Est-ce important pour vous que l’orthographe et la grammaire des langues étrangères soient corrects dans les livres que vous lisez ? Si oui, est-ce très ou peu important ?
Is it important for you that the spelling and grammar of the foreign languages be faultless in the books you read? If yes, how important is it?
Being born and raised in the French-speaking province of Canada, I was taught both French and English in school. In fact, my French is better than my English… that is why I find it very annoying when an author decides to incorporate some French dialogue or sentences in a book and there are mistakes. The worst is that it happens often. Almost every novel containing French that I’ve read had mistakes in them. Does this happen as well for other foreign languages like Spanish or German?
I know that not everyone is able to read the foreign languages and thus, cannot detect the mistakes. However, is it a reason to not care about it? In my opinion, if you’ve decided to incorporate a foreign language in your book/story, the least you could do is make sure that there is no mistake. It is the same as when you choose a city that you are unfamiliar with as your setting. You will research it and make sure that your description fits as perfectly as possible. It’s not because you don’t know much about your setting that your readers don’t either. Same thing with foreign languages… You may not know French, but I’m sure some of your readers will.
For example, I was reading You Slay Me by Katie MacAlister last week. The story is taking place in Paris. Here are some mistakes that I could pick up:
Tu as une tête a faire sauter les plaques des egouts.
Tu as une tête à faire sauter les plaques des égouts.
Translation : You have a face that would blow off the cover of a manhole.
Pardonnez-moi, mais avez-vous un porc-epic coince entre les fesses ?
Pardonnez-moi, mais avez-vous un porc-épic coincé entre les fesses ?
Translation : Excuse me, but do you have a porcupine stuck between your butt cheeks?
Oui, trés bon.
Oui, très bon.
Translation : Yes, very good.
So sure, these are small mistakes (the grammar is surprisingly correct), but in a dictation, you would still lose some marks 😛 Now really, is it the author or the editor’s responsibility to make sure that it was well written? I don’t think it matters whose fault it is, because I know these would have been easily corrected if someone fluent in French would have read it over. (Please, don’t use an online translator such as Alta Vista, Babel Translation. You’ll only get a literal translation which is not always what you want.)
So to me, finding all these mistakes mean that someone didn’t put the necessary efforts into it… which I translate as a lack of commitment. I mean, authors always want their books to be perfect no? So what does it say when there are mistakes… which in the end, are due to research? Grammar and spelling mistakes done in English are easy to pick up and there are a couple of persons whose job is to find those mistakes. However, if you decide to add some foreign words either for sophistication or to add substance to your book, make sure that it’s well-written and grammatically correct… because chances are, the errors won’t be corrected.
If you’re not willing to make sure the foreign language is well-written, then perhaps the solution is simply not to include it. In fact, how many of you like to have foreign languages in your novels? I can understand the author’s decision to include foreign words in some situations – eg. to make the story more authentic if the character is foreign or if the story is set in a different country; however, sometimes, I find it unnecessary… as if the author wants to show-off or wants to make the books more sophisticated… especially the endearments.
Also, how authentic is the addition of the foreign languages when the rest of the conversation is in English – either because all the people the characters speak to oh so miraculously all speak English or because, for the sake of the readers and translation, although written in English, it is spoken by the characters in a different language. Of course, the worst is when there is no translation… but even when there is one, isn’t it redundant to have the sentence and the translation being written one after the other. Basically, you’ve just read the same thing twice.
So what about you? What is your take on foreign languages in novels? Do you like it or not? Does it matter to you that there are errors?
Nath
Natuschan- books, book and more books
Translation : You have a face that would blow off the cover of a manhole.
Translation : Excuse me, but do you have a porcupine stuck between your butt cheeks?
ROFLMAO!
I completely agree with you and I often wonder about all that french in these books!
It’s funny, just this morning bf and I were laughing at t-shirts over in asia with english sayings or translated signs that make NO sense what-so-ever! I was going to do a post about it warning people who get chinese tatoos, which are all the rage right now, to be sure they get it right or they’ll look just as foolish!
OMGosh, those translations are HILARIOUS! LMAO
Great blog topic, Nath. It really annoys me when books are set in a city that I lived in and the geography is wrong. I’m sitting here thinking “How did she get from Point A to Point B in 5 minutes when it should have take 30?”. It’s maddening, really.
I’m glad I don’t speak french b/c the translations would really get to me. But I completely agree. Getting it right DOES matter.
Well actually, the translations are correct… However, I’ve never heard of those expressions!!
Zeek – French is the romantic language… ^^; Not really. LOL, exactly, you really need to be careful when you’re using foreign languages… esp. when it’s going to be permanent!
Casee– Well it happens less to me, the geography thingie… cos not many books are set in Canada. In any case, you should put the effort into it and research a bit.
Rowena – Happy you liked the topic 😀 and yep, ignorance is bliss 🙂 I mean, sure, it bothers me less when I can’t understand, but still… it should be correct.
Those translations cracked me up!
Personally, I don’t care for foreign languages in novels period. But I agree if they are going to be included, they need to be correct.
Great topic, babe.
You know, I never pay much attention to the different languages in books because I only speak English and Samoan so I wouldn’t know if it’s right or not. LOL.
But like Casee, I get annoyed when the geography is off and things aren’t as they should be in books, it’s like, hello??? A little research but if I don’t know the area, then for me it’s ignorance is bliss. LOL.
Great post sweetums!
I don’t mind the foreign language if the author makes it easy to understand what is being said either through an actual translation in the conversation or context in the story.
It amazes me that any author wouldn’t want to make sure translations were spot on and details like geographic locations or specific places or accurate.
YES!!!!!!!! It bothers me BIG TIME!
I don’t often catch english spelling/grmmar mistakes, but the french ones seem to be blown up in bold for me.
Very good topic, Nath 🙂
Chantal – I’m glad I’m not the only one 🙂
Holly – Those are the weirdest expressions I’ve ever heard… but I guess the intent was to make us laugh.
Rosie – I know, I’m amazed too that the authors don’t make sure it’s correct. I can understand about geographic locations, cos sometimes, it might be difficult… but the languages? How hard is it to find someone who can correct it? Esp. nowadays with the net?
Interesting topic. I was reading an HP not long ago where the hero was speaking Italian and something was totally off.
As for foreign languages in general, I don’t pay too much attention depending upon how it’s used. If it’s to show how the hero iz ze oh so sexy, romantic foreign luvah, oh mon cherie, ma belle blah, blah, blah, it’s kind of annoying. I also don’t like it when an author tries to incorporate too much of an accent, i.e. “Noo Yawk” or Southern.