5 Tips for Using a Foreign Language Without Sounding Like a Prat

Foreign languages are hard to use in fiction. Probably because most of
us don't use them in real life. Here are
some tips for helping the reader get that foreignness is happening,
without feeling hit over the head by it.



1) USE LANGUAGE TO BE UNDERSTOOD. First and foremost, the purpose of
speaking is to communicate ideas. So if a character is fluent in both
English and Thai (say), but her listeners understand only English, she won't toss Thai words into her speech. If someone did that in rea...