: Re: How to convey that the POV character *does not understand* what's said in dialogue? The general advice is often to focus on the content of what's said in dialogue and just write it in the

@Debbie451

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Depends on a few factors:

1) Is the narrative's point of view from the person who doesn't understand, the person who does, or omniscient?

CJ Cherryh writes books where the humans are the outsiders in non-human societies. Until the human catches up with the non-human language, the human sounds like Cookie Monster. "Me want food! Me went store, but no has coinage for to pay!" So that's the POV of the person who does understand the language, because the non-speaker is obviously not speaking correctly.

If the POV is from the non-speaker, then it depends on whether the person can pick out words or whether it's gibberish. See Dale's excellent answer for suggestions there.

If it's omniscient, you can switch or combine depending on who is the focus of a given scene.

2) Is the language one which the reader understands (or could understand) or not?

If your narrative is omniscient or you're writing from the POV of a speaker, you can choose to reproduce the actual words.

If your language is a human one, then just put it in. A reader who understands French (etc.) will follow the dialogue.

If your language is non-human, then you can use the non-human words, but you will need the translation, because the reader isn't going to follow either.

Regardless of your decision, if the words are important to the plot, then the reader eventually needs a translation. If they are not important, the translation is up to you.

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