Created languages

It depends on how the writer uses them, and how good he or she is at both the writing and the creation of languages. I don't remember ever getting lost in DUNE, for instance, though Herbert included an interesting glossary; the context generally made it clear what his invented words actually meant, and where it didn't, I was willing to hang on and see. Tolkien, a scholar of languages and a master storyteller, was able to take this to another level -- and, for him, inventing the languages was necessary to inform/deepen his invention of the races and people of Middle Earth.

When used well, by a good writer, I think an invented language helps make the fantasy elements of a story far more three-dimensional and believable.

Ah, I'm making up a language just to portray the different races in my world realistically, that hey not everyone can speak a different language. LoL. Of course, I've had lots of language/linguistic classes so I sort of have an idea of what I'm doing with them. I don't use them that much, only when my characters speak to their own people and what not. So, yeah...

I tend to just use single words/phrases of my fantasy languages, and the characters explain them as they relate to things in the story. I haven't it in me to create an entire language from scratch, nor do I want to.

They're most useful when the words are for concepts that don't have an exact equivalent in the English language, otherwise I'd have no need to introduce new terms, I'd just go with the English name.

Constructed languages (conlangs) are perhaps somewhat easier to present in film, comic/manga format, or a videogame than in a novel. But they still not that awkward to use in a novel, and the correct way to use them depends on why you want to use them in a particular novel. I can think of two common reasons: 1. To gain the exotic flavor of made-up words for names, magic spells, or foreign/ancient speech and keep the new words logically consistent throughout a novel or even more importantly throughout a series of novels. 2. If you want to write a book where the plot is partially about a character who gets marooned somewhere and doesn't speak the language, or a mysterious message that people are trying to translate.

Hmm, my personal view is that they stop people fully getting into a novel.

Atmosphere! I loves me a story with some fantasy atmosphere! Nagrul krasha! Bron grak! Their gutteral language echoed down the darkened cave tunnel as they closed in on him, and V'Larion feared the worst. Especially as he had spied upon their campfire supper ceremony last night, when they had castrated then disenboweled a squealing pig while chanting the horrid words, Bron grak! Bron grak!

-Derek

The purpose served by a created language depends on the content of the story in which it appears. In a story where language isn't the central cause of conflict, a created language can give a sense of realism to the places or cultural groups in the story. In a story about alien and human relations, such as my own stories in Analog SF, language is the central topic and therefore I have to know a lot about the alien languages in question.

This does not mean that the created language has to have a full grammar and lexicon or be used for extended stretches. The degree to which a created language penetrates a story in which it appears varies widely, and the way it is treated should reflect the author's desire to create a sense of intimacy/closeness with the speakers, or a sense of alienness/disorientation. In a story told from the point of view of an alien, he must use words that show his close knowledge of the world, and the structure of his English use should reflect the sensibilities of his own language, but he should not deliver long stretches of incomprehensible gobbledygook.

I have an extended essay on this topic here on my blog, which you might find interesting.

I think it's OK to throw in some invented language terms, as long as the meaning of the word can be derived from the surrounding context. Lots of writers exploit this, not just fantasy writers.

Regional dialect or in-group slang is often presented this way. You might be puzzled the first time you read an invented word, but if the context is consistent you will know roughly what it means the second time you see it, and exactly what it means the third time.

But if the reader needs a glossary and appendices to translate what is happening...no way. No reader should have to go through that.

Ditto on the glossary.

However, as a student of several languages (working on number 5!), I've gotta say that there are certain words in any language that just can't be replaced in any other! I'm a native English speaker, but I pick up words everywhere I go that say whatever I'm trying to say better than English. If you are writing about another world (or even another country), they beg to be included. So pepper your writing with words that belong to that world.

Some favs that have burrowed into my English:

Ma ma, hu hu (Mandarin = horse horse, tiger tiger) = So, so

Farang (Thai = guava) = white-skinned foreigner

Chas (Russian = wait a sec)

Chut-Chut (Russian = Little bit)

I'm bad with invented languages though. Only speak survival Klingon.

I don't have a whole lot useful to add, but this reminds me of a funny story I heard George R. R. Martin tell. He got an email from a fan who had mastered Sindarin and, I believe, Klingon, and he wanted to learn High Valerian. Could Martin please send what he had on voculary and syntax? Martin wrote back that he'd made up seven words and as soon as he made up an eighth one, he'd let this person know.

JMHO - One of the most obvious holes in any fantasy or SF is how they deal with the language barrier. The reader must accept that the characters can understand each other, or the travelers are able to learn the native language at super human speed. Introducing an indecipherable language to your story, to me, just makes it harder for the reader to suspend belief.
I enjoyed both Herbert and Tolkien but I would have enjoyed them more without stumbling over the made-up words.

It's about perspective. It's about how the world looks to your characters. If you're writing about nonhuman beings, or even humans from a vastly different culture, you might need new words for the concepts that affect their lives.

I mean, say that your characters are prey animals of some sort. That doesn't just mean that they'll think about predators a lot. It means that their entire concept of predators is a little bit different from ours. There's no sense that a hawk or a cat is a beautiful thing. There's no acknowledgment that foxes are vital to the ecosystem. Predators are enemies. So, as an author, you might decide to make up a new word that means "member of an enemy species."

Or say your characters have an emotion that humans don't often experience. Like, say, a weird mixture of terror and apathy, a sort of waking coma that comes from being spooked again and again until you're completely exhausted. If it happens often—with prey animals, it might—there should be a short and simple word for it.

To people who've read it, it's probably fairly obvious that I'm talking about Watership Down. In my opinion, this book is a pretty good example of how invented language should be used. It doesn't take over the story and it doesn't really require a glossary (although the editions I've owned have had one). It arises naturally from the way the characters think. It helps the reader enter into their viewpoint. And, as a bonus, when one of the characters cusses out the villain—entirely in the invented language—the reader has been drawn into the setting far enough to make it feel like real, human swearing. This despite the fact that one of the obscenities just means, "smells like a fox."

(As if it isn't obvious, I'm a huge fan.)

Izunya

Being a science fiction writer, the made-up language thing is almost second nature. Made up languages have their uses, to be sure. Let's start with a language barrier, something that can easily become a conflict in any story. That's the simplest use of alien or fictional language. But I don't think it has to be used that way, necessarily. You can use it to convey cultural implications, or just as a norm in the story. You should use precise narration to clear things up, though, in the instance your protagonist understands the language. An easy way is to tell readers "Xflaksj (because that's just a ridiculous alien name) spoke in his native tongue." and then proceed to write in English. It shows the POV character understands, and keeps you in their POV.

Jus' my take. You can write in strange English that is congruent to the feel of their language. You can also leave certain words untranslatable, as that's bound to happen since they have their own world (likely) with shit you've never seen or heard of.

All in all it just takes a lot of patience and skill to balance the story with revealing what's what. A vice of world-builders like sci-fi and fantasy writers.