There is a big difference between some knowledge of another language and none. The Star Fox includes not only untranslated French but also untranslated German. Before his river escape, Heim says, in the hearing of his captors but for Vadasz's benefit:
"'Wenn wir sind an der Fluss gekommen, und im Falls wir die Moglichkeit sehen, dann werden wir ausspringen und nach dem Haffen schwimmen.'" (p. 185)
Something about coming to the river...jumping in and swimming? We learn what he does when they reach the river even if we understand little or nothing of what he has said beforehand. (Sheila, a German scholar, has just translated the sentence for me.)
Later, Vadasz must radio the New Europeans in a language not understood by the Aleriona. He does not know Basque but might use Louchebeme. The first time that I read this book I would just have had to pass by "Louchebeme" but now we can google it here.
Novelists usually just render all dialogue in English even if we are to understand that the characters are really speaking something else but maybe they could somehow further the appreciation of other languages if only by presenting some French or German etc dialogue and translating it in footnotes as CS Lewis does with a short Latin exchange in That Hideous Strength?
4 comments:
Translating to English can indicate the differences with the source-language.
Eg., English determines things by word-order. House dog means something quite different from dog house.
Inflected languages (and English started as one) are much more flexible on word-order because meaning is determined by inflection/declension.
In Latin, for example, "dog house" is "canis domus"... or "domus canis". The form of "canis" means that either is "house belonging to/appertaining to the dog".
But "house dog" is "domum canem". Or "canem domum", because both mean "dog belonging to the house".
You can hint at this. It's also understandable to quote a bit of the language and then a translation influenced by its grammar.
When I was doing IN THE COURTS OF THE CRIMSON KINGS I had fun with Martian Demotic, because it contains a lot of linguistic assumptions alien to English.
Eg., pirates, soldiers and police are all called by a term that translates as 'coercives'.
And a pirate ship would be called something that translates as: "Robbery with Armed Violence" or "Insensately Vicious Plunderer".
A child calling out "bad dog!" actually says something that would be rendered as "suboptimal canid!"
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Ha, amusing comments! And I recall how one Terrestrial hominid was exasperated by the pedantic precision of Martian Demotic. "Suboptimal canid" was simply not as satisfactory as "bad dog"!
Ad astra! Sean
So Louchebem is to French as Pig Latin is to English.
I wonder if a different dialect of French like Joual would be enough to confuse the Aleriona.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joual
I am sure it would but Vadasz would not know it!
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