Hm.

[legoline]

Spent an hour or so today going through fanfic and writing down words and wordings that I don't know to improve my vocabulary.

So far so good.

Only, especially with wordings and phrases I'm pretty unsure whether it's actually common to put a phrase like that, or whether it's just an author's particular style. Because if it's the latter I don't want to go round copying it.

Teh Dilemma.

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Comments

[embroiderama]

The only thing I can think of is that you could Google a phrase in quotes to see if it comes up as used often or not. Might help?

Honestly, I find it shocking that people can manage to write fiction that's not only readable but *really good* in a language they didn't grow up speaking. There is no language other than Engligh in which I could put together a coherent sentence beyond the kindergarden level, so my hat is seriously off to you.

[legoline.livejournal.com]

The only thing I can think of is that you could Google a phrase in quotes to see if it comes up as used often or not. Might help?


Oh, that's a good idea. Thank you!

Honestly, I find it shocking that people can manage to write fiction that's not only readable but *really good* in a language they didn't grow up speaking.

Heh, well you haven't read much of my stuff yet, I find most of my fics written rather awkwardly. :-)

I know foreign speakers that are so much better than me, and I definitely bow to them. I'd never notice those aren't actually native speakers :-)

And - I've had English classes at school for 9 years, and I've been studying it at uni for 4 more years. I really like languages, and though I was glad when I could drop French and Russian (I never could warm up to those) I'm kinda sad I don't have the time to pick up Spanish again :-)

I guess when English's your native language, there isn't really the need to learn another one, is there? And I don't mean this in a deprecatingly way, honestly :-)

[embroiderama]

French is the language I studied the most--2 years in middle school, 2 years in high school, 1 year in college--and yet I'm completely incompetent. I studied Russian for a semester in college, but when we got to the complicated grammar in the second semester I dropped the class. So, yeah, I'm not really good at languages. I actually wanted to take German instead of French, but they cancelled it at my school right when I got to that grade.

I guess when English's your native language, there isn't really the need to learn another one, is there? And I don't mean this in a deprecatingly way, honestly :-)

I just think we're lazy. :) My mom and step-father go to Belgium regularly, and they always feel bad because their friends there all know at least 3 or 4 different languages, and they only know one.

[legoline.livejournal.com]

Well if it's any consolation I took French for 4 1/2 years and I barely emember anything. Same goes for Russian which I took for only 2 years. I think it depends onhow often youuse a language, and since I'm surrounded by English all day long (books/music/films etc. ) you kind of keep in practise automatically :-)

And if you grow up in Belgium you grow up in a country that's multi-lingual anyway. So you kind of have to know your way through two other languages at least .-)

[beige-alert.livejournal.com]

Yeah, either Google or else pester your friends who speak the language with questions about how normal things sound to them.

[legoline.livejournal.com]

Pester them even more? .-)

[beige-alert.livejournal.com]

That's what friends are for! Or, however you would say that in German. ... ;)

[legoline.livejournal.com]

We would say it exactly the same :-) "Dafür sind Freunde da!" .-)