Writers of SS - I once again ask you to share your great wisdom with me :-)

My "lost in space" sci-fi series sees 8 Aliens thrust together against their will. One of the first big problems they have, communication - they all speak different languages.

Now. I want the characters to talk, (they will attempt to talk to each other, even if they quickly discover no one has a clue what they are saying). But unsure of how to handle it.

I don't want the audience to know what they are saying either (apart from the human who speaks English) so there will be no subtitles.

My immediate thought is to just write out the dialogue in English (with some kind of note that it's alien, not subtitled). The reason being it will help me with writing the story and it would be useful for directors/actors to know what a character is saying, even if the audience will never know.
The characters eventually find a way to communicate (most of them anyway) so dialogue can commence as normal later on.

Writing it out in English seems a better way to go than making up some jibberish language and typing that.

Thoughts?

P.S if you can think of any scripts that deal with alien languages in a similar way, please let me know so I can have a read.

Remember that you’re writing for the reader first - if you give us the dialogue in advance then it’ll take away from the impact of your reveal, especially if the English translation of their alien speak has no bearing on the story. There are many ways to convey the frustration of the situation without spelling it out in dialogue.

Quoted from SAC Remember that you�re writing for the reader first - if you give us the dialogue in advance then it�ll take away from the impact of your reveal, especially if the English translation of their alien speak has no bearing on the story. There are many ways to convey the frustration of the situation without spelling it out in dialogue.

Thanks for the input - the dialogue won't convey any important information, and the action will show the frustration of the scene.

I guess I want dialogue in there to break up the action sequences as well, but thought some gobbledygook would annoy people.

Quoted Text Cassius and Barak both get to thier feet. Barak has the pistol, aims it at Cassius's head.                       Barak                 (Alien language)              Who are you! Who are you!                     Cassius                I don't understand! Please,                put the gun down Barak's hand trembles. Cassius takes a step towards him-- --BANG

Or.....

Quoted Text Cassius and Barak both get to thier feet. Barak has the pistol, aims it at Cassius's head.                       Barak                 Fho shun goridder!                 Fho shun goridder!                     Cassius                I don't understand! Please,                put the gun down Barak's hand trembles. Cassius takes a step towards him-- --BANG

Or....

Quoted Text Cassius and Barak both get to thier feet. Barak has the pistol. He yells in an alien language as he points it at Cassius's head.                     Cassius                I don't understand! Please,                put the gun down Barak's hand trembles. Cassius takes a step towards him-- --BANG

There are quite a few instances of trying to commuincate with each other. Don't get me wrong, there are obviously no full blown conversations, mostly just blurted out frustrations or failed attempts at reasoning.

If you're wanting it to be intentionally vague at first, don't write it as dialogue all. Instead, just indicate it in the action/narrative.

ZIB-ZORB, an insectoid alien, speaks in a series of rapid-fire clicks and ticks, while MEEP-MORP, an anthropomorphic sponge with a simian head, speaks a language comprised primarily of slurps and grunts.  Only JOE, a human translator, can understand what either are saying.

Zib-Zorb rants.

JOE
Now Zib-Zorb, that's not nice.

Meep-Morp responds tersely.

JOE
And you're another!

Eh, you get the idea.

I like the middle one. It conveys exactly what you’re going for - and the alien language actually seems to get the point across as to what he’s saying. And yeah, you can break it up with action to help further emphasize what he’s saying, even if it is alien gibberish, which doesn’t look half bad, imo.

Quoted from Lon If you're wanting it to be intentionally vague at first, don't write it as dialogue all. Instead, just indicate it in the action/narrative. ZIB-ZORB, an insectoid alien, speaks in a series of rapid-fire clicks and ticks, while MEEP-MORP, an anthropomorphic sponge with a simian head, speaks a language comprised primarily of slurps and grunts.  Only JOE, a human translator, can understand what either are saying. Zib-Zorb rants. JOE Now Zib-Zorb, that's not nice. Meep-Morp responds tersely. JOE And you're another! Eh, you get the idea.

This works as well. A combo of both?

Great! Thank you both! English translation is out - Combo of through action/narrative with the occasional alien dialogue thrown in when appropriate  ;)

Luckily it doesn't go on for too long in the pilot lol

Think you got some good advice there. If you still want to see pro script variations, here's a few that come to mind that might have alien talking in one form or another...

