The second novel I released included dialog in Spanish and
Japanese. I had taken Spanish throughout middle school, high school, and
college, so I felt somewhat comfortable creating conversation in that language.
However, I’d never studied Japanese before. I did some internet searches to
find the words I needed and plopped them into the story. Fortunately, my best
friend’s first language is Spanish, and my editor had lived in Japan for a
while, so they corrected any foreign language grammatical errors.
After that experience, I started learning French for a story
whose main character is from France. As of today, that story is still only an
idea, but by the time I get back to it, I’ll have a ton of French vocabulary in
my head. Then, during NaNoWriMo 2020, I wrote the first part of A Cop and
Vampire Story which includes a female vampire with origins in Germany. I
expanded my language base to German so that I could create a more realistic
back story for her.
The thing that I like the most is when someone who knows
those languages reads the story and smiles because I captured not only the
words, but the mood, intonations, and attitude of the character’s culture. I
not only research the cultures, but I’ve also hung out with people from those
cultures so that I can portray authentic characters. That’s the most fun part
of writing: getting to know real people who influence fictional characters.
The added benefit? I can read more signage and pronounce
more words from the languages I’m learning than I could yesterday. I’m having
fun, and this new habit is broadening my writing base.
