How can I transmit that I am talking to the reader instead of narrating the story?

[CheertheSecond]

wow writting is hard ?
Yeah, you right. I will keep the parentheses for foreign language translations only. As it is a story that has several people speaking different languages, I sometimes put speech in the native language to give more emphasis to personality and origin. That is why I use parentheses in first speeches to help those who do not know or in longer speeches.

yes, that works here but not everywhere. Few have an author's note.

Please use a different dialogue marker if you want to denote that the sentences are spoken in a different language.

This is what I do.


(Elvish) "Stay where you are!"
(Devani Dwarvish) "We come with no ill will."
(Elvish) "What did he say?"
(Elvish) "I don't know. Let me try?"
(Fallunian Elvish) "Can you understand me?"
(Devani Dwarvish) "Yes? I can't understand you."
(Hainaan Elvish) "How about now?" (Latin Human) "Can you understand this?" (English Human) "Do you understand Human English?"
(English Human) "Yes. I can speak English."
(English Human) "Great. Now what do you want?"

 

[LeilaniOtter]

Please use a different dialogue marker if you want to denote that the sentences are spoken in a different language.

This is what I do.


(Elvish) "Stay where you are!"
(Devani Dwarvish) "We come with no ill will."
(Elvish) "What did he say?"
(Elvish) "I don't know. Let me try?"
(Fallunian Elvish) "Can you understand me?"
(Devani Dwarvish) "Yes? I can't understand you."
(Hainaan Elvish) "How about now?" (Latin Human) "Can you understand this?" (English Human) "Do you understand Human English?"
(English Human) "Yes. I can speak English."
(English Human) "Great. Now what do you want?"

(Elvish) "Stay where you are!"
(Devani Dwarvish) "We come with no ill will."
(Elvish) "What did he say?"
(Elvish) "He said shoot to kill. Put an arrow in 'em." ?

 

[CharlesEBrown]

wow writting is hard ?
Yeah, you right. I will keep the parentheses for foreign language translations only. As it is a story that has several people speaking different languages, I sometimes put speech in the native language to give more emphasis to personality and origin. That is why I use parentheses in first speeches to help those who do not know or in longer speeches.
yes, that works here but not everywhere. Few have an author's note.

For multiple languages, unless I was writing something expected to be read by an AI, I'd use the old comic book trick of putting it in "<" and ">" symbols, and giving the chapter distinct footnotes for each language.

"So, how's the weather?" David said.
<What did he say?>* the orc guard asked.
<How would I know - I only speak orc and elf, not gibberish>*
<He asked how the weather was,>* their elvish captive informed them. and then added <A bit confining but fine>** in his own tongue.

* Translated from Orcish
** Translated from Elvish

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

Just give up and use Mr . Narrator as your way to talk with the audience

Do it as shown in this way:

 

[Eldoria]

Please use a different dialogue marker if you want to denote that the sentences are spoken in a different language.

This is what I do.


(Elvish) "Stay where you are!"
(Devani Dwarvish) "We come with no ill will."
(Elvish) "What did he say?"
(Elvish) "I don't know. Let me try?"
(Fallunian Elvish) "Can you understand me?"
(Devani Dwarvish) "Yes? I can't understand you."
(Hainaan Elvish) "How about now?" (Latin Human) "Can you understand this?" (English Human) "Do you understand Human English?"
(English Human) "Yes. I can speak English."
(English Human) "Great. Now what do you want?"

Hmm... It makes perfect sense for languages to differ between races. Fiction, especially fantasy, often simplifies this (one world, many races, one language—the author's language, lol). But if we differentiate between different languages, it becomes very complicated. Perhaps only a legendary author like Tolkien would dare to create his own language for his fiction.

 

[CheertheSecond]

Hmm... It makes perfect sense for languages to differ between races. Fiction, especially fantasy, often simplifies this (one world, many races, one language—the author's language, lol). But if we differentiate between different languages, it becomes very complicated. Perhaps only a legendary author like Tolkien would dare to create his own language for his fiction.

Yeah. That's why I suggested a solution so that we don't need to invent a whole entire set of languages.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

A lot of authors, at least in the 70s-90s, created a few words in other languages and inserted them into English text to give an alien feel to the language (also used non-standard syntax and grammar). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (and I try to use this myself), but it beats making a language from scratch (having had a college course in DOING that, with a focus on computers but really all language and mathematics, I have some idea of what a nightmare it can be).