Write a story about two or more characters who don't speak each other's language (literally or metaphorically), but still find a way to communicate.

Posted in Dialogue on Dec 16, 2022

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✍️ 54 stories

“Almost Always” by Julia Potter

Submitted to Contest #177

This was a bad idea. I knew it from the time I stepped foot out the door. I got that little feeling somewhere in between my heart and my gut that maybe, just maybe, I should not take a day trip by myself through Kyoto. But did I listen? Ha. And did I think to maybe charge my phone before leaving the home of the very kind, very understanding host family? Iie. That’s the Japanese word for “no”, although I’ve been told it doesn’t quite mean “no”, because saying no isn’t polite, or something like that. It’s also one of precisely five Japanese ph...

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“War and Peas” by Patricia Merewether

Submitted to Contest #177

Warning - war memories of violence I was grateful for my thirty-minute commute because I needed time to decompress from anger, disappointment, sadness, and rage craziness. As it turns out, I needed a longer drive. A neighbor's massive man truck filled my parking spot, and I used my one superpower of parallel parking and squeezed into the spot between his car and my elderly neighbor's. She drives twice weekly, so I know she'd be okay with it. I said a little prayer for her continued longevity. I slammed the car door on my skirt, thus r...

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“Connected by the Spider's Web” by Virtual Chesse Emporium

Submitted to Contest #177

During my latest exploration, the last thing I expected to hear was a sudden shrieking cry. The landscapes I was exploring were filled with creatures that skittered, shuffled, clicked and squirmed around. A shriek meant something entirely different and possibly more dangerous. I slid off a nearby pile of rocks, pulled out my voice recorder, and placed a hand on my blaster gun.“This is Sam, making my third audio log in the Infernal Caves on planet T-4579. I’ve been exploring the geysers and cave entrances and got caught in a geyser explosion....

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“Different Worlds” by Dezi Sequeira

Submitted to Contest #177

*Bolded is English, non-bolded is Italian. This story contains mention of suicide, bullying, mental health issues, self harm, mild mention of alcohol abuse, and mild gore if you look with a magnifying glass. If you are not comfortable with these topics, please do not proceed! --prologue-- I had moved to a new country. All my life I had lived in Italy. With all my childhood friends and family. My father had went to war, and mysteriously went 'missing.' We received a letter from him saying he never wanted to speak to any of us again. The...

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“Live and Let Live” by Sav Lightwood

Submitted to Contest #177

Merry Christmas Mother, I miss you dearly. I hope you had a wonderful bite to eat. I only wish that it wasn't too lonely for you, with both father and I away from home. I miss your all-encompassing hugs and kisses almost as much as your butterscotch pie. In my mouth is a pipe presented by the Princess Mary. In the pipe is tobacco. Of course, you say. But wait - in the pipe is German tobacco. Haha, you say, from a prisoner or found in a captured trench. Oh dear, no! From a live German solider from his very own trench. Inconceivable! You w...

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“The Day We Met” by Masha Kamenetskaya

Submitted to Contest #177

“If you don't get dressed immediately, we will be late,” she says. “Dress, please. Take your top.” He is not listening, he is still wearing his pajamas. He is all over the house, because that is what he does when it's about time to leave. He is driving two cars, and he also is writing a letter. “With a red pen,” he says. “A letter to you!” She is supposed to feel touched, but she doesn't. Mornings used to be slow and enjoyable. Now she regularly locks herself in a bathroom and sits there on the floor. “Put on your clothes,” she says lou...

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“"How Do You Say-I love You"” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #177

My grandfather tells me the story of how he met my grandmother. He was a buyer for a perfume manufacturer in New York City. His job was to purchase bottles from various companies around the world. It had been ten years since World War II ended, and he was about to travel to Lohr am Main in Germany to purchase bottles for a new line of perfume. But unfortunately, he does not speak German, and now his story begins… After talking with my travel agent, I hun...

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“The Port of Algeciras” by Konner Blunt

Submitted to Contest #177

The man’s face remained expressionless as he methodically scribbled a picture of a capsized boat on a napkin in front of him. Left hand scrawling, and his gloved right hand sitting motionless on the table. He pointed to his sketch. A boat on its side, lashed against the rocks. He had taken the time to sketch some items strewn across the water’s surface; bags, life vests, swimming people. Between the boat and the shore was a figure, head barely above the water, arm wrenched into jagged metal and rock. He pointed to the figure, then p...

