4 ms·
Half-relevant: I really like when dashes are used for dialogue. I think the way it's done in Spanish (and other languages that, alas, I cannot read) is especia
by maw 6y ago
Half-relevant: I really like when dashes are used for dialogue. I think the way it's done in Spanish (and other languages that, alas, I cannot read) is especially stylish. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark#Quotation_dash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark#Quotation_dash
- augusto-moura 6y agoIt's also used in Portuguese, but only in specific genres of literature (mostly in screenplays scripts), common romances rarely use it
- smnrchrds 6y agoTIL. I thought that was standard in English as well. It is news to me that it is not. Out of curiosity, what is the standard English format for such dialogues?
- Liquid_Fire 6y agoIn English you usually use quotes. The linked Wikipedia section has some examples in English, alongside the Russian/Hungarian/Finnish examples: > “You don't seem to be anything special,” said Korkala almost sadly, “but there's no help to it.” Another thing to note is that if the quotation spans multiple paragraphs, you repeat the opening quote at the start of each paragraph (but not the closing one - it only appears at the end of the last paragraph).
- smnrchrds 6y agoThat explains why I always wondered English books and their translations use "said" and its variations way more than books written in the other languages I speak. Thanks for the explanation
- j1elo 6y agoNote it's an "em dash", longer than a typical dash or hyphen. I've seen them used also as kind of a replacement for parentheses. Sometimes a phrase benefits from —but doesn't strictly require— an extra clarification.
- wiredfool 6y agoI love how the dialog in each of the languages in Ada Palmer's Terra Ignotia series have their own quotation marks.