​In a story written in English, the use of foreign words may help to convey certain emotions, senses, ideas, etc. that are not easily communicated in English. Some of the most common ones include:

• Schadenfreude – the German word referring to the joy of another’s misfortune

• Gigil – the Filipino word describing something (someone) so cute you’ve an uncontrollable urge to pinch or squeeze them, HARD!

• Hygge – the Danish and Norwegian word referring to a cozy, contented mood like drinking hot chocolate in a warm cottage while watching the snowstorm outside.

 

While workshopping my writing, I have heard comments in support of the use of non-English words to enhance the authenticity of the story as well as comments discouraging the use of such words as it reduced understandability.

 

To learn more about the effective use of unfamiliar words, I looked to Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres. These genres often use words invented by the author in their world-building. One thing I noticed about well-written novels in these genres is that, even though I may not know what the word means when I first read them, there are either sufficient clues elsewhere to explain the words or the unfamiliar words themselves do not reduce the overall feeling of the piece despite me not knowing the meaning of those words.

 

The XYZ Test

To that end, I created something that I called the XYZ Test to evaluate whether the use of non-English words in my writing meets the following test – If I replaced the non-English words with “XYZ”:

• One: Are there sufficient clues elsewhere so that the reader can understand the passage?

• Two: Is the overall feeling that I’m trying to evoke retained?

 

Applying the XYZ Test to my manuscript

Below are a few passages that use non-English words from my manuscript. Let me know if the test worked:

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Passage 1

At first, the only symptoms my [XYZ] felt were fatigue, night sweats, and abdominal pains, which she dismissed as annoying side effects of being pregnant with me. During routine pregnancy blood tests, doctors found abnormally low hemoglobin levels in my [XYZ]’s blood. Follow-up tests confirmed her worst fears—acute leukemia while pregnant.

[Are you able to tell XYZ is the mother?]

 

Passage 2

I love my [XYZ]—I never said that out loud, nor was it ever an explicit thought in my mind. That I love my [XYZ] is simply a fundamental truth like the Earth is round, the sun rises in the East, and Superman is a space alien who sexually identifies as a human male.

​

Three things always came to mind whenever I thought about my [XYZ]:

One: He has long fingers,

Two: He has tiny ears, and

Three: He’s pretty good at Muay Thai. 

 

Have you ever tried peeling an egg with one hand without putting it down? My [XYZ] dreamt up the most ridiculous games. In all these silly games, he never went easy on me. He won the egg game because of his long fingers. 

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But he also invented games that he knew I’d win. Have you ever tried taking pistachio nuts out of their shells without breaking them and seeing how many empty shells you could fit on your ears? My [XYZ] had minuscule ears with virtually no ear lobes. As mightily as he tried, each ear would run out of real estate by the fourth shell. I loved the pistachio game.

[Are you able to tell XYZ is the father?]

 

Passage 3

Three weeks wasn’t enough for me to form a true mother-child bond with Hoang Hai. I felt more of a sense of duty to keep him alive than a sense of maternal love. Hoang Hai had to be fed every two to three hours, and I was exhausted from washing the baby bottle, boiling water, mixing the formula and waiting for it to cool, feeding him, burping him, and then repeating the process all over again with barely an hour break in between.

​

But those three weeks were also special. Hoang Hai smiled at the sound of my voice. He blew raspberries at me, and I blew them right back at him until both of our faces were covered with saliva. And three weeks were enough to make it hard for me to let go.

 

“His name is Hoang Hai,” I told the lady from FCVN. “[XYZ]!” I shouted after Hoang Hai as she took him away.

[Are you able to tell XYZ is “I love you”?]

 

What are your thoughts on the XYZ Test?

If you’d like to share your experiences with using non-English words or have any thoughts on the XYZ Test, please drop me a message.