Writers / Readers: When adding a language to a fantasy novel... (read details)?

It would be all right if it was only a line here or there, but keep it sparse. Very sparse. Unless you are a linguist, with a degree in linguistic studies, your language is going to sound a bit forced and unnatural, no matter how much work you put into it. And besides that, it's really just unnecessary if your character isn't going to learn the language herself, or become a part of their culture.

It was all right for Tolkien to do so because not only was he a trained linguist, he used his language to worldbuild, and to create a very specific set of cultures. So be careful how you use yours.

***Edited to Add***Then that's great, and totally appropriate! I'm sorry I had to go all...well. Ranty, there. But you can *always* tell when somebody has NO idea what they're doing. So I'm more inclined to believe in the negative, that they don't, and that they're doomed to failure, if they make up a language and toss it in like they're making some kind of horrible world salad.

In this case, then, I'd say use discretion when using the language, but feel free to sprinkle it in. Just don't go overboard, and whatever you do DON'T write in big blocks of text using the invented language.

Imagine a beginner's book for language learners, which is written primarily in the native language but which occasionally sprinkles in the foreign term, or sentence, here and there. And DO remember that as your character (and your reader) learn the language, you can use the language more and more.

It's actually a great way to get your reader to identify with the native culture, as well as your main character, as the story progresses.

Good luck!

Honestly, made up languages aren't my favorite because they are rarely done well and rarely add anything terribly significant to the story. You've justified your use of a made up language well enough and I'm willing to believe you know what you're doing, so that's good. Just keep it to a minimum and use it only where you think it's essential. I really don't like reading extensive translations or dialogue that all has to be translated by another character line by line. What's worse is when it's sumarized for the MC later. As a reader, it makes me feel a little cheated. Tolkien is a great example of using made up languages that worked incredibly well.

I have to go against the general consensus here and say I hate made up languages when I read. I pick up a book in English because I read English and this is all I wish to see (ooh, that sounds bad, doesn't it?). Made up languages make me flip through the book, even if translation is available. However, I do love LotR, though I feel this was more due to story line....I still skimmed over the Elvish.

Maybe I could stand something that used the invented language very, very sparingly.

Occasionally if I'm reading something by a foreign author, there might be a reference I don't get - but it really is a very, very rare occurrence. 99 times out of a hundred I either know what it means or can easily guess from the context. For instance, although I'm not American, I certainly know what 'to plead the fifth' means. I honestly can't think of any occasion where I've needed to look something up to discover what it meant. Bear in mind, of course, that American films and TV are so commonly broadcast in Europe that most people in most European countries know far more American slang than most Americans know slang phrases and cultural references from countries in Europe. That's not a criticism of Americans; it's simply because there's a massive pro-American imbalance in the transAtlantic cultural import-export. For instance, in the UK see films *all the time* where people say 'flashlight' and 'sidewalk' and 'cell phone' and 'diaper', so we know what they mean even though we actually say 'torch' and 'pavement' and 'mobile' and 'nappy'. American slang doesn't confuse most Brits because we're constantly bombarded with it, like it or not. With regards to writing, I use the slang that I think my characters would use if they were real people. Since they are English characters, they use English slang and refer to English things. I don't include them for the sake of it or as 'catchphrases'; they're just there as part of the realism of the dialogue. And that's why I think they're important; they reflect reality and make dialogue seem natural for a character's origins, age, social class etc.

I have to agree with those who said they don't like to read made up languages. I'm ok with a word here and there but when there are strings of dialogue within the story that are completely foreign (and impossible to sound out), it pulls me out of the story and shake my head at the author for breaking the cardinal rule of "Always keep the reader immersed in the story."

Tolkien is a great example. He was a linguist as well but his Elvin language didn't work. when I read the dialogue I rolled my eyes because it didn't sound in my head how it sounded in the movies (not that I particularly cared for it in the movies either), and since most readers aren't linguists, they won't properly pronounce the language so it will only pull them out of the story.

You don't need to show the language. All you need to do is state that they were speaking in their native tongue and show her reading the tone and their body language to decipher what they could be talking about. And if she's going to learn the language anyway, it would be such a wasted effort to create this language only to show bits and pieces of it until she learned it. Because once she learns it, you wouldn't need to show that language anymore since she'll understand it.

But if you're set on showing it, only use a few words like "scown" for moron ...like Avatar. And what not. Don't do what Tolkien did unless you are willing to risk losing readers like me. Good luck.

It becomes a little bit annoying when authors throw in phrases in the foreign language in every other sentence for no reason, then translate it into English.

As long as it's only once in a while and the words are fairly readable, then I don't think it's too annoying.

I'm not creative enough to make up languages, so good for you!

EDIT: And it's even better that you're studying linguistics. I think Tolkien was a linguist, too.

:D

Keep the classic Tolkien books your model and pattern the usage after hims novels. Maybe only spells, or proverbs like my fave book, "Watership Down" Adams created Lapine as the language of rabbits. He wrote in English so the reader could understand. He also created an appendix of Lapine definitions.

I think when readers are presented with a whole lot of words in a language they don't understand, especially if they can't pronounce it, they skip over it, or alternatively become distracted by it (looking at it & trying to decipher it, etc). Precisely because big chunks of a "foreign language" are either pointless or distracting, you want to use the language sparingly and only for atmosphere. If the character says something, you want to translate it straight away, e.g. "Vous avez une belle maison," she said. "You have a lovely home."

Don't overdo it, but the other language thing is kinda fascinating to me. Have you ever read The Inheritance Cycle? Christopher Paolini made up a language there too, I think he made it up at least, they called it "the ancient language" and it was seen throughout the books.

And I love those books :P

I'd read your books :)

Sorry if my answer kinda sucks xD

Don't write to much in the language use the text as decorations and translations of the idioms