The Language Of This Foreign Country

Fanfiction
Title:	The Language Of This Foreign Country
Author(s):	ignipes
Date(s):	Apr. 9th, 2006
Length:	~2,809 words
Genre(s):	gen
Fandom(s):	Supernatural
Relationship(s):	Sam Winchester & Dean Winchester
External Links:	The Language Of This Foreign Country at AO3
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The Language Of This Foreign Country is a Supernatural gen story written by ignipes.

The story was included on the sawedoff recs LJ community's final recommendation post. It was among the first Supernatural stories that the author wrote.

Author's Summary: "Sam has a list in his head. It's a dictionary or a phrasebook, something you can keep in your pocket and pull out whenever necessary: Translation Guide For People Who Spend Every Waking Hour With People Who Never Say What They Mean."

Fandom Reactions

"The way this fic captures both a few of the intricacies of Sam and Dean's relationship in S1, and each of them as individuals, will draw you right in. If you haven't read this fic, yet, don't wait. The setting and mood is spot-on, and I love the author's Sam-voice."

"Another for my "instant classics" list. The language the Winchesters speak is difficult and thorny, but Sam's learning. Inspired, eloquent, and recced everywhere for a reason."

"I admit it, I'm jealous. I don't know how she does it, but I swear ignipipes has the boys whispering in her ear as she writes. She completely nails their personalities, their relationship, and has the nuances of their speech down pat. Add in the ability to weave in plots and themes perfectly, and you have fanfic gold. Question: How do we get her hired on as an SN writer?"

"Nifty early-season character study of the brotherly relationship, and nice Sam voice.

"This is wonderful! Sam thinking of all the things he'd like to say to John on both his and Dean's behalf breaks my heart and I love the money conversation, with Sam recognising that he does as much to avoid things he doesn't want to talk about as Dean."

"Stunningly good characterizations. These guys are so real, exactly like we know them from the show. you had them nailed down to the small gestures. An evocative look into their life spiced with poignant humour. It was incredibly touching to see how Sam, having finally understood how important he is to his brother, has to work out a way to best express his apologies and how much he cares about Dean too."

"This is just amazingly, unspeakably gorgeous. I want to quote my favorite bits back at you and gloat over them, but I'd just end up quoting the whole story, because this is just note-perfect, from start to finish. Such a wonderful, strong, interesting, believable Sam voice - if I wasn't already in love with the character I would be after this - and great characterization of Dean as well, and great dialogue and a fabulous progression and just... perfect. I love this so much it made my chest ache."

"What you write seems to push nearly all of my buttons at once: literate, clear, angsty but not desperate, humorous, leaves a certain amount of subtext to be figured out by the reader. The longer stories have complex, believable plots. Whether they're slash or gen doesn't really matter, since there is no doubt in any of the stories that each brother is the most important person in the other's life. And each story leaves them - two imperfect men reaching out imperfectly - with a glimmer of hope, like the wonderful final sentence of this story."