Galaxy Quest, District 9, Men In Black Series, Thor: Ragnarok, The Fifth Element.

A lot of good advice here for this special problem.

Note: I would seriously consider not trying to have as many as eight species speaking different languages as it is hard for me to envision even  with the perfect version how this will not be incredibly confusing.

In terms of the solution - as you can see there are several - If it were me, I'd just write it first something akin to:

VULCAN
Vulcan vulcan vulcan.

MARTIAN
Martian martian martian

etc. i.e., don't waste a lot of the time on the solution until you are done with the story. Then after you write the story see which of the above best fits in terms of reading clarity.

Quoted from MarkItZero Think you got some good advice there. If you still want to see pro script variations, here's a few that come to mind that might have alien talking in one form or another... Galaxy Quest, District 9, Men In Black Series, Thor: Ragnarok, The Fifth Element.

Galaxy quest!! love that movie

Thanks for the list, will pour through them and see what I can find.

Quoted from eldave1 A lot of good advice here for this special problem. Note: I would seriously consider not trying to have as many as eight species speaking different languages as it is hard for me to envision even  with the perfect version how this will not be incredibly confusing. In terms of the solution - as you can see there are several - If it were me, I'd just write it first something akin to: VULCAN Vulcan vulcan vulcan. MARTIAN Martian martian martian etc. i.e., don't waste a lot of the time on the solution until you are done with the story. Then after you write the story see which of the above best fits in terms of reading clarity.

Thanks, Dave. It's not as bad as I am making it out to be... the immediate situation is frantic and so, they are just trying to survive (no room for talking) - then the situation forces them to break off into small groups. We then follow each small group... so hopefully not too convoluted and confusing lol

Thanks for the tip.

Quoted from Matthew Taylor Galaxy quest!! love that movie Thanks for the list, will pour through them and see what I can find. Thanks, Dave. It's not as bad as I am making it out to be... the immediate situation is frantic and so, they are just trying to survive (no room for talking) - then the situation forces them to break off into small groups. We then follow each small group... so hopefully not too convoluted and confusing lol Thanks for the tip.

My pleasure - interested to see how iti comes out

Quoted from eldave1 ...don't waste a lot of the time on the solution until you are done with the story.

This is great writing advice in general.  Lots of writers get to a point where they're not sure how to write a certain scene or moment or detail, so they stop writing altogether as they struggle to address it.  All that does is kill your moment and stymie your progress.  There's nothing wrong with plugging in a place-holder and coming back to it later.  My first drafts almost always contain a varying number of "ADD DESCRIPTION LATER"s, "BLAH BLAH BLAH" s, etc.

Remember that your first draft is all about getting what's in your head on paper, tout suite.  There's a reason it's often called the "vomit draft."  You're jus throwing all your ideas onto the page.  If you hit a snag, skip over it and keep writing. You'll fix it in the revisions.

Quoted from Lon This is great writing advice in general.  Lots of writers get to a point where they're not sure how to write a certain scene or moment or detail, so they stop writing altogether as they struggle to address it.  All that does is kill your moment and stymie your progress.  There's nothing wrong with plugging in a place-holder and coming back to it later.  My first drafts almost always contain a varying number of "ADD DESCRIPTION LATER"s, "BLAH BLAH BLAH" s, etc. Remember that your first draft is all about getting what's in your head on paper, tout suite.  There's a reason it's often called the "vomit draft."  You're jus throwing all your ideas onto the page.  If you hit a snag, skip over it and keep writing. You'll fix it in the revisions.

For me that is certainly true - use to stare at the page for an hour trying to be perfect - now I just change the FONT to red and type what first comes to mind and come back to it later

Enemy Mine is a great example of this, but with just two characters and for a large part of the movie we don't know what the alien is saying.

I'd forego writing the dialogue and just do actor direction.

           ALIEN
(yells a gutteral threat)

           HUMAN
All right, I get it! Don't touch your eggs!

There's been some great advice here so far, and just about any of these options would work if a script is consistent with it.

A harder problem would be making unitelligible "English" because the POV character is an alien.

Quoted from FrankM There's been some great advice here so far, and just about any of these options would work if a script is consistent with it. A harder problem would be making unitelligible "English" because the POV character is an alien.

I don't see how that will fly with an audience. To hear gobbledegook throughout and learn it was actually English the whole time would make people wonder why it wasn't just English the whole time.

