Hi, SnowyWolfOwl here. I wandered over from Myladyswardrobe and Sarahbellem's friendpages.*
A lot of the stories I'm working on right now have the "I don't speak his gibberish." issue as a problem. Truth be told, I haven't really found it too much of a problem for the most part. Some solutions I've used have included:
1. If its just one guy surrounded by people who don't speak his language, then just have the guy not want to talk. This only works in a few, fairly specific scenarios, but when it suits the character, it really works.
2. Use a translator. This can make arguments even more fun, especially if the translator is under pressure not to insult either of their "betters". For an example of an author I like who did that consider checking out George RR Martin. I think it was in "A Clash of Kings" where one of Dany's servants had to do that, but I'm not sure. I don't have the book here in India.
Mariko, in James Clavell's "Shogun" also fills this type of role for the protagonist as well.
3. My final suggestion? Let your people be multilingual. I'm working as a trainer for a company here in India, and I'm only fluent in one language. Most of my trainees are fluent in anywhere from two to five languages. When you consider that Urdu, Hindi, English and Tamil all come from different linguistic traditions that is some achievement. Sure, I can see a peasant who's never walked more than twenty miles being unilingual, but a family that has some commercial, familial or political dealings outside of their lands could be expected to have a few people speak a second language.
Anyway, hope this helps a bit. Good luck!
*It's Diwali here in India, and due to the volume of explosions outside I'm staying inside, wandering the internet while I take a break from getting ready for NaNoWriMo.
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A lot of the stories I'm working on right now have the "I don't speak his gibberish." issue as a problem. Truth be told, I haven't really found it too much of a problem for the most part. Some solutions I've used have included:
1. If its just one guy surrounded by people who don't speak his language, then just have the guy not want to talk. This only works in a few, fairly specific scenarios, but when it suits the character, it really works.
2. Use a translator. This can make arguments even more fun, especially if the translator is under pressure not to insult either of their "betters". For an example of an author I like who did that consider checking out George RR Martin. I think it was in "A Clash of Kings" where one of Dany's servants had to do that, but I'm not sure. I don't have the book here in India.
Mariko, in James Clavell's "Shogun" also fills this type of role for the protagonist as well.
3. My final suggestion? Let your people be multilingual. I'm working as a trainer for a company here in India, and I'm only fluent in one language. Most of my trainees are fluent in anywhere from two to five languages. When you consider that Urdu, Hindi, English and Tamil all come from different linguistic traditions that is some achievement. Sure, I can see a peasant who's never walked more than twenty miles being unilingual, but a family that has some commercial, familial or political dealings outside of their lands could be expected to have a few people speak a second language.
Anyway, hope this helps a bit. Good luck!
*It's Diwali here in India, and due to the volume of explosions outside I'm staying inside, wandering the internet while I take a break from getting ready for NaNoWriMo.