The ways authors represent foreign languages in their books are interesting. In some cases, they use a different typeface to indicate that a character is speaking a foreign language. The typefaces used sometimes resemble the alphabet normally used to write the language in question. This enables the readers to follow what the characters are saying, while being aware that the other characters in the book can’t do so. In other cases, authors write in the languages themselves and either find some way to provide a translation, possibly as a footnote, or just leave both the readers and the other characters in the dark.
If authors can be reasonably sure that their readers will understand text in another language, they don’t need to provide a translation. This is the case in Welsh and Irish books which often contain snippets of English.
Quite often authors ignore language differences, unless they’re integral to the plot. Somehow characters are able to understand one another even though they speak different languages.
How do authors portray foreign languages in books written in languages other than English?
