Pardon my French

[dar_jeeling]

For heaven's sake, writer people, if one of your characters must speak a foreign language, have someone who actually knows that language look at your story, because guess what? That word/sentence/expression might not mean what you think it means.

Do not, I repeat, do not fuck around with dictionaries or rely on online translators. More research, less wincing! Thanks muchly.

Comments

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

DAMN STRAIGHT!

(Teeeeeeeeeeeeeell me, what brought this on?)

[dar-jeeling.livejournal.com]

*waves hand* There was French. It made me wince. So it would probably make native speakers want to stick a knife in their eyes? I'm guessing here.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

TELL ME WHICH STORY!

[dar-jeeling.livejournal.com]

*raises eyebrows* I didn't bookmark it, dear. (And if you've asked because 'Any story in which John Shepard speaks an approximation of French is a good story, omg!', I have to disappoint you. It was a dS one. :P )

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Hee.

And no, I was thinking Rodney, who's Canadian, after all.

Oh, well. I could study. Or do my exercises.

*listless and drained, see entry*

[dar-jeeling.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I'm sending you...vibes of energy! (It's ma secret superpower. *nodnod* That and making things up on the spot.) Are you already feeling the effects?

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

YES SO VERY MUCH!

(You have a Cameron icon, and for that I will adore you 4ever and ever.)

[solvent90.livejournal.com]

Heh. I did fuck around with an online translator for a Latin bit in a Snape/Harry snippet I wrote, and got it wrong in the process, but it was commentfic and also Harry-Potter-spells wonky Latin anyway, so I wasn't overly troubled. But I can see how it would be bothersome, particularly in dialogue.

[dar-jeeling.livejournal.com]

Hee. Particulary in a story that was not written off the cuff. ;)

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

In this era of worldwide internets, it's pretty easy to find someone who speaks just about any language you need for a fic.

[dar-jeeling.livejournal.com]

Yep.

So. That Rae chick. What does her hair look like?

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Kind of like sam80853's, apparently (http://sam80853.livejournal.com/241809.html) (she's the one on the right in the picture in which all German slashers have experimental hair).

EEEEEEE!

[dar-jeeling.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

Oh, don't eeee! I'm not sure if this will work. *bites lip*

[hollysamantha.livejournal.com]

I so know what you are talking about. I have EXTREMELY basic German and French but I still cringe at some of the things I see written. *facepalm*