: Re: Writing scenes that involve two languages (I realize there have been similar questions before, such as this and this, but the answers to those unfortunately did not help much with my specific

@Voss1744584

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It's a very interesting question.

I feel like, of the choices you provided, combining the first route and the 3rd route would be most effective. But, I also agree that writing things twice does tend to be a bit redundant.

Having faced a conundrum such as this in my own writing, the third method might be easiest to use completely, if you actually speak Japanese. Then, you'd have to translate every part of dialogue while their in Japan instead of only what Shintaro is saying. And in cases where she's intentionally misinterpreting, you would merely have to actually translate, then explain the misinterpretation.

If you don't desire to use either the 3rd route or mix the first and the third, you could just not use as much dialogue while their in Japan, and instead explain what the people are saying, example:

Sally walks into a bar with Shintaro, and catches snippets of Japanese exclamations and greetings. Shintaro apparently is friends with the bartender, as he greets him warmly, then asks about his wife and kids. The bartender sees Sally and offers her a drink, on the house. She accepts the offer graciously, and asks Shintaro how long he has known the bartender. He replies by explaining that they are old friends from primary school...

If you choose to use this method, then the 3rd method is a bit easier and less confusing and more consistent than switching methods.

Keep in mind this is merely what I had done in a similar scenario, though I hope this eased your own decision making process.

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