-20 02:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-20 02:12 am (UTC)I need a mother to tell someone off before he wrecks her son's nice church clothes, for sure. And something someone would shout when a certain sneaky boy tricks a certain someone else into throwing a snowball at him...
And something along the lines of "and how are we going to get you home, huh?"
no subject
Date: 2009-12-20 02:21 am (UTC)My suggestion would be to just use dialogue tags and MAYBE some well known words or phrases. Like, the mother could call the kid 'mijo' without you having to worry to much about the level of understanding. However, 'Que haces, pendejo?' might be beyond most non-Spanish speakers, you know?
Plus, if you're looking for colloquialisms, well, those vary with the culture. Mexican Spanish is different from Puerto Rican Spanish and Spain Spanish is COMPLETELY different from either of those two. Your beta would have speak the same TYPE of Spanish as your character.
It all gets really complicated.
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Date: 2009-12-20 02:26 am (UTC)I was hoping to make it clear from context and Jason's thoughts what was being said.
*sighs*
I wanted more spanish. *pouts* But I will bow to your wisdom.
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Date: 2009-12-20 02:32 am (UTC)If this is Jay's POV then, as he doesn't speak the language, his ear wouldn't be trained to understand the individual words anyway. It would all run together into nonsense for him. If your story is third person omniscient, then you could pull it off but if you've got Jay as your imperfect narrator, then you're boned anyway.
I think a few quick, well known phrases would be fine. If you need any help with translations I might be able to help a bit. However, once again, the slang I know is Puerto Rican slang. I have a friend who knows the Mexican stuff. She would be THRILLED to make me speak with her in Spanish. D:
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Date: 2009-12-20 02:41 am (UTC)I've thought about how funny Tim's Spanish Spanish would be to these characters, but I'm not confident enough in the language to actually write that scene.
Why doesn't more fanfic call for Latin? *pouts*
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Date: 2009-12-29 02:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-01 02:03 am (UTC)