I felt a bit blocked, creatively, as of late but as is always the case, things turned around, out of nowhere.
Today, inspiration hit me in the form of a new book project.
The working title can be read in the following screenshot or the title of this post.
This idea actually already came to me in the year 2009.
Here's what I typed, early this afternoon, soon after I had gotten inspired:
I remembered that, a bit over 15 years ago, I jotted down some notes in a notebook ( or actually filled a bunch of pages ) playing with the idea of a book in multiple languages.
Back then, it must have been 5 languages at the most, as I was in the process of learning Spanish and had learnt Dutch ( being born in The Netherlands ), as well as English, German and French, in high school. I must add that I have also had a couple of years of Latin and 5 years of Ancient Greek in school but I did not necessarily plan on using those languages in my book. The former because it reminds me too much of law and the church and the latter because it uses an entirely different alphabet.
In the last 6 years or so, I have been learning Portuguese too, as I moved to Portugal in 2018. As this ‘old’ idea popped up in my mind, again, today, it it now pretty logical to add Portuguese into the mix too.
In all honesty, it’s one of the three languages that I use the most ( the others being English and Dutch ). German , Spanish and French have moved to the back of the line.
I actually had 6 years of German in high school and it’s pretty close to Dutch so it should be the easiest for me to use after English and Dutch but I rarely use it these days and finished high school in the year 2000 ( more than half a life time ago ).
I also had four years of French but have to add to that that I have gone on Summer holidays to France, as a kid about 10 times. So my knowledge of this language is still there, somewhere hidden in my brain. It’s just that it’s full of cobwebs.
Also, I remember that, once I started learning Spanish in 2007, that it reminded me of learning French but at the same time also somewhat messed up my French.
I could say that something similar has happened to my Spanish, since I have started learning Portuguese but I have spent enough time learning Spanish to be able to use it well enough, when needed.
...
For your information:
I still have no idea what the book is gonna be about nor how I am gonna use the languages. I just know that I will include at least the 6 languages I mentioned here.
I might use some Italian too, not to be confused with Latin.
I knew you would like this, @clareartista ;<)
One thing you can expect for sure is my trademark(s) of wordplay and humor. And although not for everyone ( I don't write books for everyone, that is called 'mainstream' ), I will make sure to not make it a boring read and I have no doubt that it will be super unique.
Oh... and if you are still reading and were wondering if I still plan to continue my other book project The Monster of Disco ( and the Other Monsters )?
No worries about that, I will.
I just felt like working on two projects at once. without necessarily choosing one over the other in importance.
Let's see what this leads to.
TO BE CONVINUED...
I love this, @vincentnijman ! I love playing with multiple languages, and occasionally get the chance to do that here, if someone doesn't speak Italian or English, I can falter through pretty well in German or even comprehend a fair bit of French or Spanish... and I do have colloquial Greek from Cyprus in my brain somewhere, probably locked away with my Scottish Gaelic . .. I really like the idea of letting them all out to play with each other!! 🤗😋🥳🤪🤯😏 Buona fortuna!
That's pretty impressive too.
I knew this book would suit a (cool) weirdo. like you.
🤗😋
That’s a cool idea!
Every language has its specialties. I find that some things are expressed more precisely in English, some in German (the only two languages I know well enough to say that).
Yesterday I tried to find an accurate translation for “fierce”, but the German words that I found just don’t have the same feeling to them.
I’m sure it opens up a lot of possibilities for more free expression if you don’t limit yourself to one language.
Learning a language is a life experience and sometimes you have to go to another country so it's nice to meet people and understand their language
I agree. Also, I moved to another country, 6 years ago with a new language and I don't feel good living somewhere without speaking the language. I also learnt Spanish in Spain, back in 2007 and 2009.
Namaste🙏 Best of luck for your new book project..
Dankjewel/Thank you/Merci/Danke schön/Gracias/Obrigado/Grazie! ;<)
Wow
Your childhood was filled with learning languages either in high school or others. It will be good to see you write a book of six languages. Let’s see how this goes but I wish you well!
#hive
It is Always actually fun at times to learn a new language though sometimes it can really be so tedious and frustrating