I write about 90% in English. I also read about 90% in English. English is not really my native language, but I can speak it like a native. I think I prefer English because I was basically taught reading English, and only read very little in German when I was young. This has stuck. I feel uncomfortable writing fiction in German, it flows much better (and reads much better) when it's in English. The rest of my writing is done in German. Apart from German, I read a little French, Italian and Russian every now and then, but not much beyond newspaper articles or similar length stuff.
I would write it in Spanish, better that than a language you are not comfortable with, especially when you are up against a lot of very fluent english writers. You could always translate it later, but I would write in the most comfortable and speediest way possible to begin with. Spanish is a massive language and I'm sure there is an audience. However Great Britian publishes more books per person than anybody else in the world (bar the vatican city- but they count religious pamphlets in publishing texts).
Having ESL is like feeding a weed. You get the seeds planted in your head when you're really young and the thing starts growing silently until it sinks its roots and scramble your brain to force itself into acknowlegment. The moment my MC popped into my head, I instantly knew he was British. I started to write his story in Dutch, but it came out... er... unnatural. It was the English language creeping into me, forcing me to stretch its space in my brain. The writing wasn't flowing, so I finally gave in to the evil weed's force and everything got better (story-wise). Joking aside, I've always loved English. 98% of the books I read are in English. I seek it in my leisure hours, and am forced to use it in the working ones routinely. Of course writing in English has it's struggles, but I find the challenge will make me come out better in the end. As someone mentioned above, I've also thought about publishing in the U.S and/or in Britain. Hopefully the fact that the story is written in English will gain me some points, but I believe what really matters is the story itself. I don’t know anything about agents or editors in the U.S. or in Britain. This’s something I’ll get worried about later, if I decide I’m even going to try publishing it. What matters now is that I’m enjoying what I’m doing and that I’m learning more and more as I do it.
Same problem here. I just learned a new word here in the forum the other day: flounce. Looking it up in the dictionary I quickly found out it's meaning, but it was in the forum that I discovered the word is almost exclusively used when talking about women. This is the kind of thing that makes me worked up. It makes me wonder if the millions of words I've learned in the last months are being used wrong. What do you do to get around those problems? Does anyone here have the same issues?
Sorry, this is slightly off-topic... As a native English speaker that doesn't know any other languages, I was really intrigued to read about the language differences that I had no idea about. I know that English has a lot of synonyms, but I (perhaps naively) had thought that other languages were similar (or hadn't considered that the synonyms weren't normal). Spklvr mentioned about translations and that was really interesting.
Well, inspired by the Joseph Conrad reference, I'll try to keep going in English. Maybe the forced rethoric simplicity will help me avoid... superfluousness!
I saw that particular word the other day too, but looking it up didnt make me any wiser...maybe you could illuminate me?
What ever language you write, you bring your unique writing style to the work. You might not write like others do in Spanish, but that can set you apart. If you write in English, it will reflect the different cultures you have studied or encountered. I can speak words in: German(+some Dutch), Spainish, Greek, Japanese. Its funny the way I think, I think in English, and if I get stuck trying to think of a word in another language that word from any other language could pop in, like it's English and every other language.
Flounce is the way Ruby Rap (Chris Tucker) walks here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK8ednS0sk (starting on 0:10) And that's why the word is only used when talking about women. Oh, and gay men, of course.
I couldn't see the video There was something wrong with it... but thank you anyway, your description made me understand more or less anyway )
Oops... Sorry. I think I erased something from the adress before. Now it's working. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK8ednS0skQ
That ^ was reassuring. Thank you. I only write in English because my story is flowing better that way. Don't worry about wider market, or wider readership. When you get published, you can always have your book translated. What would be of Paulo Coelho (a Brazilian novelist) if his books weren't translated to 60 plus different languages? Portuguese is spoken by people in what? Three countries?
In my mother tounge there's a huge difference between written and spoken language. In written language we commonly use another tense than in spoken language. There are also so many levels of formality... Then there's the fact that it feels quite strange to read colloquial speech and absolutely strange to read dialects/accents. Writing things like gotta, wanna, dunno, ain't would seem just so strange in my mother tounge, as such colloquial speech is not written down, mostly. Then there are so many wonderful words in English, especially describing mimic, gestures and sounds. I love that. I work as a translator, so I spent pretty much time studying these differences... and basically (if you're on an equal level in both languages) I'd say its easier to write in English. Writing historical fiction or high fantasy works quite good for me, but as soon as I do some Science Fiction or "modern time" stories I just have to switch to English instead... especially the dialogues are so much better to write and you have more possibilities to vary your character's way of talking...
I'm multi-lingual and generally write in Japanese and English, the latter being my second language. However, the other half of me that I've spent twenty years hiding, is of Cambodian-born Thai descent. I'm attempting to learn both Khmer and Thai and plan to write in both once I've got a good grasp of the grammar. In Thai, because I'd like to unravel the prejudice that Cambodians are simply uneducated, gap-toothed fools. And in Khmer, because there isn't much that constitutes as literature in post-war Cambodia that isn't a folk-tale or thinly-veiled pornography, which may be due to the horrendous lack of funding for any literary competition and a writer (no matter how good) would starve on the proceeds of his or her work.
Wow! Interesting cultural info. I wish you good luck on your writing and ethnic endeavors. ---------------------------------------------- Be good, wise and strong
i thought the same thing when reading this. Plus, it must be amazing to know so many languages, especially when it makes it possible to reach out like that and have the possibilities to (hopefully) change peoples prejudice. I know three languages but I only feel confident in writing stories in one of them and even in my native tongue I feel the words doesn't always express what I feel and what I try to say.
I only write in English, hoping to learn more languages but for me it comes into one ear and out of the other.
Today, the English language has increasingly become the Global Language used all over the world. The number of non-native English writers is growing and this tendency will, for sure, continue into the future. What is your opinion on this matter? Being an English writer...is it a tall order for non-native speakers of English?
I think writing in English requires the ability to think in English, not just think in your native language and translate to English. When I write in English, I think in English. When I speak French, I think in French. It's only the languages I'm not fluent in, like Spanish, that I tend to think in Dutch and translate it into Spanish.
yes it is a tall order and hard work if English is your second language. Still I am not put off by it nor discouraged. The experince is worth it and the learning is ongoing which is sometimes I appreciate. Maybe one day I will succeed and will become as fluent as the native English speaker themselves. This is keeps me going and inspire me to carry on in the field of writing in a second language. Learning is fun especially languages and I love words and meanings.
I do not usually enjoy works by a non-native speaker of the language, and I would not try to write in my second language, either, even though I'm fluent in it. It lacks depth and nuance, I think.
