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Topic : Re: I'm writing a prologue from the POV of a non-English-speaking character. How should I write the dialogue? Picturing this in movie form would be easy. I would have the character speak their native - selfpublishingguru.com

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Many of the previous answers are about dialog or solutions that would only work for a few lines, rather than a whole chapter or prologue.
The exceptions are:

The "translated document" approach:
Popular and works well unless you want your prologue to have immediacy, e.g., the POV character is involved in an action- or emotion-heavy experience that would not have the same impact in a letter or diary.
Just use English / Let the reader figure it out:
The best approach if you need immediacy - action/emotion

The latter is the best approach if the prologue is 1st person POV for a good reason.
However, if you do go this route, the English has to sound natural, like a native speaker.
Also be sure to give the reader some clues - given names and place names if your other race looks human as these will usually not be "translated" later, or if they are not physically similar to humans, you can also use descriptions of the people or surroundings around your POV character that show clearly they are not human without being jarring/out of place - e.g., a person having a healthy green glow or clacking their mandibles in irritation or juggling bags in their upper arms while holding on to their children with their lower hands/palps or their gills turning green from the disgusting taste/smell in the water, etc.
Think of the things you would see on a human face - flaring nostrils, frown lines, raised eyebrow/s, eyes narrowing, smiles, a nervous twitch, etc. and give your aliens some different body language along with the verbal.


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