Normally, when you have any writer, prospective or professional, they chose to earn their Bachelor's degree (if they do go to college) in either English, Literature, or Creative Writing. I was no exception, of course. My intended major was English. I had to change it, though, just before graduation in order to have enough credits to graduate. So I earned my Associate of Art with an emphasis in Foreign Language. Perhaps this blog post is a continuing defense of this decision (which is silly to think I need to defend a decision to graduate junior college), but it was agonizing to not be able to present myself as an English major. There's a certain air about English majors that automatically allows people to determine what sort of person you are.
Shortly after this decision the Boyfriend, Donobob (okay, so that's not his real name), and I had dinner with his family. I spoke to his mom about my change to a Foreign Language, and being her usual endearing self, she turned excitedly animated about all the possible decisions open for me as Foreign Language major. I became excited in turn, and she made a comment about how I had a penchant for languages.
And I realized she was right.
I believe the biggest problem I had with being a Foreign Language was not being an English major anymore. But in all honesty, I am damn good with languages. I excelled in my Latin, German, and French classes. And I slowly came to realize something. As a scholar of foreign languages, I could become a better writer.
English majors write papers, read ancient and contemporary literature, and write more papers. At first glance, this could seem ideal for the writer, but, what about reading and writing? You read well-established works continually processed by students year by year. Yeah, there was probably something special about it to make it worthy for study in the first place, but as a writer, what do you take from it? You only learn a certain style of writing, and honestly, the only thing special about that writing style above others is the preference of one professor. You learn recycled styles, and while useful to writing, it does not build on your individual style. Paper writing doesn't either. You just analyze something that's been analyzed countless times before while simultaneously draining the will to write. In turn, you lose the motivation to write creatively.
On the other hand, Foreign Language majors who are writers will typically read anyway. Writers read, and that's just a fact. To read you need to write. Only, since you're not required to dedicate hours to required reading in the English classes, you have more time to read the books you want to read, not just the dry stuffiness of Tess of the D'Urbervilles (I am sorry, but I did NOT like that book).
Meanwhile, your scholarly time is devoted to something useful--the building blocks of language.
“Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.”
--Johann Wolfgang con Goethe
And Goethe's quote above is a perfect example why. Unless you've studied foreign languages, you probably wouldn't understand what Goethe means. I've studied three. I'm quite fluent in the world of grammar, but to fully realize its application, one would have to be familiar with the mechanics of a language other than English. It's important. Becoming familiar with the structure firsthand allows for an improvement in understanding the structure of one's own writing. I can and do attest to this.
Foreign languages also help with vocabulary, understanding the roots of words, cognates from other languages. It helps with deciding the appropriate word. Not only that, but if you're writing something to be translated, while you're writing and thinking of basic structure, you can train yourself to write material that is more adaptable for other languages. There is rarely perfect translations for anything, but, as a writer, if you make the job easier to translate, it helps with widening your market for potential international readers.
Overall, it's just a good idea. And now, back to editing.
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