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The (non-)perks of writing in a second language
8 years ago
General
Some of you might be aware of the novel I began to write some time ago. And yus, I still am working on it, even though it has been a while since the first chapter had been out (especially since the first time I actually posted it). But here's the problem! English isn't my first language - and despite me being rather fluent in it, it still takes a long time for me to contruct and write down a full sentence. Even more when it's a sentence that is more on the complicated side. Which means: The time I need to write a page in the English language roughly equals the time I need to write three, if not even four, pages in German. And even then I have the problem of the occasional awkward English sentence popping up every once in a while. Or (which is just as annoying) I sometimes take the "easy way out", opting for a less complicated (and ultimately less elegant) sentence because of insecurity getting in the way - or the issue of time. Because if I don't get on with it in one way or another I never will.
So a thought crossed my mind, one that should have actually been painfully obvious. Why don't I just write the thing in German first and then hand it over to a translator? (Of course I could translate it myself, but then I'd run into the very same problems mentioned above.) However, when I consider the length of the book I'd be facing problems as well; ones that would be of a different kind but just as annoying. Chapter one was something like 60 pages already, and the way things are shaping up the second one will be even longer. And chapter two is hardly hardly hardly the last. Very far from being the last, actually. A translation of any of these would be a very time consuming job, and I can't ask anyone to do that, honestly. So I checked some translation services online, hoping for the best. But just a translation of the first chapter alone would cost me almost two monthly salaries. And I can't possibly afford that - under no circumstance whatsoever.
So, of course, I could be *just* writing the thing in German and leave it at that. But that would slash my potential readers down to almost zero.
Now I wonder what the heck I'm supposed to do.
Dang it. I clearly was born in the wrong country.
So a thought crossed my mind, one that should have actually been painfully obvious. Why don't I just write the thing in German first and then hand it over to a translator? (Of course I could translate it myself, but then I'd run into the very same problems mentioned above.) However, when I consider the length of the book I'd be facing problems as well; ones that would be of a different kind but just as annoying. Chapter one was something like 60 pages already, and the way things are shaping up the second one will be even longer. And chapter two is hardly hardly hardly the last. Very far from being the last, actually. A translation of any of these would be a very time consuming job, and I can't ask anyone to do that, honestly. So I checked some translation services online, hoping for the best. But just a translation of the first chapter alone would cost me almost two monthly salaries. And I can't possibly afford that - under no circumstance whatsoever.
So, of course, I could be *just* writing the thing in German and leave it at that. But that would slash my potential readers down to almost zero.
Now I wonder what the heck I'm supposed to do.
Dang it. I clearly was born in the wrong country.
dragonhead
~dragonhead
Write everything in Dragonese, duh! :D
Kaoru Greendrake
~kaoruishere
OP
Even less people can read Dragonese though. :(
Exindiv
~exindiv
Writing it in German first is not a bad idea. It'll help you get a lot of it done without the stumbling block of writing it in a non-natuve language. It'll also help speed things up for the english version, as you could later feed it through translation software and then edit the document (which would be time comsuming, but easier than trying to parse out a translation as you write it). Generally, it is easier to take something and change it than it is to make it from scratch.
Kaoru Greendrake
~kaoruishere
OP
It would have to be a very good translation software though, because the likes of Google Translate usually spit out a stream of gibberish that is essentially useless. (If you know a program that you'd recommend though... :D )
imanewb
~imanewb
I'm not really a writer, but why not write as you do in English, but when you start slowing down, just "cheat" and simplify, highlight and come back to it later, then check with others if it could be more elegant? Good novel/story writing is a pretty difficult task, even for most native speakers, so the fact you can even do it at all as a second-languager (I made up that word) is quite the feat!
Kaoru Greendrake
~kaoruishere
OP
Hm. That might be an idea. I mean, I always go through the text a couple more times after writing anyway to refine bits here and there, but maaaaybe this could work. The problem just is that my mind is working in a "Have to see things from beginning to end!" way, and I build one sentence on top of the other. The way one is written is informed by how the preceeding one came out. This is something I have to overcome, I guess.
imanewb
~imanewb
That's usually what I do if I write or make music: Get stuck; move on to something else, and when you come back to it sometimes you see it with fresh eyes. I think it's a common creative practice. (Well lol I'm one hypocrite to say that, considering my measly output.) The first draft is never good!
