How to Write Realistic Dialogue with non-native English Speakers

Fiction often treats second language fluency as an all or nothing issue. Either the characters are completely fluent in the second language, or they’re completely ignorant of the language. That’s unrealistic. In my latest manuscript, I tried to convey the complexities of language learning.

Realistically, becoming totally fluent in another language takes years for most adults. Everyone learns at different speeds and the learning process is affected by myriad factors, including some outside the learner’s control. When I volunteer-taught English as a foreign language (EFL), I had students who were homebound because they had poor health or caring for loved ones; I had other students who were immersed daily in the language. Their progression differed accordingly.

In my current novel (now being queried to agents), I have several characters who are American immigrants from Mexico. They speak English with varying levels of proficiency. My American protagonist, the sole point of view character, knows some Spanish from high school classes, but not enough to be fluent. Communication between these characters needs to be realistic, convey information, show their character, and further the plot. Adding to the difficulty is that I myself do not speak Spanish. (More on that later.)

For brevity, throughout this post, I use “EFL” (English as a Foreign Language) for the new language learners.

Consider what your EFL characters know.

• Look for cognates. These are words that are the same or similar between the languages, which makes them easier to remember. My editor pointed out that the character would understand the word “anonymous” because the Spanish word is “anónimo.”
• Ironically, basic words might be harder to remember because they’re different in the two languages. My editor recommended that my protagonist note this seeming contradiction, how this character can convey difficult thoughts but stumbles over seemingly elementary words.
• Look at websites that teach the other language. This told me the sorts of phrases that my American protagonist would understand in the other language and vice versa. Things like “yes”, “no”, “hello”, and “thank you” are useful words for any beginner-level language learner.
• Consider the EFL speaker’s occupation, hobbies, and lifestyle. Words related to those jobs are ones that they’ll know, even if others outside that field don’t know it. An EFL speaker who works as a rocket scientist will have a slightly different base vocabulary than one who works as a store clerk.

Reflect the difficulties of cross-cultural communication:

• Don’t show every word in the dialogue. A new language learner won’t understand every single spoken/written word in the second language, but might understand only one or two words. My POV character mentions what words she hears and often picks up the gist of what the fluent character says that way.
• Allow the character to be confused, frustrated, and sometimes exhausted by the effort of communicating in a second language. My protagonist was bewildered—and humbled—when Spanish was spoken too rapidly for her understanding.
• When the dialogue is between a native and non-native speaker, there will typically be one language that is stronger for both, and they’ll use that language. However, I wanted my protagonist to try to convey her respect for the EFL speakers by using some of their language. She notes that she is probably using the wrong word or verb tense, and she stumbles over the pronunciation of unfamiliar words.
• Have characters rephrase questions or statements that might be unfamiliar. Language learners, even fluent ones, might not be familiar with certain idioms. When my protagonist asked, “Does he lose his temper easily?”, the EFL listeners were puzzled. She rephrased it as “Does he become angry easily?”
• If more than one character speaks the second language, try to have each character at a different level of proficiency. One might be almost-fluent who mostly gets the language right; another might be a more intermediate level speaker, while still another must rely on the other two speakers to translate much of the conversation.
• Consider the role of emotion, situation, and personality.
  • A usually-proficient EFL speaker might have difficulty with verb tenses, jumble word order, or forget higher-level vocabulary words if they are under emotional strain.
  • My college-aged daughter’s roommate, who is completely fluent in English, sometimes pretends not to understand a native English speaker if that speaker is bugging her; for example, telemarketers or other students trying to campaign for homecoming court or student council. (I think she might have a little too much fun with this!)

Consider typical points of difficulty for new language learners.

• Typical points of difficulty for EFL speakers include articles (a, an, the); countable versus non-countable nouns (for example, “cups” is countable; “coffee” is non-countable); prepositions (of, about, with, etc.); and the placement of adjectives and adverbs within sentences. My intermediate EFL students had difficulty with these at times.
• What words are easily mispronounced and/or misinterpreted? My husband had a colleague who sometimes referred to “car dealer incentives” as “car deal insensitives”.
• Verb tenses are difficult. Characters might remember the present tense (which is usually the one EFL speakers learn first) and not the past or future. My less-fluent EFL speakers sometimes use the incorrect verb tenses. (The one fluent character usually uses the correct tense.) But they still get their points across. When my protagonist speaks Spanish, she makes similar mistakes.

Use non-verbal communication.

• Use gestures. One character was particularly creative and dramatic, as this was in line with his personality. Characters might point at a watch or clock to convey the concept of time, for example.
• In contemporary novels, the characters can use translation apps. These are not perfect, of course. But if it’s important from a story-perspective that the non-native speaker understand a certain phrase or word, and none of the characters know the word, a translation app can be a handy tool. Have the native speaker type in the unfamiliar word, and then the non-native speaker reads the translation.

For non-native speakers.

If you’re in my situation and you don’t speak this second language, here are some tips:

• Have a native speaker check your work. I paid a bilingual editor to look over these scenes, and it was well worth it.
• If this isn’t your native language, be humble and welcome the opportunity to learn more about this beautiful, rich, new-to-you language.
• Check the language-learning sites for common phrases and how and when they are used. For example, I wanted my protagonist to express her sympathy to an EFL character whose boyfriend had recently died. I looked at a website which listed various ways to express condolences and under what circumstances they are used. (Is it appropriate between acquaintances, business associates, or close friends? Is it formal or informal?)

And finally …

• Remember that learning a language is a years-long process. I have a friend who has been in America for over a decade, speaks English fluently, works with and is surrounded by English speakers, and she is still learning new words. (For that matter, so am I, and I’m a native speaker!)
• Don’t overdo it. How much or little of a second language in fiction depends on many factors and good beta readers or editors should be able to help you judge what’s best for your work. Always keep the focus on the story.
• Treat every character with respect. Someone’s level of language proficiency does not correlate to the level of their intelligence.