Hello everybody ^^ I'm Fortuna, I'm a 27 years old french Ph. D. student in european medieval literature, and I am also a lecturer in french medieval literature at my university. As you can guess, english isn't exactly my mother's tongue and I probably will make a lot of mistakes while writing it. Please, feel free to correct me if I write awful things. I write since I was a teenager, mainly in french, of course. But while writing my Ph.D. I started to read more and more in english, and I really love this language. The evident next step was to start writing in english another things than research papers. I know I will probably miss a lot of subtlety of the language while writing in english but well, I'm also here to learn and improve my skills ! I enjoy reading many kinds of books : non-fiction, fantasy, general fiction, theater plays, mystery novels, short stories, science fiction... well, I guess I'm the right audience for many books. Aside reading, I also enjoy drawing and painting as well as practising calligraphy. It will be a pleasure to write with you all !
I'm having hideous, hideous flashbacks to reading Chaucer in College now. I hope you're going easy on those poor students, Fortuna. I don't know if medieval European literature is as much of a shock as medieval English is to modern English, but if it is... please go easy on those poor, poor students hehe My editor is german, and like you, she really has become enamoured with English. Even though I've learned a bit of french and german at school, i always thought because we all derived from Latin that our languages today would be basically the same. But my editor has been explaining to me over the last six months how our languages differ and how English is "more free" than Deutsche, (her words, not mine ) and I'm only now beginning to appreciate how creative my native language is compared to some others, so I'm glad you're finding enjoyment in it too, Fortuna. As for finding the subtlety, that's just a matter of time. So welcome to the forums!
I can imagine how Chaucer is a traumatic reading if it is your first encounter with medieval literature ! Medieval literature is difficult because of its older state of the language, and, of course, it can be a real shock if students aren't well prepared ! I'm always extra careful to study with them some easy to understand texts. I know how it can frighten people ! To be honnest, I only started to like medieval literature in master degree because I had a wonderful supervisor who helped me so much with the old french ! English seems a language more flexible to me, yes. French can sometimes be too but it's complicated, and german has just so many rules about the places of the words on sentences and the system of cases and declensions... Well I can understand how the english seems more free to your editor : you can place the words more freely in english for example. And in fact, french (as well as italian or spanish) is closer to latin than english or german : both have lots of germanic influence inside. I find english very refreshing also because in France we have a lot of pressure about the language. As, during the Middle Ages, french was a language of power talked in lots of courts (it's why Chaucer is so well known in english-speaking countries : it's the first english author who has written in english and not in french or in latin), here in France the language is somewhat sacred for the elites. The way you speeks will mean a lot for your social identity. Lots of my coworker at the university have this feeling that french is THE language of culture because of its rich history... which is totally stupid if you want my opinion ! But as the french elites regard french language as sacred, they don't allow the language to evolve freely, they are very conservative and the language evolves very slowly, with few foreign words added to the dictionnaries, and th preservation of grammatical rules nobody uses anymore. There is a very huge difference between written and spoken french (it's sometimes very difficult for youg students), so when I write novels or short stories in french, I feel very watched in my writing style ; and obviously I feel more free in english. And english sounds so beautifully too ! Thanks you for your warm welcome !
Hello, Fortuna I’m one of the forum moderators, and I want to welcome you to the forum. You sound like an incredibly interesting person, with all your experience in languages AND literature ...in more than one language as well. It's intriguing to read your 'take' on English, being 'freer' than some other European languages. I suppose we English speakers get kicked (and kick ourselves) for having such a contradictory set of 'rules' and conventions to our language. Folk who come from countries where the language is more formalised probably pull their hair out in little tufts, trying to get on top of English. But modern English speakers often don't know their own rules, and kinda make things up as they go along ...causing us 'older' English speakers to pull OUR hair out in little tufts. But that's the way of language when it evolves, I suppose. So many English words and idioms come from French. I wonder if there is much of that going the other way around. Anyway.... In order to help you get oriented and get settled, here are a couple of links I strongly recommend that you read at the start, if you haven’t already. They will give you a good idea of how we operate here on the forum: New Member Quick Start Forum Rules You will notice in the New Member Quick Start that in order to post your work in the Workshop area—the only area of the forum where you are allowed to post your work and ask for feedback—you will need to do at least two critiques for other people, in exchange for receiving feedback on one of your own pieces of work. This site is designed around the concept of members helping each other out by ‘paying it forward’—through our two-for-one critique system. So do two critiques, THEN you can post something of your own. This advance 2:1 ratio lasts as long as your membership here—although it is your own responsibility to keep track of your own ratio. The software doesn't keep track of it for you, beyond your first two critiques. In order to help you get started doing critiques, here is a link to a good article written by one of our former moderators: https://www.writingforums.org/threads/constructive-critiques.20627/ One of the popular areas of our forum is our contest section. There is a monthly contest running for Short Stories, Flash Fiction and Poetry. You can enter these ongoing contests, even as a new member. And we really encourage you to visit the site, read the current entries, and vote for your favourite when the voting period starts. This means a lot to the people who have written these entries. And it will also give you a good idea of what our members are capable of writing. https://www.writingforums.org/writing-contests/ While the Role Playing Game section is not new, it’s being given a revamp. So if you are interested in playing and writing Role Playing Games, you might want to visit this section and get in on the fun. https://www.writingforums.org/threads/resurrecting-the-dead-rpg-section-rebuild.165055/ I hope you have fun getting to know us and let us get to know you, via the posts you make. Please feel free to explore the forum. There is a lot under the hood. This site map might help you find your way around more quickly than the menu bars do, so feel free to use it. https://www.writingforums.org/faq/ If you encounter any difficulties, don’t hesitate to contact me or one of the other moderators, whose names appear in yellow at the bottom of the Community page. We will be glad to help. Again, welcome! Cheers for now, Jan
Hello and welcome! I took four semesters of French at college and I'm pretty sure my last professor wanted me never to speak French again. Doesn't stop me from loving the sound of it. I hope you like it here.
