How To Write An Alex Rider Fanfiction

Bilingual Characters

(By the way, that is not me in the picture :) ) 

Speaking more then one language, I am often irritated by the way bilingual characters are portrayed in fiction. 

Maybe you've seen in it, maybe you haven't, whatever the case may be, I'll demonstrate this for you in way that will seem clear, shall I? 

Here we go: 

1. " Namaste, tum ko ek kilo bhaji eh?" Ananya asked. 

The shopkeeper stared at her, puzzled. 

" Sorry. Sometimes I forget to switch back." She corrected herself. " I meant, do you have a kilo of vegetables?" 

~

2. " Oh my god, you're so funny, mija! Come on, lets leave these gringos here and go eat some hot tamales and tacos!" 

I don't mean to offend anyone with the examples above, but they are more common in writing then you think. And Alex Rider is multilingual so I believe if you are writing a story about him, you should be able to portray him correctly. 

(a) They are different types of language speakers. 

Yes! There is actually different levels of language speakers. For example, I am fluent in English and Marathi, meaning I can speak it, read it, write it, and understand it fluently. I can also understand, write, and read Hindi but not speak it. And I can speak basic Chinese and French to the point if I got lost in China or France, I would be able to get to the nearest airport. 

Even Alex Rider is at different points of comprehension in his language skills. He is fluent in English, French and Spanish, some German, and basic Italian and Japanese. To make this easier for you, I have made a chart of what I believe are the basics of language milestones: 

+ The All Rounder: Lets think of this guy as the A+ person in our story. He's that guy in the school who is school president, super popular, good looking, rich, plays football and is the captain and is crazy smart. Get the visual? Well, the language equal would be someone who can read, write, speak, and understand the language pretty well. This is Alex Rider's English, French and Spanish, and my English and Marathi. 

+The Prodigy: This guy is that one guy who has F's in all his classes except that one or another class where he is a genius. The language equivalent is knowing how to do one or two things in their language, but not the fluency of the All Rounder. Lots of immigrant kids are like this, including some of my friends who can speak and understand Tamil, but not write or read it. This would be Alex's German, which, to my knowledge, he can speak and sort of read, and my Hindi.  

+The Average: This guy is more commonly seen everywhere. You know, the guy who is average in all of his classes and manages to barely pass with Bs and Cs. Language wise, he would be the guy who took his language in school, cleared his exams and twenty years later, remembers the bare minimum he would need to survive. This would be Alex's Japanese and Italian and my Chinese and French. 

+The Slacker: We all know that one guy who just bunks school, does fifteen illegal drugs, and sleeps when he does manage to show up just to not get arrested. Language? The guy who learns the few odd words here and there to either show of to girls, or to cuss people out without them realizing it. As young children, we're pretty much all guilty of it, including me, who called my ex a "murka mansa." (Don't ask for the translation.) 

(b) Location is key

Another thing to consider is where they have learnt the language. I am a native of India. Born there, but raised in America. At home, I spoke Marathi and outside, I spoke English. I visit India every year, and my relatives all either speak Marathi or Hindi. 

This doesn't seem important, but language immersion is the key here.

Ever wondered why it took you such a long time to pick up language in school, struggle with it for years, and yet you still aren't fluent at the end? Language immersion. 

Immersing yourself in the language is one of the best ways to learn it.  For Alex, it was living in Madris, France for some time, or staying for the better part of the year in Barcelona, Spain. For me, this was going to India and learning to pick up the various slangs, accents and pronunciations from the locals. Although I still cannot speak Hindi, I can understand it, which brings us to our next important point- language similarities. 

(c) A Bit Of History 

Many languages are connected in ways. For example, English, French, German, Italian and all those European languages all share some common words. So do some other languages. 

I won't give you a large history lecture on this, but most European languages descended from Roman-Latin, hence the term 'romance' languages. Likewise, it is said that Sanskrit is the mother of all languages, and its true; Sanskrit was one of the first and still lasting languages in the world. 

How is this seen in modern day language? Well, look at the chart below...I think you'll get what I'm talking about soon...

English   French    Latin

Embassy       Embassy     Legatorum

Butter             Buerre              Butyrum

English                Anglais           Anglicus

As you can see, a lot of words are in common with each other. Therefore, lets say a character speaks fluent French but not very much of English. They can deduce the meaning of the words by their own languages. This is one of the reasons I can understand Hindi, and my Hindi friends can understand bits of Marathi. And another bonus perk is if the languages are similar, its easier to learn them. 

(d) Rome wasn't built in a day, and similarly, you cannot learn a language in a day. 

I of all people should know how hard it is to learn languages. I'm learning two right now and a third once I go back home. Each language has its own struggles? 

French? All those verbs, present tenses, future, near future...argh! I just can't!

Chinese? Sure, you try memorizing all those increasingly long characters and pinyin. 

Hindi? None of my previous teachers taught me much in the past eight years I have been taking it. Can't say I'm too optimistic of the prospects. 

But I love them anyways :). 

Just saying, keep this in mind when writing languages. Children pick it up better then adults, so yeah...that's about it. 

Happy Writing! 

-Amber