The appearance of foreign-language text in a book: does it annoy you?

[[deleted user]]

Poniatowska's Spanish-language novelistic treatment of the life of Leonora Carrington includes English dialogue in most chapters. I have no problem when encountering this, for English is my first language, and it reminds me of the multi-language world in which Carrington lived.

But I don't read French, which also appears from time to time, and have always been frustrated when authors don't supply a 'translation" of such text somewhere in the vicinity - as a footnote, or by explaining in the surrounding text what the import of the fragment is.

But, as I've become a translator myself, and reflected on this, I begin to worry less about this, imagining the translator is aware of what she is doing, and simply wishes to leave a flavour of the alternative-language world in the reader's mind.

What do you feel?

[Mack]

It can be frustrating, yes. I take it as a challenge to learn more languages.

[[deleted user]]

A good point, and I wish I had the time - or money. There is English, French and German in Poniatowska's Spanish-language text, but I have to go out to work at some point.