I think the title says it all but to clarify. Looking at my outline I have a scene that calls for One of the characters to say something in an ancient language that only he and the person the insult (cos it is) is addressed to understand.

Trouble is I don't speak said language either and I can't really afford to hire a translator for everytime one of my incarnated gods slips into the language of their original culture. Is there any way to deal with this - I mean it's easy enough in prose you just say the character said it in a strange language but in a script where you can't just say someone spoke you have to write what they sid...

I'm at a loss...

I dunno, but I might just write it like this -

CHARACTER #1:
(speaking ancient language)
Insult!

Or maybe even this -

CHARACTER #1 insults CHARACTER #2 in an ancient language. CHARACTER #2 looks offended.

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SF '07: Sand & Stone - WON!
SF '08: Sand & Stone (continued)

Change of plans - now finishing Sand & Stone this April.

Angelfish, my sci-fi/fantasy webcomic.

If it's ok for the reader to know the translation, I'd include the English version of the phrase in greater-than and less-than brackets, like so:

AncientMan: <You look like a pile of dung.>


(And if you feel it's necessary, you might add an asterisk, and in a caption explain "Translated from Ancient Egyptian" or whatever.)

But if you just want to include a foreign phrase that should not be translated for the reader (and if it is indeed a real-world language), I think you'll really need to go to a translator--which of course you can do after Script Frenzy is over. But you might be able to find a message board for students of that language and get some free help.

If it is truly a dead language, then I don't know what to suggest.

-Keith

if you don't need to know the exact insult, what about:

CHARACTER 1: (alien letters, unintelligible)

CHARACTER 2 reacts with horror, as if he's just been insulted. Anyone else in the room looks puzzled.

--this would be showing rather than telling. The reaction shot says a lot more about the level of insult and leaves it to the reader's imagination what could be so insulting.

There are MANY alien fonts out there, mostly labeled things like Miskatonic (I like that one), that would serve. That way not only can't you read it, you can't pronounce it either, and readers won't be stopping in the middle of the story trying to read the caption or parse it out when they need to stay IN the story.

Hope that helps.

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Nano 2007: If Wishes Were Horses (winnah!)
Script Frenzy 2008: IWWH, the GN. OMGWTFBBQ.

The font idea is a good one. I like Miskatonic as well and there's a number of other cool fonts that might do the job. :-)

If it's a real language you might be able to find an online translation program. (Babelfish is one, but I don't know if it includes any ancient languages) They don't offer the best translations, but for something like this it could work.

In Love and Rockets, when Los Bros Hernandez want to indicate that a character is speaking in Spanish, their dialogue appears within angled brackets ("<< >>") with a footnote at the bottom of the page: "Spanish." You could do the same kind of thing with your ancient language.

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Myriad

NaNoWriMo 2007: Won with Lobbied
Scriptfrenzy 2008: These Dreams (Graphic-Novel Script)