This week: Language Barrier Edited by: Annette-Outta Town-See Ya 8/22  
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| "Most of our life is miscommunication, and when you add a language barrier to it, it just becomes total mayhem and confusion... It just adds to it with all of the cultural differences. It could be an American family meeting another American family and you could still have a total clash. With family, it's like visiting another planet." ~ Julie Delpy |
Language Barrier
Barriers to understanding are everywhere. It doesn't matter if you're talking to your someone you know for a long time or have just met them.
A language barrier isn't just the difference between to languages. English and Korean are very different languages. Not only do they use a different set of letters to shape words and sounds, they also use a completely different sentence structure.
In English, "I walk my dog."
In Korean, "I my dog walk."
But this obvious language barrier can be easier to overcome at times because we make a conscious effort to figure out how to communicate with hands and feet, goodwill, and laughter.
Language barriers are also found in the slang use of words and these can create bigger barriers than foreign languages clashing. Sometime in high school, I switched from reading novels translated to German (my first language) and started reading them in their original versions in English. One author who is very accessible to English learners is Stephen King. He writes exactly what he means to convey. At the same time, his characters speak the way normal people speak. This combination enlarged my vocabulary immensely because I could understand the meaning of some slang words that say one thing but mean a different thing depending on context.
Even with that experience, I was completely dumbfounded when a coworker told me that his dogs were barking. We were working in a coffee shop and I thought he had brought his dogs and they were in his car, barking. Nope. His feet were hurting because he was wearing some kind of fashion shoes instead of comfortable, clunky (ugly) work shoes.
As a writer, remember that realistic dialogue isn't just the insertion of contractions. It's also the use of phrases and even localized meanings of words that are used differently in other places.
Whenever you consider writing in a way that some people, even those who generally speak the same language as you, might not understand what you're writing, you have to find a way to insert an explanation into the text. Give context clues. If all else fails, have a character ask.
Personally, I would recommend against the use of a glossary unless it's just two to five words that each show up only once in the whole text. If your glossary is almost as long as the story you're telling, consider rewriting the story. Fiction should be enjoyable and accessible.
What is the weirdest thing you thought you heard, but it was something else entirely? |
| |  | WORDS (ASR)
When someone is wishing to use language to create something but he/she is poor in it.
#2328269 by anonymous  |
| | | Crystal Clear (E)
in a Huitain poem for the Writer's Cramp contest/Winner 7/16/2023
#2299858 by Dave  |
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For Authors: August 06, 2025 Issue [#13236]
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