Writing If you're non English speaker, do you write your stories in your mother language first?

Do you write your stories in your mother language first?

  • Well, English is my first language, duh. Heheh!

    Votes: 6 10.7%
  • My mother language first, then I translate it to english. What a hardworker I am!

    Votes: 3 5.4%
  • My mother language first, and I also posted it somewhere else.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Straight to english. No contest!

    Votes: 44 78.6%
  • Well, I do write but not here.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Uhh, I don't write. Just an admirer.

    Votes: 3 5.4%

  • Total voters
    56

hyperkvlt

Lowkey Game Developer
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Jan 12, 2021
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I am not an English speaker so I am curious how the others do?

While I do believe the most people here are English speakers, I am curious how other non English speakers do their stuffs.

Do you write your stories in your mother language first before translating them to english?

Or do you write them in your mother language and post them somewhere else?

Or do you just write them in your language somewhere else?

Or maybe you don't write, just an admirer?

Let's talk!
 

ArcadiaBlade

I'm a Lazy Writer, So What?
Joined
Dec 23, 2018
Messages
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At first, I usually google search my native language to english but ended up having bad grammar because of it. A few years later and my english skills became so good that I go straight to english and rarely translate from my native language. Finally, after another few more years my english is better than my own native language that I might have to actually google translate english to my own native language....

Such is the history of bilingual....
 
D

Deleted member 53101

Guest
There are two forms of languages, internal and external. Internal is inside the mind while external is the opposite, outside the mind in the form of words, sentences, etc.

I'm a Javanese, and English is my third language. However, I never write it in my mother language, because not only it's harder to do that, it's meaningless, and a waste of time and energy.

Bahasa Indonesia and Basa Jawa (lit. Indonesian Language and Java Language. No, not the programming language) has different syntax, grammar, and other kinds of language rules and morphology. It is harder to write in my native tongue first and then translate it into English. And most of all, there's only a neutral third-person pronoun, so it is bothersome to translate it into English which has a gender-divided third-person pronoun.

So, I never write it into my mother language and translate it. As long as I have a clear concept of the thing I want to convey in the story inside my mind, I could project it into an external language in form of my writing. Even if it's not perfect and there's so much mistake be it in the misspelling of words, wrong in the verb form, and other grammar mistakes.

And thankfully, one of my readers kindly correcting my mistake in the comment section so it'll help me a lot. I can learn more about English because of it.
 

hyperkvlt

Lowkey Game Developer
Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Messages
83
Points
33
At first, I usually google search my native language to english but ended up having bad grammar because of it. A few years later and my english skills became so good that I go straight to english and rarely translate from my native language. Finally, after another few more years my english is better than my own native language that I might have to actually google translate english to my own native language....

Such is the history of bilingual....
Well, yeah. I kinda played too many games and read too many FAN Translation getting my score in english better than my own language during exam.
There are two forms of languages, internal and external. Internal is inside the mind while external is the opposite, outside the mind in the form of words, sentences, etc.

I'm a Javanese, and English is my third language. However, I never write it in my mother language, because not only it's harder to do that, it's meaningless, and a waste of time and energy.

Bahasa Indonesia and Basa Jawa (lit. Indonesian Language and Java Language. No, not the programming language) has different syntax, grammar, and other kinds of language rules and morphology. It is harder to write in my native tongue first and then translate it into English. And most of all, there's only a neutral third-person pronoun, so it is bothersome to translate it into English which has a gender-divided third-person pronoun.

So, I never write it into my mother language and translate it. As long as I have a clear concept of the thing I want to convey in the story inside my mind, I could project it into an external language in form of my writing. Even if it's not perfect and there's so much mistake be it in the misspelling of words, wrong in the verb form, and other grammar mistakes.

And thankfully, one of my readers kindly correcting my mistake in the comment section so it'll help me a lot. I can learn more about English because of it.
LOL, a fellow countyman. From KEY island, too, no less? The world is such a small place, huh.

I too, somehow get used too much with english my exam score with english is much better than my Indonesian.
 
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ArcadiaBlade

I'm a Lazy Writer, So What?
Joined
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Messages
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Well, yeah. I kinda played too many games and read too many FAN Translation getting my score in english better than my own language during exam.
When you go to a grocery store and you ask what vegetables they are. You were then told what their names in your own native language and you had a hard time distinguishing which is which since its not in english...

I might have to quit being a writer and relearn my own language starting from elementary now...
 

hyperkvlt

Lowkey Game Developer
Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Messages
83
Points
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When you go to a grocery store and you ask what vegetables they are. You were then told what their names in your own native language and you had a hard time distinguishing which is which since its not in english...

I might have to quit being a writer and relearn my own language starting from elementary now...
Huh, r-really? Were things that bad for you, buddy? Well, I cannot really tell the names of the most veggies, since I just prefer to buy my meal instead of cooking them myself.