Quoted from ReneC I don't see how that will fly with an audience. To hear gobbledegook throughout and learn it was actually English the whole time would make people wonder why it wasn't just English the whole time.

I think you're right. I've only seen one real example of this, a Twilight Zone episode where no one spoke at all until the end.

It might be able to work if the humans and aliens operate at significantly differentg speeds. You can even switch back and forth between POVs and keep the incomprehensibility going for an extended period.

Hmm, just weighing in, sorta...

I'm a bit/lot confused at what we'll be seeing and hearing on screen. Do the Aliens speak/understand English, or not?
If it were me I'd look for examples in produced scripts. That's always my go-to.

Out of interest I looked at Close Encounters and Arrival - both are downloadable. Of course communication in both was done musically and pictorialy respectively, so my comments are probably redundant.

8 Aliens thrust together against their will. One of the first big problems they have, communication - they all speak different languages...I don't want the audience to know what they are saying either ( What exactly is an audience going to see then?
Wow, that's a task and a half.

FYI:
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/what-arrival-got-right-about-communicating-space-aliens-ncna889061

Matt, is this straight drama or comedy?

Quoted from LC Hmm, just weighing in, sorta... I'm a bit/lot confused at what we'll be seeing and hearing on screen. Do the Aliens speak/understand English, or not? If it were me I'd look for examples in produced scripts. That's always my go-to. Out of interest, I looked at Close Encounters and Arrival - both are downloadable. Of course, communication in both was done musically and pictorially respectively, so my comments are probably redundant. 8 Aliens thrust together against their will. One of the first big problems they have, communication - they all speak different languages...I don't want the audience to know what they are saying either ( What exactly is an audience going to see then? Wow, that's a task and a half. FYI: https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/what-arrival-got-right-about-communicating-space-aliens-ncna889061 Matt, is this straight drama or comedy?

Basically, imagine you woke up in a room with 7 other people from different nations and the room was going to imminently implode. You would try to communicate with each other, and probably quickly learn than spoken language is not working - you would also try to escape the room.
The language itself is not important, what is important is that they cannot understand each other, they do not know each other, but they somehow need to work together to get a hold of the situation they are in.

The action heavily drives the narrative forward, none of the characters can understand each other vocally. The only character the audience can understand is the only Human. They can and do try rudimentary communication like hand gestures and facial expressions.

They are in peril for pretty much the entire pilot, so they are each trying to survive - They also each react differently to their situation (scared, angry, oddly calm)

I did originally have them be able to understand each other, with no explanation as to how - and thought "I'm missing the obvious here, if they cannot communicate but they need each other help, it immediately ups the ante"

Later on, another "being" arrives who has been studying intelligent species for centuries and provides them with the ability to communicate (I was conscious of the fact that an audience would eventually become annoyed if the characters couldn't communicate for too long)
that may seem like a cop-out, but there is a narrative explanation for this "being" which is slowly revealed through the season.

Once I have enough of the pilot written I'll pop it into the WIP section to see if how I am doing it is working or not.

EDIT: it's a Sci-fi action drama :) not comedy

If these folks basically wake up in each other's presence without explanation, one of the natural reactions would be to blame/fear at least one of the others. One may look like a predator or demon from another's world.

As for giving them communications, you could go full Expanse and have them work out a rudimentary creole among themselves. You could be a little nicer to your audience and include subtitles.

Quoted from FrankM If these folks basically wake up in each other's presence without explanation, one of the natural reactions would be to blame/fear at least one of the others. One may look like a predator or demon from another's world.

Indeed, although they can remember the moment they were taken and who took them (I can't stand that amnesia crap in tv shows)

I like that demon idea though, thank you - as the season goes on and the plot unfolds, we discover links between them and their seemingly random kidnapping is no longer looking random. The cogs are turning on that Demon idea.....

Quoted from FrankM You could be a little nicer to your audience and include subtitles.

To subtitle or not to subtitle, that is the question

Quoted from Matthew Taylor To subtitle or not to subtitle, that is the question

I would not subtitle at all at first... only what someone other than the speaker can understand. If they've settled on waving the hands means "no" then it might warrant a subtitle.

It depends on how much work you expect the audience to do (and whether they're likely to binge-watch or catch the occasional episode). In a late episode of The Expanse, when Commander Ashford said "Heah me, Beltahlouder" I actually understood him :)