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Ditto Neil's reply. A lot to be learned from a master of migrancy literature, Salman Rushdie. While The Satanic Verses is written in English, the narration itself, not just the dialogue, utilizes Hindi, Arabic, and Urdu. Jokes within the text rely on the reader's understanding of multiple languages, but the plot doesn't; Saladin Chamcha is called "Spoono" in ...

In general, it's my opinion that a story should pick a language and stick to it. Even though many people speak multiple languages, having a book in more than one language means you're limiting yourself to a subset of possible readers. Ask yourself: What purpose does it serve to the story and characters to quote them speaking in more than one language? If a ...

"Circensian" is a word, which means "of or relating to the Circus in ancient Rome", so you could potentially consider using that, but it likely doesn't really fit. Since this is Writers.SE, however, I would fall back to Stephen King's comment that “The road to hell is paved with adjectives.” Why not simply describe the activities that are occuring around ...

I'm a South-American-born Chinese and I write novels and short stories in English. I'm not familiar with poetry rules, but I think that's the easy part. The difficult part is to write like a native speaker (or at least, good enough to be taken seriously by native speakers). These are some methods I use: I read everyday (e.g. two novels a week) I write ...

If I was reading a fantasy or sci fi story in which Latin was the predominant language, I would expect some explanation as to why. Perhaps the Roman Empire had not imploded and instead had gone on to develop space travel and colonized the planets. Or maybe your fantasy is about a kingdom where magic exists and it is in the path of Roman conquest. In either ...

Read a lot of old books, prereferentially related to the topic of your own story. Get a sense of the idiom, like a sailor referring to himself as an old salt. Get it under your skin. If you constantly need to consult a phrase book, a grammar or a style manual, I'm afeared ye can nae pull it off. In other words, if you don't feel you can write the original ...

When you say Old English, be aware that another term for that is Anglo-Saxon, which is English from before the Norman Conquest. Here's an example: Ic eom weorð werum, wide funden brungen of bearwum ond of burghleoþum of denum ond of durum. Dæges mec wægun feþre on lifte feredon mid liste under hrofes hleo. Hæleð mec siþþan baþedan in bydene. Nu ...

I think there is an issue if you expect people to understand Latin to read it - relatively few do these days, but some will. This means that not only do you have to provide explanations/translations, but these have to be accurate! I have read some stories where Latin phrases/mottos etc are used, with an expectation that the read will know them - sometimes ...

I doubt anyone knows what you wanted to say better than yourself. Even the most skilled translator can miss some fine points you wanted to express. As someone who has seen quite a number of bad translations, I'd never let anyone translate it into a language I know well enough to translate myself. To help, maybe, to edit and give a hand with some subtler ...

You know that you have an important question when your topic already has a recognised acronym NDW. However it is typically used in the medical field rather creative writing. It appears to have arisen from the rehabilitation of patients with brain injury such as stroke. The University of Albert Department of Linguistics has a fairly extensive discussion on ...

Through Tannalein's link to TVTropes I found just the right resource I think I need. Life in Elizabethan England This will allow some basic expressions, help avoid common blunders and show pretty much where not to go at all, for risk of making utter mess. Another resource clarifying it a little: Speaking Ye Olde Butchered English