: Re: How to write dialogue for someone who is intelligent but barely speaks the language? I have a character who is a refugee from another country. She comes to the protagonist, and they have a

@Ravi5107385

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To show the intelligence of a character you need to make the reader understand in which way she is intelligent.

I could tell you how I would do it but in this source you can find some good do's and don'ts: Writing smart characters. In this place you can probably get a better explanation than from me.

The challenge you have is that you cannot make the character (refugee) herself show her intelligence, you need another character that understands this intelligence. This is the protagonist in your case.

To use the protagonist it requires for him to have a similar level of intelligence as well. The protagonist needs to mirror the technobabble the refugee makes and show how impressed he is with the idea this character. This way you can convey to the reader that this character is actually more intelligent that she sounds.

As an additional pointer. How the character talks is not the only way to show intelligence. It is also the attitude of the character, the opinions made and proper respect that shows intelligence. All this can be told without the need of a technobabble.

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