Glossary question

EminemsRevenge · Jul 1, 2005

i once read a copy of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange where he put the glossary at the beginning of the book, but i'm not sure he did that in the first edition.

When you don't have a track record and need a glossary because you're cognizant that certain words or phrases are either too archaic, or you suspect that the readers might not know the Greek, Hebrew or Latin used, should you put the glossary at the front or the back of the book.

i personally find that it's easier if the glossary is at the front.

Cathy C · Jul 2, 2005

Yeah, you can do that if you want. I've seen some fantasy novels that include glossaries when there are other-worldly things to be described or explained. Mercedes Lackey is famous for that. You might also consider translating WITHIN the text, from the character's POV. We do very multi-cultural books, so sometimes people speak in their native language. We decided that what would work well would be either for the primary character (since most of our books are in first person) to speak the language, but the speaker doesn't know it; or for the primary character to blink and say, "Huh?" and have the speaker translate for him. Here's how we did it in two cases (ignore the fact that the proper characters wouldn't work over here, for those of you who speak the language):

I could hear Goldstein’s voice booming from his office. He was speaking Hebrew.

When I started getting regular runs to Israel I had decided to learn Hebrew. With my looks, it’s not something most people would expect — but it’s come in very handy. Without even meaning to, I found myself translating the conversation I was overhearing.

"Ken, Ani Amtin" (Hello. Yes, I will hold.)

I forced my attention back to the article. It was a personal profile of Morris Goldstein, and spoke very highly of his ability to see a rough stone and determine what the final cut and size will be before it gets to the scaife. Unique talent, that.

"Ken, ken. he kan. Lo, Lo Raiti. he Loveshet Meil" (Yes, yes. She’s here. No, I didn’t see any. She is wearing a jacket.)"

That perked up my ears. The cutters know and like me but they would not give a jolly goddamn about my wardrobe — except possibly my jewelry. I glanced at my watch again. It was almost eleven o’clock at night in Tel Aviv. My stomach lurched and my mouth went dry. Who in the hell was Morris talking to?

"Ani Yachol Le-aker ota Le-reva shair, avl Atta Hazar Le-maher Ani Hoshev sh-Araba-atenu hochel Le-hishtalet alia." (I can probably stall her for another 15 minutes, but you must hurry. I would think that between the four of us we can control her sufficiently.)

Yep. There was that nasty tingling again. I was being set up.

Or the "I don't know nothing" method:

"Stohp!" he shouted as well as he was able with compressed vocal cords. At least I understood that word. I think the previous was Russian but couldn’t be sure.

"Who are you?" I asked. I was watching the rest of his body. His eyes and scent were angry. Blood trickled from his nose and disappeared into the black hair on his lip.

"Men-yah zah-voot Yurgi Kroutikhin," he whispered hoarsely.

I shook my head in annoyance. "I really hope you speak English, buddy. Otherwise, I’m going to be forced to put you out until I figure out what’s going on." My muscles tensed. I had to fight not to end this as my instinct was urging me to.

"I am called Yurgi Kroutikhin," came the heavily accented words in a wheeze.

But a glossary can work too, if you use the other language quite a bit. Just a couple of other options, FWIW.

J. Y. Moore · Jul 3, 2005

Good solutions, Cathy.

I might add that, in your examples, if that much foreign language is spread throughout the ms, a glossary would be impossible for the reader to use and still maintain interest in the storyline. Your solutions, therefore, would be the only plausible ones (although there may be others of the same type that would work just as well

, such as introduction of a universal translation mechanism that is referred to periodically to remind the reader that the characters are actually conversing in another language).

Good luck, Em.

J. Y. (Jean) Moore

Torgo · Jul 4, 2005

John Clute's dictionary-straining SF novel Appleseed includes a helpful note at the beginning defining 'azulejaria' and 'mappemonde'. What that rather said to me, even as I stood there browsing in the shop, was buckle up, Torgo, this is going to be a tough old read. I think it's always better from the reader's point of view if very obscure or foreign words and phrases can be glossed in the text as they come up.

EminemsRevenge · Jul 5, 2005

Thanks for the input folks

The editor i'm working with suggests i put it at the end, and since she did a marvelous job of translating the ponderous beginning into a moving piece of fiction, i'll have to take her advice.

While the book is not bogged down with other languages, as a literary novel i felt it needed certain phrases...some things sound better in Latin, Hebrew or German.

Glossary question

EminemsRevenge

Cathy C

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

J. Y. Moore

Torgo

Formerly Phantom of Krankor.

EminemsRevenge