Writing in English
Apr. 24th, 2006 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartWhich is a topic on its own, hence the separate entry. A couple of months ago, I read a discussion on the now barely operating GAFF-board where someone declared that only native speakers should be allowed to write English fanficition.
The reactions were... mixed. Understandably. I haven't commented on it, because many people had said before me all the things I would have said. But I must admit that the sheer arrogance of that declaration made my blood boil for a while.
Many of us write English fanfiction, although we are lowly non-English speakers, because the fandoms we write in are English. If any of you had the bad luck to read, let's say, Star Trek terminology in German, or what's a lot worse, in Hungarian, you'll understand why we stick to the original language of the given fandom. I write original fantasy in German and Hungarian because the languages have a rich fantasy-related vocabulary. But an English fandom has its very own expressions that sound awkward at best and downright stupid at worst in other languages.
Not to mention the fact that - although this might sound self-congratulating - I've learn lots of stuff from native speakers in various fandoms who write a lot worse than I do. English might only be my third language, and certain aspects of English grammar will remain a mystery for me forever, but at least I can write. Higher proficiency in, say, punctuation, will never make up for the complete lack of originality, a good plot or decent characterization.
Besides, if I can find grammatical errors in native speakers' writing, then those errors must be blatant ones indeed. And I do find them repeatedly, even in pieces that supposedly went through the hands of a beta reader. Or two beta readers. And I'm not speaking of typos or homonyms here that can slip through every spellchecker.
And as for beta readers. It's easy to tell an author to get themselves a beta. But how many of the critics would be willing to actually do the beta work for aforementioned author? Or if they would, how many of them would you actually trust not to make things any worse?
Similarly on the GAFF board did I read an indignant comment that if someone wanted them to do the beta work, they should pay them. And that in the context of concrit, which was an interesting twist of the (lack of) logic. So, I do think that simply bark at an author to get a beta isn't entirely justified.
I have very generous betas (who even work for free, hehehe). But they also have lives. I can't expect people I trust to throw their lives out of the window, just to dig themselves through my "creative" grammar. I use spellchecker and grammar checker, but we all know how much they can do. and English is - forgive me, dear native speakers - a very illogical language. I've learned Russian, Romanian, French, German, Spanish and even a tiny little Dutch at some distant points of my life, but none of them did cause me so much problems ad English. Not even Russian, with its completely different alphabet. I still can read - and pronounce - Russian fairly well, even though I won't understand a word from what I'd be reading, but pronouncing a previously unknown English word is near impossible for me.
Still, I dare to think that my English is passable enough to use it publicly. I'd like that GAFFer to try their hands on Hungarian. *g*
The reactions were... mixed. Understandably. I haven't commented on it, because many people had said before me all the things I would have said. But I must admit that the sheer arrogance of that declaration made my blood boil for a while.
Many of us write English fanfiction, although we are lowly non-English speakers, because the fandoms we write in are English. If any of you had the bad luck to read, let's say, Star Trek terminology in German, or what's a lot worse, in Hungarian, you'll understand why we stick to the original language of the given fandom. I write original fantasy in German and Hungarian because the languages have a rich fantasy-related vocabulary. But an English fandom has its very own expressions that sound awkward at best and downright stupid at worst in other languages.
Not to mention the fact that - although this might sound self-congratulating - I've learn lots of stuff from native speakers in various fandoms who write a lot worse than I do. English might only be my third language, and certain aspects of English grammar will remain a mystery for me forever, but at least I can write. Higher proficiency in, say, punctuation, will never make up for the complete lack of originality, a good plot or decent characterization.
Besides, if I can find grammatical errors in native speakers' writing, then those errors must be blatant ones indeed. And I do find them repeatedly, even in pieces that supposedly went through the hands of a beta reader. Or two beta readers. And I'm not speaking of typos or homonyms here that can slip through every spellchecker.
And as for beta readers. It's easy to tell an author to get themselves a beta. But how many of the critics would be willing to actually do the beta work for aforementioned author? Or if they would, how many of them would you actually trust not to make things any worse?
Similarly on the GAFF board did I read an indignant comment that if someone wanted them to do the beta work, they should pay them. And that in the context of concrit, which was an interesting twist of the (lack of) logic. So, I do think that simply bark at an author to get a beta isn't entirely justified.
I have very generous betas (who even work for free, hehehe). But they also have lives. I can't expect people I trust to throw their lives out of the window, just to dig themselves through my "creative" grammar. I use spellchecker and grammar checker, but we all know how much they can do. and English is - forgive me, dear native speakers - a very illogical language. I've learned Russian, Romanian, French, German, Spanish and even a tiny little Dutch at some distant points of my life, but none of them did cause me so much problems ad English. Not even Russian, with its completely different alphabet. I still can read - and pronounce - Russian fairly well, even though I won't understand a word from what I'd be reading, but pronouncing a previously unknown English word is near impossible for me.
Still, I dare to think that my English is passable enough to use it publicly. I'd like that GAFFer to try their hands on Hungarian. *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-24 01:32 pm (UTC)I think there is a difference between using a language and being imperfect at it and seeking to improve one's grasp of the language (what you and I are doing with English and French and even with our native languages, I think) and what these people seem to be doing, namely just not caring. Which is kind of sad because how can we not cultivate the only means we have of interpersonal communication (imperfect though it is...)?
I guess I am just too much of a lingophile ;) My French in written form is horrible and yet I still love the language. Same with Latin, Greek, Japanese, Danish, Arabic and Spanish (languages I don't speak (yet) and yet love the sound of) How crazy is that?
Maybe this one of the reasons why we both love Tolkien and his work so much, because at the root of things, we are alike to him...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-25 05:51 am (UTC)