tips for writing bilingual characters
I’ve seen a lot of stories, where bilingual characters are portrayed in a pretty weird way. As I am a bilingual myself, I thought it’d be a good idea to give some writing advice about this topic.
What does bilingual mean anyway?: Someone who grows up, speaking and learning two languages at the same time. For example, your mother speaks german and your father speaks english with you.
there are 3 types of bilinguals
someone who speaks, writes and reads in both langauges well
someone who can speak one of the languages a lot better than writing/reading in the langauge
and someone who can understand what is being said in the other language but can’t speak it well (this is the weaker language)
don’t have your bilingual characters suddenly switch to or say random words from the other language
I speak german and hungarian, and I never ever said words in hungarian if I was talking to someone who speaks german
of course you can have the character forget words in english (aka the weaker language) and say the word in their native language instead (aka stronger language), but make it obvious that they are struggling to remember the word
for example: ,,Yeah, I put the folders in the...uh....fiók....Drawer! I put them in the drawer!’’ I often forget words in english and whisper or just think to myself what the word is called in my native langauge and then remember it in english, but sometimes I don’t lol
also, the mother language doesn’t always have to be the stronger language
only make them switch languages mid-sentence if they’re talking to another bilingual
otherwise it’s just cringe, believe me
