I know some fantasy writers completely make up their own languages for their own world. Do any of you? I try to but then it turns into this mixed up thing of random words I can never remember?
If you do make up your own language, how do you use it? Sparingly? All the time?
I'm really curious to get some answers to this.
Languages
7 posts in this topic.
-
-
God...I've tried in the past, and I'd continue to try, but I'm horrible at it and I wouldn't know where to begin, even with the stuff they have online about creating languages. >.> I can't even speak any other language very well, never mind create one.
-
No. I'm no linguist, and I'm worried about doing a total Paolini - I don't want any of my characters spouting Tolkein-imitation crap. Tolkein did it, and he did it well better than any before, and most likely better than any after. I'm happy to leave the language building to him (or at least, him 80 years ago).
-
I've never been any good with other languages, and I don't think I ever will be. So the usage in my stories will be minimal to nil. however, I enjoy reading books that include new languages, as long as the meanings are spelt out clearly. One thing that I notice a lot of authors do is if they have a large section that is largely supposed to be in another language, or if the main charactor understands the other language, then it's just written in English, making it easier to read, but the idea of another language is still being put across. I think I f I ever had another language it would be one that was understood by the main charactor so I wouldn't have to create too many words.
Also, when I read new languages, they tend to be based on greek, latin or german, in the same way that English is, just interpreted differently. That is the sort of thing that a Classics student would be able to accomplish, but not me. lol, I'm never going to be able to create my own language. -
It all depends if the POV character speaks said language.
My current novel doesn't really have this come up; the biggest clue that they're not actually speaking English are the made-up words and proper nouns. It's full of certain sounds and letter combinations: ch, y (always as a vowel, never at the end of words), ii. Hence my naming conventions: Vastii, Remerdii, Wyrren, Rylan, Dacha, Arielii, Danache, Mordache, Renideo, Tyobe, Kione, Davyer. Most of these names were taken from a mis-interpretation of written Welsh mixed in with more mistaken written Irish Gaelic. I have a couple of rules of sounds that will never be uttered in this setting unless it's obviously foreign, and that way I can subtly differentiate origins and how the reader views them without needing to point it out.
The webcomic I'm doing is different. Common will always be written in English. Anything else will have gobbly-gook and footnotes with translations in common. I decided to use this method because the webcomic is a fake scholarly document, full of subtitles and fake historical passages, and I want to highlight 'accuracy'. ... Different fonts may or may not be used. I haven't gotten there yet. -
I start writing a story once (sadly the concept didn't find it's way to a plot) where the girl ended up going somewhere and wrote the story down journal style after the fact. She'd slip up and use a random language, which was supposedly the language of the place she went.
I kept notes of the words I made up in a sort of dictionary.
No idea how anyone could make up a whole language though. Verbs, adjectives, nouns. o.O So much thinking!
^_^ Keek! -
Personally, I'd really rather not write another language. The problem I encounter is when there are several countries, and it doesn't make sense for them all to speak the same language. (And I swear, I'm going to scream if I read another story that claims "common" as a common language. akk...)
Sign in to reply to this topic.
Delete this post?
Are you sure you want to delete this post? This cannot be undone.