In unraveling the intractable problem of translating the language variety called ‘the idiolect’ in fiction, the author of this paper resorts to a consideration of English, French, German and Italian translations of the Honglou Meng. The paper examines only idiolect as it appears in the original Honglou meng, and shows what function it performs, what literary effects it creates, and whether or not the translations have succeeded in preserving the qualities of the original.