The Fictional Linguistic Dilemma

[dr_tectonic]

So, a question for y'all what read SF:

We have a (human) character from a fairly ordinary background who gets dragged off to strange and interesting places. Logically, the (also human) people in the strange and interesting places would not speak the same language. But these characters need to be able to communicate -- have conversations, even -- because otherwise it's all very boring.

[Poll #1003564]

Comments

[helava.livejournal.com]

LOL! Similar to jofish's, English with mixed up grammar is how foreigners speak not.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Well, there are particular patterns of mistakes that non-fluent speakers will make, but I imagine it's hard to do consistently enough to feel realistic.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

I've always hated dialect in novels because I read it phonetically, which doesn't make people sound like they have accents, it just sounds dumb.

Me want cookie!

[zalena.livejournal.com]

Cookie monster being one of the few excellent exceptions.

Re: Me want cookie!

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

Well, cookie monster speaks with a grammatical pattern of about a 24-36 month old native English speaker, as well as one used by some non-native speakers, so it's quite believable.