Invent a new language, or just use an existing one?

I don't follow your question.

Whatever language is spoken by the characters, the most important thing to remember is I need to understand what they're saying, regardless of what they may call their language - and you can call it whatever you choose.

Not sure what you mean by 'inventing a new language'. Do you really mean 'invent a new language' from the ground up?

Are you intending filling your dialogue with foreign or strange words? I'd keep that to a minimum.

In fantasy, it's generally an accepted convention that the language one is reading isn't the language the characters are actually speaking. It works as if it's a translation.

When characters speak different languages to each other, it still has to be rendered into the language the reader is reading. Hence, you have the narrative indicate what language the character is speaking.

For example:

'Greetings, old friend. It's great to see you,' Master Chef said to Master Cooper in Berillian. Under his breath, he muttered, 'You old git,' in Selliac.

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So unless your fantasy story takes place in alternative versions of, say, England and Spain, you wouldn't say your characters are speaking English and Spanish. You say they're speaking whatever languages they're speaking in your made-up world.

This is simply a convention of SF/F, and if you read carefully, you'll see how authors do this all the time.

Oh, and if you're thinking about making up a language, as Bufty said, keep it to a minimum. Don't try inventing languages the way JRR Tolkien did unless you have his extensive background in languages and philology.

i think you could just call it whatever and use the languages you know. unless you really want to make something up.

honestly, i have a very similar problem right now. i did make up a language already. it's just nonsense words and i try to avoid having them speak it too much, else i'd have to check all the sentences and make sure words are matching when people say similar things and it would all just get too big, messy and complicated. so i have them 'mutter something in their language' or 'speak in their foreign tongue' without being forced to actually type out the words.
OR i switch my POV in the situations when they would be talking a lot and it's obviously english on both sides from their POV.
why go through all this? it's a fantasy story. my two MCs are stranded and don't speak the language and i refuse to forward time conveniently and have them speak it or use any kinds of magic super translation spell that makes them understand. and there won't be any fish in peoples ears so they ll have to learn it.
ANYWAYS.
i wouldn't be too offended if i'd see someone using spanish under a different name as a language. of course it should make sense if you use languages from our 'reality'. i read a story once that had a couple of german sentences in there, that were just painful to read.

Yup - feel free to write in English. Just throw in the odd alien word for colour, such as Star Trek's battleth or Star War's pudu.

It's probably best to avoid sounding like an englishman abroad. That;s when you speak as you would normally, but you add a little bit of an accent, as in:

"Oi, garkon, doey youey avey any fishey and chipsey, murky buckets?"

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So I would opt for : "Greetings vendor. I would wish for a portion of muamborie fish served with fried n'yeti. I give you thanks."

A slightly stilted sentence structure with the odd alien word thrown in. And to make sure that everyone knows it is alien, you need to add an apostrophe or two.

Fiender said:

*meep*
What I meant is, the story only follows one perspective character who only speaks one of the languages in this world, but does encounter people who speak other languages.

Seeing as I didn't want to invent whole languages like Tolkien, I was wondering if this sort of exchange was alright:

She approached the woman and pointed at a water pouch, unsure if she’d need to pay for one. "May I have one?"
"Sabía usted quiere agua?"
"Sorry, I'm not from around here. I don't understand."
"Oh! Forgive. You want... a water? Yes, you may have."

Or... something like that.

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In that case, make something up. Or else do something like this:

She approached the woman and pointed at a water pouch, unsure if she’d need to pay for one. "May I have one?"
The woman said something incomprehensible.
"Sorry, I'm not from around here. I don't understand."
"Oh! Forgive. You want... a water? Yes, you may have."

In a fantasy world I'd avoid modern human languages. A word or two for flavor, in some (consistent, and please know something about linguistics before you try this stunt) easily-understood-from-context place, can be effective, but using modern Spanish or German and calling it by some other name... that gets into Calling a Rabbit a Smerp territory.

For examples of made-up languages in fantasy novels and how to employ them, see Dothraki in George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books, and Erassian in my own (cough cough) Mageworlds books.

I heard GRRM talking about this once. Someone wrote him saying he'd learning Sindarin and, for all I know, Klingon, and he wanted to learn High Valerian. Would GRRM please send him vocabulary and syntax instructions? GRRM wrote back that so far he'd made up something like 11 words in High Valerian and when he made up the twelfth, he'd let this guy know. Made me laugh.

BethS said:

In that case, make something up. Or else do something like this:

She approached the woman and pointed at a water pouch, unsure if she’d need to pay for one. "May I have one?"
The woman said something incomprehensible.
"Sorry, I'm not from around here. I don't understand."
"Oh! Forgive. You want... a water? Yes, you may have."

Click to expand...

The problem I see with this exchange is that it appears from the last sentence the woman with the water already has a basic understanding of English, hence, she would have understood the first simply worded request "May I have one?".

When I've been to other countries and approach someone who I need to converse with but I think may not speak English, the first thing I ask is "Do you speak English?" If they don't, sometimes mime comes in handy.

Terie said:

In fantasy, it's generally an accepted convention that the language one is reading isn't the language the characters are actually speaking. It works as if it's a translation.

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This.

Fiender said:

*meep*
What I meant is, the story only follows one perspective character who only speaks one of the languages in this world, but does encounter people who speak other languages.

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I like the idea of encountering foreign languages in fantasy worlds -- the idea of a Common language always feels conventional to me, but unrealistic.

I wouldn't take Spanish/German/etc. wholesale, but I might set down what different languages sounded like. A quasi-Spanish might be quick and fluid and full of vowels. You can use your knowledge of existing languages to beautify your description of other languages without directly speaking them.

An example of this might be:


She approached the woman and pointed at a water pouch, unsure if she’d need to pay for one. "May I have one?"
The woman responded with a flow of words musical in cadence, but foreign and incomprehensible.
"Sorry, I'm not from around here. I don't understand."
"Oh!" said the woman. When she spoke again, she had reverted to the drier, more stilted phrases of <Anglaise or whatever>. "Forgive. You want... a water? Yes, you may have."

This way, you can use your knowledge of a foreign language and its sounds, without tying yourself to a wholesale translation. (and make up some words, for color)

Beachgirl said:

The problem I see with this exchange is that it appears from the last sentence the woman with the water already has a basic understanding of English, hence, she would have understood the first simply worded request "May I have one?".

When I've been to other countries and approach someone who I need to converse with but I think may not speak English, the first thing I ask is "Do you speak English?" If they don't, sometimes mime comes in handy.

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Good point! Hopefully the OP will take note.

Please don't rename English. I have a lifelong close relationship with English, and I'd recognize it anywhere. If I had to deal with a fantasy submission that tried to rename English and claim it was a different language, I'd probably have one of those distressing fugue-state episodes of mine where I wake up and discover I've been repeatedly stabbing a manuscript with the knife I use to open mailing envelopes.

Fiender said:

*meep*
What I meant is, the story only follows one perspective character who only speaks one of the languages in this world, but does encounter people who speak other languages.

Seeing as I didn't want to invent whole languages like Tolkien, I was wondering if this sort of exchange was alright:

She approached the woman and pointed at a water pouch, unsure if she’d need to pay for one. "May I have one?"
"Sabía usted quiere agua?"
"Sorry, I'm not from around here. I don't understand."
"Oh! Forgive. You want... a water? Yes, you may have."

Or... something like that.

Click to expand...

If you're in the perspective of someone who only understands English, then the other woman's words would be incomprehensible. So you don't need to bother writing them at all, just note that she can't understand.