Help! Language Confusion!
When I write a story using the third person, sometimes I make the narrator free to use the terms / expressions that I (as a Filipino now living in England) am becoming used to. I’m more careful when it comes to dialogue. But then, does it matter if I’m writing about Filipino characters and the dialogue will be in Filipino in reality, so as the author, I am merely translating into the language I am most comfortable with?
Example: In the Philippines, we would say ‘gas station’ not ‘petrol station’ so in a dialogue I would use ‘gas station.’
Dilemma: Now when the narrator describes the scene, I hesitate to use ‘gas station.’ I would like to remain consistent with the previous descriptions (narrating using British words).
One would argue, “I will use ‘gas station’ whether it’s narration or dialogue, just to be consistent.” Fine, but ‘gas station’ is a very common term. Make it do somersaults and you’ll still know what it means. What about other words and expressions?Anyone care to share their thoughts/opinions with Catherine? And with the rest of us, too? :)
posted by pgenrestories at 3:54 PM
10 Comments:
Context is everything. Even if it's in the third person, are we following the train of thought of the Filipino character? If so, then the writer should use the character's vocabulary. At least, that's what I would do. If the character is Filipino but grew up in England, the character would be more British and, hence, would use "petrol". If the Filipino just got off the boat, then he/she would use "gas". It might also be useful to determine who you're writing it for. Is your audience primarily in the Philippines? Use "gas." Are you speaking to the British market? Use "petrol." Context is everything.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, shiwang!
Thanks for the comment, shiwang! I got a similar advice from a friend via e-mail
"Basically, if you have a person from the Phillipines talking, they should use the Phillipine expression. However, the issue arose whether you should in the narrative. (My wife - a linguist) says that with an English audience in mind you should use the anglicism, I agree. However, I think that it also depends on the narrator. An omniscient narrator could without problem use the anglicism or the Phillipine expression, depending on where they are from. Limited omniscient should probably use the Phillipino expression."
Just to add: It's more than just whether the character being followed is Filipino in a limited omniscient voice that should determine whether the expressions you're going to use in the narrative are Filipino expressions (same applies to spelling). It boils down to the character's education, lifestyle, etc. Like your friend said, an omniscient narrator (if we're talking about old school omniscient voice here, which is hardly ever used anymore anyway) can go back and forth between Anglicism and Filipino English. Think Douglas Adams in "The Long Teatime of the Soul". He's British so even though in some parts of the novel he's following the train of thought of a New Yorker, he still uses British expressions and merely points out whenever a thought is too transatlantic or American.
But in limited omniscience, the third person narrator has to use the words his/her character would use even though the narrator is talking in third person, regardless of the narrator's own field of experience. Think James Joyce in "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man". It's in third person but because the narrator is following a young child at the beginning of the novel, he would use the vocabulary of a young child still trying to learn the language. (The narrator calls the character Stephen's auntie Dante in the descriptions because that's how the character calls his Auntie. And the narrator refers to a man wearing a monocle as "a man looking at him through a glass" because the young character doesn't know what a monocle is yet. Again, both instances are descriptions, not dialogue. Then as the character grows older and smarter, James Joyce's use of the language becomes more complex.
So, again, what's your character like? Did he/she finished college? What was his course? Would he use words like "fuck" or does he blush at the use of profanity? Once you determine how your character talks, then the third person narrative should apply these things in the description. And then, when you jump to a different character, you change the tone and vocabulary to suit that particular character. Makes sense?
I'm a geek, yes. Sorry.
Thanks again, shiwang! :)
I'll inform Catherine that you expounded a bit more.
Regards! This has been most informative.
@kyu, thanks for informing, I've actually subscribed to this post :-)
@shiwang, I really appreciate your and my other friends' comments and taking the time to discuss other aspects of writing. I know what you mean about the narrator following the age, education, etc. of the character, or that a character should sound like his or her age. But as I wrote in my original post, my confusion is on the very little things - US English words that a Filipino uses everyday vs. Filipino words that I thought it was fine to use British words for since, if it was a real conversation, we would say in Filipino anyway. Maybe to make it clearer than my "gas" or "petrol" example, I will use the following which will identify the classes/background as well.
Wellington Boots - British (formal)
Wellies - British (informal)
Galoshes - American
Boots - Filipino (or maybe the Filipino term) for it.
Apologies if my discussion is so basic but writing is a vast topic, as your second comment shows. Earnestness welcome, this is like a mini-writing lesson and very much appreciated!
Hi Kyu and shiwang! Linked to this page and wrote a new post that's related to this :-)
Cheers!
http://deckshoes.wordpress.com/
Catherine: I understand what you're asking. The best I can come up with to answer this query is: well, what word would the character that the narrator is following use?
Let's say the narrator is following, to pick a random name, William. William is going inside a store. He's twelve and a Filipino but he's lived in London all his life. The description would probably go something like this:
"Billy, avoiding the lorry as he crosses the street, into that part of Islington where they sold old books, shakes the rain from his macintosh and wellies. He then steps into the store. The store is nice and warm, unlike the outside which was wet and icky. He prays they would have what he needed as he looks at display counter."
Okay, really bad writing here but I'm just trying to make a point. The narrator uses words like "lorry," "wellies" and "macintosh" even though the character is Filipino because the character grew up British. No dialogue here. It's just the narrator describing the scene. And if you'll notice, I also wrote "the store is nice and warm, unlike the outside which is wet and icky" because the character is twelve. If I'm going to write the same scene but a different character, let's say a woman (and a Filipino who just arrived in London a month ago), it would be something like this:
"Angela could not believe how cold the weather is. It's too much. Everything around her is freezing already. She sees the store and hurriedly crosses the street, almost getting hit by a truck. She then shakes the rain from her wet raincoat and feels sudden relief at the heat that greeted her inside. Glancing at the display glass, she prays they have what she's looking for. he's been to so many stores already."
Again, really sorry for the bad description. Here, you have narrator using "truck" and "raincoat" because the character has only been in London for a month. I've also used "already" twice at the end of two sentences to somewhat duplicate how a Filipino treats the adverb.
Again, these are descriptions, not dialogue. The way the narrator used the third person omniscient is by using the type of words the character they're following would have used.
Hope this helps clarify my point.
@loudnoiseat2am (hey are you also bruno?)
Hey, I think your examples are very good actually (I will probably say "mac" though :-). They clearly show the difference between the two scenarios.
@Catherine and shiwang: Thanks very much for expounding further! I'll link up to your new post, Catherine, and then link back here so people can read both your comments. This should be helpful for some. TY!
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