I suppose everyone got their own circumtances. But, I'll wish you luck whatever your plan.
 

hyperkvlt

Lowkey Game Developer
Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Messages
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Unfortunately, I've lost fluency in my own mother language :blob_neutral:

I would be happy to translate my novel to Indonesian and post it on another website for indonesian novels, but i can barely make any proper sentences in the language.
Well, I got it, bro. Since I mostly read novels in English, I was having hard time trying to write novels in Indonesia.

Yeah, mostly because I never I actually read Indonesian novel and kind of dislike some of them. I am looking at you Dilan....
 

skillet

a frying pan
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Jan 17, 2020
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I chose "straight to English," BUT!!! Sometimes I really want to use a word or a phrase that I can only remember in my original language, so I need to look it up. That probably doesn't count though.

Also, when I plan, I tend to mix the two together-- such as: (taken from my actual plans!)
Jaw drop. "You believe in me?" 하면서 "she broke out into a huge, ecstatic, relieved grin." 얼마나 안으로 걱정하고 있었을까... 이런 느낌. And then she begins explaining.

At times, I even plan entirely in my mother tongue, but I'm pretty sure I'll never actually write anything enough to publish in that language, ha. It's my mother tongue, but I'm more fluent in English for writing. Lol
 
D

Deleted member 53101

Guest
Unfortunately, I've lost fluency in my own mother language :blob_neutral:

I would be happy to translate my novel to Indonesian and post it on another website for indonesian novels, but i can barely make any proper sentences in the language.
Well, I got it, bro. Since I mostly read novels in English, I was having hard time trying to write novels in Indonesia.

Yeah, mostly because I never I actually read Indonesian novel and kind of dislike some of them. I am looking at you Dilan....

Cintailah Bahasa Indonesia. :blob_reach::blob_uwu: Orang Indonesia itu minat bacanya rendah, jadinya gitu dah.

In August 2018 I bought translated version of Red Queen, and last year I bought its sequel the Glass Sword. Reading them helps me a lot in thinking about the concept and the wording of what might be a fantasy novel in the Indonesian language. And tbh, it has a different vibe compared to Bumi and other Tere Liye's fantasy series.

But really, the Indonesian Language is so much fun if you try to learn it deeper. The 'imbuhan' or suffix and infix is really lit and one of the cool aspects in Bahasa.
 

EternalSunset0

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Straight to English. In non-conversational contexts, I'm actually more fluent in English than my own native tongue. At least when it comes to vocabulary and expressing myself.

I haven't been to Taiwan for two decades before the month the pandemic hit, where I stayed there for a month and managed just fine. While I grew up in Philippines, my Filipino is awful in terms of knowing deep and more articulate words. English is actually the best choice for writing.
 

strayCat0

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Jan 1, 2019
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English is my 2nd language, probably. Tbh, i only read english web novels back then, translations at first(from East Asia countries), then i continue to something like The Great Gatsby, 100 Years, etc. I barely read any literature in my mother language other than school texts. So it's obvious that writing in mother language then to english version is alien to me. My english was better back then. But at some point I hold my mother language dearer.

The result of course, i nuked out my english novels and i started to write in Bahasa Indonesia exclusively. Though of course, it's shitty. Shittier than my story that i dropped back in 2019 when SH was only just starting. The side effect this is that my English become much worse. That means I can't go back writing in English because even if i wanted to, I need to learn English for the nth time. So yeah. I basically fucked up. But still, writing in Bahasa makes me happy, and that's what matters to me.

Edit: It looks like i strayed out of topic. The thing about you being a multilingual is that, it's not rare that you'll forget words from any language you've learnt, even your mother language. Writing in two versions for different tones or plots is time consuming, two languages? Even worse. I don't think any people would like to do that, other than those who want to hone their languages skill at one go. But I believe multilinguals like to prepare google translate at every second they are connected to internet.
1618303405902.png

On a side note, I usually forget words in my mother language, so I need to translate it from English just so that i can continue my novel written in Bahasa Indonesia
 
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Arkus86

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Jan 1, 2019
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I'm just a reader, since I can't write for sh*t, but if I was writing, seeing as I can put my thoughts straight into English just fine, writing in my native language and then translating it would be doing double the work for little to no profit.
 

Farok

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Jul 16, 2019
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I want to write in my mother tongue, but at the same time, I know I would then have to translate it to English to post it on ScribbleHub or RoyalRoad, so it's not really worth it.
Also, I'm so used to write novels in English that I have a hard time writing in a novel-like way in French. Kinda sad.
 

Tori_the_Birb

Active member
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Nov 2, 2020
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I'm fairly good at English, if asked how I do when it comes to my school academics. I'm used to just go straight writing to English.
 
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