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Ideas for communicating between characters

cak85

Minstrel
Hi! I need some help with getting my characters of very different races/species to communicate.

Basically, in my WIP a human woman washes up on an island inhabited by giants. She doesn't speak their language and they don't speak hers. I don't want to go the "hand waving approach and give her some universal communication spell.

So here is what I am thinking:

This woman, Bisear, is able to communicate with ghosts (specifically her Mom). The ghost of her mom watches over her and gives her motherly advice (not always wanted haha).

There is a type of giant called Spirit Walker, who can communicate with the feral spirits of the islands, which is how they get their power.

Anyways, I am thinking that spirit walker giants can communicate with Bisear's Mom and Bisear indirectly mentally sending images/pictures but NOT words. This way they can communicate but sometimes the communication can be misinterpreted.

Like Bisear could have her mom show them a picture of a fish (implying she is hungry) and the giants can interpret it as she is saying that she thinks is a fish. I don't know just throwing that one out there.

Thoughts? Would this feel too convent to you as a reader?
 

Avery Moore

Troubadour
It does feel quite overly complex, but I guess if you introduce the different aspects of this magic system gradually then it can work. That said, wouldn't it be easier for Bisear to just draw a picture of a fish in the sand or mud or something?
 
Do giants speak the way humans do? Orally, in words? Or is their way of communicating entirely different?

Assuming they have a verbal language, surely Bisear can learn it. Drawing pictures could be a way to start: she draws a picture of a fish, points to it and says, "Fish," and a giant points to it and gives her their word for fish. But there could be plenty of misunderstanding if she doesn't draw that well. Pictures on sand usually don't come out that clear, either.
 

Chasejxyz

Inkling
In Clan of the Cave Bear, Ayla is a cro-magnon (aka "normal human") who is orphaned and adopted by a group of neanderthals. She can speak, but neanderthals can't, but they do communicate with a sign language and some basic vocalizations (I guess they don't have good vocal systems?). She picks it up pretty quickly because she kinda has no choice, but she's also a kid and they tend to have great ability to learn languages.

You could have them draw pictures, but cultural differences can make this tricky. Like if I drew [hand] [fish] [person], you would probably read it as "give a person a fish." But the giants might read it as "person releases a fish (back into the water)" since they read right to left. Different cultures have different spatial concepts of the flow of time, so not just left/right, but top/down or forward/back. A culture that has a language that's written as a spiral would think of the past as "inside" and the future as "outside." This would give your MC challenges to overcome to figure this out, but also some really good opportunities for world building, too.

I also imagine it'll take some time for using the ghost mom as an intermediary to be set up. But since she's the messenger, she can misinterpret or change messages. Maybe your MC is falling in love with a giant and the giant wants to use the mom to confess their feelings...but the mom doesn't want to see her kid with a giant. Drama!
 

Saigonnus

Auror
Body language is also very important, and may be similar between both cultures. Baser emotions like sadness, happiness, annoyance and whatnot can be shown through what the characters do rather than by what they say.
 

cak85

Minstrel
Thanks! These are really great ideas.

To answer this question: "Do giants speak the way humans do? Orally, in words? Or is their way of communicating entirely different?"

I imagine them speaking kind of like the ents from LOTR. Meaning taking a verrrry long time to say things. They are very long-lived so they don't like to rush what they have to say. I was also imagining them communicating through gestures and body language, this would be more for immediacy things. Like if one of the giants is in danger and needs to be warned by his/her buddy.

"A culture that has a language that's written as a spiral would think of the past as "inside" and the future as "outside."

I am glad you brought that up. The giants in my world revere what they call the Endless Spiral, which is the universe/night sky etc. They believe that their ancestors are the stars in the sky. So when a giant is accepted as a full member of their society, their body is tattooed with glowing purple spirals that represents them as being accepted. I was thinking to add drama, Bisear will have her body tattooed by the giants which means that she now can start using giant magic but more importantly she will not be fully accepted back by her own people.

Sorry I kinda digressed with that last part! I hope it adds some extra context though.
 
Thanks! These are really great ideas.

To answer this question: "Do giants speak the way humans do? Orally, in words? Or is their way of communicating entirely different?"

I imagine them speaking kind of like the ents from LOTR. Meaning taking a verrrry long time to say things. They are very long-lived so they don't like to rush what they have to say. I was also imagining them communicating through gestures and body language, this would be more for immediacy things. Like if one of the giants is in danger and needs to be warned by his/her buddy.
If the giants communicate through gestures, why do you want to avoid hand waving? Gestures are the simplest way for people who don't speak each other's languages to communicate, and the one that comes most naturally. If the giants' language includes lots of gesturing, it's only natural that's how they'd communicate with this human castaway, and only natural that would be her first attempt at communicating with them. To learn their language, she'd have to learn their gestures first anyway.
 

cak85

Minstrel
If the giants communicate through gestures, why do you want to avoid hand waving? Gestures are the simplest way for people who don't speak each other's languages to communicate, and the one that comes most naturally. If the giants' language includes lots of gesturing, it's only natural that's how they'd communicate with this human castaway, and only natural that would be her first attempt at communicating with them. To learn their language, she'd have to learn their gestures first anyway.

Thats a good point. I wanted to avoid hand waving so I don't come across as taking the easy route. But it sounds like I am over complicating something that doesn't really need to be, overly complicated.
 
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