Writing about Languages
I’m a big fan of languages. This may seem obvious since I’m a writer and therefore languages are my stock in trade, so what I’ve just said is like a builder saying he’s fond of bricks but bear with me here. I’m a fan of languages not just in terms of how useful they are for getting my point across, but because they have a beauty in and of themselves.
Much to my dear wife’s chagrin, I have a tendency to collect books on languages, and to try to learn any that sound good to my ear. To this end, I mostly have Germanic and Romance language books around the house, but keen-eyed people will also spot copies of Teach Yourself Welsh and Teach Yourself Mandarin Chinese. I’m no good at either of those however, but I’ll get there eventually.
Why do I have these books? Because the languages sound nice, and when a language sounds nice I find it easier to learn it. I love learning as much as I love language – possibly more so – and therefore reading these books is a pleasure, even if I’m unlikely to ever use the languages in question.
This is the crux of my activity for the last couple of days. I’m no longer content to just sit and learn something. Nowadays, I want to pass that knowledge on to others as well. I’ve therefore started writing articles on various aspects of the Norwegian language, because that’s the one I’m spending most of my time working on right now. It is one of my New Year’s resolutions to be reasonable at Norwegian by the end of the year.
So far I’ve only managed to write an article on Norwegian pronunciation, which took over an hour to put together because my tone-deaf ears haven’t yet managed to latch on to exact pronunciations (I’m getting there though!), and an article on how to ask questions in Norwegian. Others will no doubt follow but for now, I think that’s a good start.
It has been a struggle to write anything in other areas for the last few days; which may go some way to explain why I’ve just undertaken this new language series. I think the main problem has been that while I used to write a lot about legal issues for Suite101, I’ve now spun off my own Law Blog and I’m having a little trouble juggling the two demands. I’m sure this will settle down over the next few days but when I first split my attention, it meant I had to adjust. Adjustment can be tough.
Nevertheless, I’m certain I’ll get the hang of all these competing demands. I’ve now got the blogs pretty much under control so it’s only a matter of self-discipline and good time management to keep the writing up. With any luck, it should be plain sailing once the last of the waves dies down!
