3 ms·

I believe that for most people it is not possible to write good novels in a language in which you're not a native speaker. I wouldn't even dare to try, although

I believe that for most people it is not possible to write good novels in a language in which you're not a native speaker. I wouldn't even dare to try, although my work language is English and all of my scientific publications are in English. Notice that literary translation is also usually from the foreign language into the mother tongue and almost never the other way around. Yes, there are notable exceptions like Vladimir Nabokov, but these are extremely rare and definitely not the rule.

keiferski 7y ago
Joseph Conrad would be the exemplar of this category, I think. English was his third language and he wasn't fluent in it until his twenties.
- cafard 7y ago
  Andrei Makhine and Milan Kundera write in French, no?
  - keiferski 7y ago
    Yes, but personally I consider Conrad a better writer than both of them. Kundera also wrote most of his well-known books in Czech.
fastball 7y ago
Nabokov wrote one of the greatest novels of all time in English as a non-native English speaker, and it's known especially for its turns of phrase. That is much more than a "notable exception". Additionally, the reason that there are so few "great authors" in the English-language non-native category is because there just aren't that many authors in that category. If he can do that, other people can write passable novels in English. It's not like you're writing the greatest novels of all time in German.
- Shaanie 7y ago
  >The family spoke Russian, English, and French in their household, and Nabokov was trilingual from an early age. He related that the first English book his mother read to him was Misunderstood (1869) by Florence Montgomery. In fact, much to his patriotic father's disappointment, Nabokov could read and write in English before he could in Russian.
billfruit 7y ago
I think it is far more common than you think, many Indian novelists write in English, despite it being only their second or third language.
fastball 7y ago
Do you have any grounding for this assertion or is it just something kicking around in your head? I can provide examples[0] of non-native speakers that have written good novels in another tongue. The trick to being a good writer is generally being a good reader. If you read enough, you can figure out how to have the turns of phrase and pacing and everything else that makes for compelling prose in any language. As far as I'm aware, there is nothing fundamental about the function of the human brain that would cause your statement to be in any way reasonable. Of course exophonic writers are not very common, it will always be easier to write a novel in your native tongue. But the idea that more difficult is close to the exceptionally difficult that you are espousing does not seem founded in reality. It's just not very common. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exophonic_writers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exophonic_writers

keiferski 7y ago

Joseph Conrad would be the exemplar of this category, I think. English was his third language and he wasn't fluent in it until his twenties.

cafard 7y ago
Andrei Makhine and Milan Kundera write in French, no?
- keiferski 7y ago
  Yes, but personally I consider Conrad a better writer than both of them. Kundera also wrote most of his well-known books in Czech.

fastball 7y ago

Nabokov wrote one of the greatest novels of all time in English as a non-native English speaker, and it's known especially for its turns of phrase. That is much more than a "notable exception". Additionally, the reason that there are so few "great authors" in the English-language non-native category is because there just aren't that many authors in that category. If he can do that, other people can write passable novels in English. It's not like you're writing the greatest novels of all time in German.

Shaanie 7y ago
>The family spoke Russian, English, and French in their household, and Nabokov was trilingual from an early age. He related that the first English book his mother read to him was Misunderstood (1869) by Florence Montgomery. In fact, much to his patriotic father's disappointment, Nabokov could read and write in English before he could in Russian.

billfruit 7y ago

I think it is far more common than you think, many Indian novelists write in English, despite it being only their second or third language.

fastball 7y ago

Do you have any grounding for this assertion or is it just something kicking around in your head? I can provide examples[0] of non-native speakers that have written good novels in another tongue. The trick to being a good writer is generally being a good reader. If you read enough, you can figure out how to have the turns of phrase and pacing and everything else that makes for compelling prose in any language. As far as I'm aware, there is nothing fundamental about the function of the human brain that would cause your statement to be in any way reasonable. Of course exophonic writers are not very common, it will always be easier to write a novel in your native tongue. But the idea that more difficult is close to the exceptionally difficult that you are espousing does not seem founded in reality. It's just not very common. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exophonic_writers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exophonic_writers