Fic Talk > General Discussion
New questions to ponder
usako:
Japanese is hard and beautiful at the same time. Hard because, aside the fact that you have three alphabets to learn, they imply a lot so you have to know all the cultural meanings and aspects of a single word in order to understand and translate a single word. And that is what I've found interesting.
English is not that hard to learn, there aren't as many rules as there are in Italian, for example, where you have several conjugations for each tense (present, past and future) and adjectives change for female and male. lol Luckily, I did study Latin in high school so German isn't going to that hard to learn. I've studied it a bit some years ago and my biggest problem was that I couldn't pronounce right "Ich" (I'm a little dyslexic).
RokofAges75:
Cinzia, do you write your stories in English, or do you write in Italian first and then translate to English? My apologies if I've asked you that before. I know I've asked others the same question. I'm just always curious to hear about the process for people who write in a language that's not their first language. Anyone else who does that can weigh in too!
usako:
No worries ;)
When I first started, I would write first in Italian and then endure the long process of translating the story in English. Now, years later, my mind immediately starts plannig and plotting the story in English so I write it directly in English: I still make some mistakes, especially with verb''s tense and I'm trying to make my vocabolary richer by searching synonymous and reading lots and lots of English book. But it's rewarding knowing that I can maintain my style even in a language that's not my first. Or that I can write a 12.000 words story in two weeks and being actually satisfied about it. lol
In the end, it's just a matter of practicing: the more you use it everyday, the more you become more secure; reading books helps, watching tv-shows and movies with their original audio; listening to music, having American and English friends to talk to everyday. (Though I have to say that I find easier to follow an American show without subtitles than an English one. English's accent is beautiful but so hard to pick up!)
RokofAges75:
I definitely think reading and watching TV would help build your vocabulary and give you a better feel for dialogue, since phrases that are popular in one language don't necessarily translate well to another.
That is interesting about finding American accents easier to understand than English. I think English accents are beautiful, too, but even I struggle if they are really thick, especially if the person is talking quickly. Same with Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Australian, etc. I love all of those accents, though!
usako:
I love the British accent (hello Benedict Cumberbatch! lol) but, yeah, it's much more difficult to follow than American.
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