Here's a good example of what to do if you are writing a screenplay and your characters need to speak in a language or languages other than the language of the script:
INT. KIDNAP SHACK – NIGHT
A corrugated-metal shack. We don’t see much of it.
A terrified Dagny is flanked by TWO KIDNAPPERS.
Their leader (the Voice) passes the phone to Dagny.
DAGNY
Papa? Papa!
(fast stream of Norwegian)
Give them what they want, please get me out of here, I’m scared! Papa!
MCGINTY (IN ARABIC)
Hospital! Where is hospital?
The old man scurries inside.
MCGINTY (CONT’D)
Friendly.
There are also comments on that blog from other screenwriters about what they do. Since multilingual screenwriting is relatively new (I presume that you have noticed how many recent films have dialogue in a language you cannot understand and is not subtitled), there are no real conventions yet. Multilingual creative writing is emergent, not dominant, so the rules will come later.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment