: 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

@Angie602

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Use specialized words that tend to be common between languages
Most "five dollar words" are the same in many languages

because scientists and technologists of all stripes will adopt terminology verbatim to make their jobs easier

Words such as computer or programmer share the roots across most of the modern world (except notably in French, which has a strong language authority). Two professionals from different or analogous domains would be able to have something of a conversation using only technical terms.

because the word is freshly introduced by a popular and wide-spread culture

the Norman conquest brought beef, poultry, etc to England, and French dishes such as vol-au-vent are famous world-wide. Your average otaku knows words like arigato and konichiwa from anime or manga.

because the word comes from Latin or Greek roots (dominant cultures of the past) or literally is a Latin and Greek word unchanged

et cetera, ad absurdum, basilica, phalanx, ab initio - it's hard not to pick up a few of these regardless your field of study.

This is not so noticeable in English, which does less word loaning and more word kidnapping, but in other languages it stands out much more.
If a very intelligent character is highly learned, they would a) know many such words, and b) know from the literature that they tend to not be translated. They will be equipped to have an awkward conversation where a few very complicated words are accompanied by a lot of pointing.

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