Help - Use of other languages in the story (1 Viewer)

[Sleiphnir]

So my short story is set in Cuba right and I have fragments of text in Spanish. At the moment I have footnotes at the end of each page with the English translation. Am I allowed to do this/should I do this? Or should I just rewrite the tiny phrases in English?

Thanks in advance if anyone can help me.

 

[jhakka]

You are allowed to do whatever you like. Just make sure it adds to the effect of the work.

I see no problem with the use of other languages, even without translations. Sometimes I feel that it's more effective if you don't translate. Depends on what character's perpective you're looking from and stuff like that.

Your call, really.

 

[Kate090]

I take 3U english and im doing 4U next year... in my opinion it depends how important the fragments that are in spanish... if they are important to the story line and need explanation leave the translations if not dont worry about it... though short stories are that of creativity, so depends on the veiwer i suppose

 

[Sleiphnir]

The Spanish bits are mainly just fragments in speech ie; “Vaya! Ataque ahora!” which basically translates to 'go! attack now!', but I need to get my spanish speaking friend to check that.
The character is a Cuban so throughout there are just little words here and there in his speech and others and occassionally elsewhere, ie references to characters as campañero etc. So from the characters perspective I think the use of Spanish is justified and the use of Spanish ties the situations to Cuba and events in Cuba.
Thanks =)

 

[glitterfairy]

One of the girls in my creative writing class semester that that No translations were provided but it was pretty clear what was going on by other little things - eg "he stood up hastily and bellowed "_____" etc.

 

[dasphoebus]

Actually, using short phrases in a foreign language really adds to the effect. I would really recommend it.

Unlike Jane Eyre, where whole paragraphs were written in French, with no translation. I can't understand French dammit! Jane Eyre is not even a post colonial text, why are we reading it!

 

[Sleiphnir]

I'm definitely using Spanish throughout it now because I agree - it does make it more fluid with the Spanish names and setting of the story. The story is valid because of its historical context in Cuba, so it's working nicely. Thank goodness I don't have to rely on those dodgy internet translators though (I have a friend who speaks Spanish).

 

[dasphoebus]

Unless the marker understands Spanish, you shouldn't have problems, as long as it sounds Spanish.

 

[Scorch]

I'm writing a short story in the genre of historical fiction, it is set in ancient Rome so I used a bit of latin in there, even for the title. As long as the surrounding words make the meaning of the latin (or spanish) words clear