[telracs]

As a reader, I like familiar time frames.  Unless you are introducing a character from "our" world to a different place where they will have to understand different times, stick with the names we use.  A minute on your world may not equal 60 seconds, but it will be understood as a short period of time. 

 

[telracs]

@Scarlet, I think you're absolutely right on that. Familiar terms will work, but I can't stress if they're exactly 60 seconds or anything like that.

Exactly. I don't want you to stress exactly how long a "minute" is, the reader will figure it's a short period of time. I prefer authors use familiar terms than to have to remember that there are 65 slotzys in a forbeg...

In my mind, since your characters are speaking some other language which we're reading as English, the terms closest to the ones we know are logical to use.

edit: TW and I were typing at the same time, I wasn't meaning to duplicate the "English" comments.

 

[telracs]

The language was another serious consideration I spent a lot of time on. I like the way you describe it as translating and not inventing new words for things that exist is really vital with all the other concepts a fantasy novel throws at the reader.

In a similar but different vein, think of it as if watching a movie (or in my case, usually a play) set in a different country where everyone speaks something other than English. They don't need to have an accent, since to them, they don't. The best example was in a play titled Golden Child. It was set in China, and all the Chinese characters spoke fine, but the one Englishman (who is described as not knowing Chinese) spoke in broken English. It got the message across just fine.

But, as I often say, no matter what you do, some people will love it, some people will hate it, and some will never get the joke.