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I am in the process of editing a handwritten autobiography given to me by a now-deceased Romani 'uncle', a family friend who was a display and set designer in Hollywood, New York and Chicago.

Here is a snippet of a conversation between the Romani writer of the autobiography and his grandson. I would prefer to not have the reader of the book refer to footnotes or flip to a separate glossary. I think, though, a glossary at the end of the book might be a good idea for future reference. I just don't want to break the reader's focus on the dialogue at hand. The Romani or Romanian word or phrase is italicized when first encountered. Is that a good idea? Also: most foreign words are Romani, but there are some words and phrases in Romanian. What is the best way to indicate the source language in-line?

“Hey, Mosha [moe-shah] (Grandfather),” my activist grandson Sammy called out, as he looked up after reading just a few of the 700 handwritten pages of my autobiography. “What were you thinking? You gotta refer to us as Roma or Romani, not Gypsies. The gadje [gawj] (often used pejoratively: non-Romani persons) devalue us by calling us ‘Gypsies!”

I have read through the answers given in response to a question about how to handle translations of foreign language dialogue. But since the foreign words in this manuscript are used repeatedly, I'd like to show the reader in-line how to pronounce the word or short phrase.

F1Krazy
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rafi93277
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1 Answers1

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Me, I'd write

“Hey, Mosha,” my activist grandson Sammy called out, as he looked up after reading just a few of the 700 handwritten pages of my autobiography. “What were you thinking? You gotta refer to us as Roma or Romani, not Gypsies. The gadje devalue us by calling us ‘Gypsies!”

Collect the pronunciations (and translations) either at the front of the book or the back. You're not going to include them at every occurrence of a Romani word are you? So if the reader opens the book at the 15th occurrence of mosha where's the reader supposed to find the explanations? By flicking through every page from the beginning to the first occurrence? No, the reader is going to look for the glossary you have helpfully provided in one of its expected locations.

I'd also suggest that if someone reading the memoir 'mispronounces' mosha (perhaps as mosh-er) or gadje (as gaj-yu or gad-yay) little harm is done to their reading. The memoir is not a text for those learning Romani.

In addition to the guides to pronunciation I've dropped their translations too. When you write my grandson Sammy then you are either his grandmother or grandfather, and I'm sure the rest of the book has made, or will make, clear which. The information that gadje is pejorative (like the word gypsy!) can be provided in the glossary too.

I find your translations and guides to pronunciation interfere with the narrative. I'm well used to reading books in English with a scattering of foreign words and am either happy to figure them out as I read or to keep a finger in the page where the glossary is at. I expect most of your readers will be too.

To conclude, I agree with you that your insertions tend to break the reader's focus, and I disagree with your reluctance to have a reader find the glossary when required.

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