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“Mourning Starlight” by Julia Mann

Submitted to Contest #177

In the middle of the end of hope, a man fights in a muted world of terror and grim ink. Surrounding him is nothing but frothing steel gray water that mocks and hisses in his ear and batters him again, and again, and again… but below, he sees through salt-stung eyes the mysterious blue-black depths and kicks furiously away from them. Finally, he breaks the surface, blinking water from his eyes—wait! Something new has appeared! A piece of formless white floats not three feet from his head. Desperately, he reaches an arm out to catch hold of sl...

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“A Dream Flight” by Michael Hall

Submitted to Contest #177

A dream flight. My friend Doug invited me to come stay with him in New York. Doug was an Uber driver and he promised, “I’ll show you all the sights and sounds of the Big Apple.” So I arranged to fly there. I told Doug,”I am very excited and thanks for the ...

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“Woman in Southern Sudan” by Pamela Blair

Submitted to Contest #177

WOMAN IN SOUTHERN SUDAN In July, 1971, I began an open-ended journey, with only a fixed destination, Tanzania. After my flight from California to Europe, I was determined to travel overland, by whatever means available, which included some hitching but mainly boats, rickety trains, overcrowded buses, and exhaust-spewing lorries (trucks)—either in the cab or atop the overloaded goods the lorry was carrying. I wanted to experience Africans close-up, not viewing them from a distance or even separating myself from them with a first-class tick...

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“Paper Bridges” by Clementine Kapoor

Submitted to Contest #177

I gaze down into his deep hazel eyes, like the color of decades worn green sea glass peering out from the summer sand of the Amalfi coast. His tawny, tangled curls spill out onto my crisscrossed lap and his high-bridged nose points to the sunny New Mexico sky. PreCal was a devilish bore so we sneaked out of our last class in ninja-like evasion, dodging the didactic, pompous enemy behind water fountains and villainous SAT stands. Now we find ourselves, the rebellious duo, beneath the shade of a parched oak tree, languidly resting on a rusty p...

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“Where's the Bathroom?” by Dylan Miner

Submitted to Contest #177

“Bwat bre bou baying? Bi bannot bunderstand bou!” Of course Banthony couldn’t understand her, Zarah was not speaking Bibish. Where she comes from, no one does and no amount of frustrated and slightly sardonic Bibish would get him or her closer to thoughtful communication. “Zhis zis zointless.” She turned to face the cell wall, crossed her arms and dropped her rump on the cement floor, trying to relax her furrowed brow. She hoped her cellmate pacing behind her could understand what that gesture meant: “Ze’re zoomed”. Banthony had ...

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“Blue Flight Connections” by Violet Waters

Submitted to Contest #177

TW: Grief Business chokes the air on airplanes. An obsessive need for productivity sings through the air, in the constrained irony that one can do pretty much nothing. Every person onboard is forced into a box of limited production, if one simply did not just give up and watch movies. As a lone-traveling teenager, a thought echoed through my head in the long line of people boarding. Please don’t let someone weird sit next to me. Maybe they would take up too much space, and squish me into the corner. Or perhaps their earbuds wouldn’t connec...

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“Coffee, Hotto.” by William Richards

Submitted to Contest #177

It was the day after I arrived in Japan, and now the buzz of getting here had subsided, I realised I craved the buzz of a cup of coffee. There was no kettle, English tea or instant coffee in the accommodation where we were staying, an inner city apartment that I was sharing with Jack, the other sophomore here for a semester of mathematics and good food. I hustled up and down a few streets for a convenience store. I found one, nestled among high-rise buildings, down the third street I searched. It was plastered in screens showing bright a...

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Write a story about two or more characters who don't speak each other's language (literally or metaphorically), but still find a way to communicate.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 54 stories

“Almost Always” by Julia Potter

“War and Peas” by Patricia Merewether

“Connected by the Spider's Web” by Virtual Chesse Emporium

“Different Worlds” by Dezi Sequeira

“Live and Let Live” by Sav Lightwood

“The Day We Met” by Masha Kamenetskaya

“"How Do You Say-I love You"” by Ralph Aldrich

“The Port of Algeciras” by Konner Blunt

“Mourning Starlight” by Julia Mann

“A Dream Flight” by Michael Hall

“Woman in Southern Sudan” by Pamela Blair

“Paper Bridges” by Clementine Kapoor

“Where's the Bathroom?” by Dylan Miner

“Blue Flight Connections” by Violet Waters

“Coffee, Hotto.” by William Richards

🌟 Similar prompts

Set your story in a meeting where a professional interpreter takes some liberties, with major consequences.

Write about someone who is slowly forgetting their mother tongue or losing their language.

Lost in a foreign city where they don’t speak the language, your character uses a translation app to get around, but constantly runs into problems.

Write a story about a character who struggles to translate their thoughts and feelings into words and action.

Contest #177

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

150

Contest entries

70

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: