Register  Login  Active Topics  Maps  

Writing Fiction in a Foreign Language

 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading Post Reply
35 messages over 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5  Next >>
rowzee
Diglot
Newbie
Latvia
Joined 6809 days ago

2 posts - 3 votes
Speaks: Latvian*, English
Studies: French

 
 Message 1 of 35
18 November 2008 at 7:10pm | IP Logged 
I'm not a professional writer, but I occasionally develop ideas of stories mentally. Since I have read quite a lot of fiction in English, which is my second language, sometimes I find it easier to do that in English as well. On the other hand, when reading fiction I'm aware that I'm not always fully familiar with certain classes of vocabulary, slang for example. This has led me to question the possibility of using a foreign language as a basis of composing fiction. There are a few writers that have accomplished this and that we may find such individuals suggests that they have been sucessful, having brought their works to publication. So, my main question is, can it be expected from a person with [an advanced] fluency in a foreign language to be capable of composing works of fiction (literatature, if you like), provided, of course, that the literary skills of the person in question are of sufficient quality [to write in the native language]? My concern is that it seems there is always some upper bound in the knowledge of the target language that somehow limits the possibilities of expressing ideas as freely and diversely as a native speaker might.
1 person has voted this message useful



skeeterses
Senior Member
United States
angelfire.com/games5Registered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6609 days ago

302 posts - 356 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*
Studies: Korean, Spanish

 
 Message 2 of 35
18 November 2008 at 8:54pm | IP Logged 
If you're not a professional writer, there isn't any need to worry about things like grammar and vocabulary
limitations. The Internet is about free speech and you can put your short stories on your website in any language
you want to.

Of course, actually getting your works published in a book is pretty hard, even for a native speaker, so don't feel
bad if a major publisher turns down your work.
2 persons have voted this message useful



johntitor1
Newbie
China
myspace.com/niky2006Registered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5841 days ago

1 posts - 2 votes
Studies: French

 
 Message 3 of 35
18 November 2008 at 9:54pm | IP Logged 
yeah, I agree the opinion of the upstairs, IMHO, I don't think it's an inapproachable thing to master a foreign language totally to get the level of yr own mother language. If u r sure about yr ability in fiction writing with yr first language, then U can also write some formal things in yr familar second language, that depends on yr determination and yr sensitive feeling to the writing.

Mentioned to the publishing, after the invention of the internet, I never think it's still an important issue if the publisher will publish my works. If good enuf, don't worry the popularity...
2 persons have voted this message useful



Liface
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
youtube.com/user/Lif
Joined 5849 days ago

150 posts - 237 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish
Studies: Dutch, French

 
 Message 4 of 35
18 November 2008 at 11:14pm | IP Logged 
Do you have any examples of famous writers who published in non-native languages?
1 person has voted this message useful



Alkeides
Senior Member
Bhutan
Joined 6139 days ago

636 posts - 644 votes 

 
 Message 5 of 35
18 November 2008 at 11:31pm | IP Logged 
Liface wrote:
Do you have any examples of famous writers who published in non-native languages?


joseph Conrad
Vladimir Nabokov
Nonnos, an Egyptian in the 4th or 5th century, wrote in homeric Greek taht was in his time already 1200 years old.
Dozens of authors who wrote in Latin through the centuries including Descartes, isaac Newton.
Dozens of authors who wrote in Classical Chinese over the ages.
1 person has voted this message useful



dmg
Diglot
Senior Member
Canada
dgryski.blogspot.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 7002 days ago

555 posts - 605 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Dutch, Esperanto

 
 Message 6 of 35
18 November 2008 at 11:31pm | IP Logged 
Liface wrote:
Do you have any examples of famous writers who published in non-native languages?


Well, the classic example is Vladimir Nabokov who was Russian but his most famous work (Lolita) was in English. Although, according to wikipedia he grew up speaking Russian, English, and French in his household so these languages weren't learned later in life.

I think there may already be a thread on this in the forum section on polyglots.
1 person has voted this message useful



Leopejo
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Italy
Joined 6100 days ago

675 posts - 724 votes 
Speaks: Italian*, Finnish*, English
Studies: French, Russian

 
 Message 7 of 35
19 November 2008 at 2:12am | IP Logged 
amphises wrote:
joseph Conrad

Conrad's book, Heart of Darkness, was the book we read for a year in English class in high school.
3 persons have voted this message useful



Siberiano
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
one-giant-leap.Registered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6484 days ago

465 posts - 696 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English, ItalianC1, Spanish
Studies: Portuguese, Serbian

 
 Message 8 of 35
19 November 2008 at 2:55am | IP Logged 
Dmitri Saviski, (homepage) is a soviet immigrant in Paris, writes in French. The publishers are happy with his writings. He wasn't a bilingua, his style in Russian is fabulous.



Edited by Siberiano on 19 November 2008 at 2:56am



2 persons have voted this message useful



This discussion contains 35 messages over 5 pages: 2 3 4 5  Next >>


Post ReplyPost New Topic Printable version Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page was generated in 0.3906 seconds.


DHTML Menu By Milonic JavaScript
Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved
No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization.