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Guest Posted 22 years ago
Grammar
Question with writing when a character is a foreigner
If the person telling the story is remembering something about a man she met in Italy let's say, what is the proper way to write the English dialog? Since he is speaking in his native tongue and she is telling what he said, translating it into English, does this need to be italicized? The dialog takes up one-third of the novel so obviously it needs to be in English. It is not just a phrase or two. It seems to me that there would be too much italicizing.
Help!
Help!
Top answer
Hi Guest, Usually an author just gives what the Italian says in English words. The reader accepts this very easily. Any other way, as you point out, would be very clumsy for a whole book.
- Hi Guest, Usually an author just gives what the Italian says in English words.
- The reader accepts this very easily.
- Any other way, as you point out, would be very clumsy for a whole book.
- Clive
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1 Answers
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Hi Guest,
Usually an author just gives what the Italian says in English words. The reader accepts this very easily. Any other way, as you point out, would be very clumsy for a whole book.
Clive
Usually an author just gives what the Italian says in English words. The reader accepts this very easily. Any other way, as you point out, would be very clumsy for a whole book.
Clive
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