LANGUAGE is the primal vocational tool of any literary writer and the depth of a writer’s insight and evocative creative skills are often conditioned by the relationship between him and the language or languages he is familiar with. From this perspective, a monolingual writer is monocultural, a bilingual writer is bicultural and a multilingual writer is multicultural. The depth of insight as regards a specific cultural perspective is easily associated with a monolingual writer who has mastered a particular language and is therefore a competent interpreter of the culture it represents while the richness of cultural values as defined by the variety of values inherent in multiculturality is reflective of the attributes of a multilingual writer. …show more content…
A static language is a dead language. Language needs growth for development and it is this necessity that defines a creative writer’s responsibility to his language of communication. Language can only grow through the efforts of writers and speakers who use it creatively and imaginatively by relating it to contemporaneous events, new experiences and futuristic visions. The writer’s responsibility to his language is therefore to ensure the growth and development of that language (Mbithi: 2014). He deploys certain means in his writings to achieve his aim. First, he uses language in a creative manner which enlivens his language of communication, that is, he uses his old stock of works and expressions in such a telling manner that they become refreshing to his audience. Secondly, he creates new words to depict new experiences thereby using neologism to enhance the growth and stature of the language and of course, the widespread use of neologism is an index of a blossoming language. And thirdly, he incorporates borrowed or foreign words into his language of communication to capture moods, situations and experiences which his language of communication would have been incapable of describing. All these, in a nutshell, define the creative writer in his relationship with a particular language of communication but multilingualism introduces a far more complex dimension to the creative person of the writer as well as to his responsibility to his society. It is with this in mind that the notion of multilingualism will be
“Se Habla Español,” is written by a Latin author, Tanya Barrientos; and Amy Tan, a Chinese author, wrote “Mother Tongue”. In both literate narratives the authors write about their experiences with language and how it impacted their lives. In This essay we will be discussing the similarities as well as the differences in the stories and the authors of “Se Habla Español” and “Mother Tongue”. We will discuss how both authors use a play on words in their titles, how language has impacted their lives, how struggling with language has made them feel emotionally, and how both authors dealt with these issues.
It is interesting for Lisa Kanae to use three different voices in her book, Sista Tongue. The structure of Sista Tongue is different from standard books as if to make her words flow and become active. Her message still holds truth in today’s society. In many homes, younger generations face the inadequacy of being unable to understand their mother tongues while their parents struggle with learning English. Code-switching is natural for bilingual people and those that speak to other sub-cultures. Lisa Kanae’s different voices are similar to
... of language and education is the most important in this story and society. The make use of two different languages in a narrative, provides a reader a perplexing yet fascinating image of characterization and customs. Multilingual story telling pushes the reader to decelerate and acquire supplemental focus on the expressions which are in the small fragments, however as soon as the reader has figured out the foreign words, he or she acquires a priceless picture of the theme of this story. The panorama of native words and phrases, cultural perceptions, and class dispute taken from the incorporation of two different languages are helpful for the reader to obtain significance that he or she couldn't gain if exclusively one language was employed in the story. Just as the power of language is applied to unveil a society, a better comprehension is provided to the reader.
Language is how we express ourselves. There are many different languages in our world. Within those languages there are different dialects. Those dialects are affected by the communities that use them. People add slang or shorten words to make the language their own. This has an immense impact on how authors write. Some authors will attempt to use proper English, but often times will use words common to their community.
Overall, in Julia Alvarez’s “Bilingual Sestina” the repetition sheds light on the author’s situation and the difficulties she faces when assimilating into a new culture. Accustomed to Spanish since her childhood, the language evokes an inviting and comforting feeling for her as it also articulates nostalgic memories. On the other hand, she struggles and faces several conflictions with English as she does not currently have memories or passions that are connected with the English culture. By the end of the poem, the author resignedly admits that she wishes to familiarize herself with English and form new memories that will help make the language significant for her. Although it will not be simple for her native tongue in Spanish to fully comprehend English, it is important that we do not let the nature of words limit us and our perceptions.
By fostering a multicultural literature environment, the organization attempts to provide a new platform for literary artists to learn from exchange of multicultural literature, share their potentials and values, get in touch with other likeminded, get news and inspirations from a multicultural literature community, and so on. Within a multicultural literary environment, artists have the opportunity to gain broader knowledge and understanding of culture, writing, history, contemporary life, and literature that come from a variety of places with distinct social and cultural backgrounds. The organization’s ultimate artistic objective is to encourage and improve the promotion of Canadian literature and literary artists through exchange of culture and knowledge with other
From an article notifying of the current situations of Guinea, one individual transmits a message through those reading to be enlightened by these events and persuade those who wish to keep languages intact and structure secured by informing of educational aid through technology. Through Tina Rosenberg, she will brief the readers over the conflicts in Africa as well as bring up the language system of N’Ko that is benefiting the education system throughout the land. Within the article, “Everyone Speaks Text Message,” by Tina Rosenberg, the author conveys a formal method in her writing to establish a connection of new education through the usage of proving expert opinions, allowing blunt perspectives through maxims, toying with sarcasm through satire, and finally viewing an oxymoron in the piece, we see a collection of devices used to aid African borders and its communication as well as help those who wish to preserve languages.
“The writer from a marginal culture is in a double bind”(Damrosch 9). Without the influences of great foreign writers, a young writer is unable to attain greatness in the like. He is limited by reading and studying only the literature of his own culture. Thus, his writing becomes the same as those before him. Through world literature, a writer can access predecessors from varying cultures, who implement different styles and ways to express emotion in their works.
... cultural consciousness of the writer also. The approach is a compendium of diverse procedures, and its employment in critical enquiry is bound to enlighten the readership, and thereby enrich the process of defining, classifying, and evaluating works of literature. Therefore, there is a scope for spatial and temporal analysis of literary text. The past is revived for the utility of the present.
It is universally known that any writer is going to have difficulty when he tries to convey a thought in a new language. Sometimes it is difficult even between dialects in the same base language. The problems that occur to a person while writing in a second language due to language and cultural differences are termed contrastive rhetoric. Connor simply defines “contrastive rhetoric that maintains language and writing as cultural phenomena” (Connor 5). If two cultures vary greatly, then it would make sense that writers who try to cross that cultural and language barrier would have a more daunting task than normal. In the case of Arabic and English native speakers, there are numerous conventional differences in the two languages that make the rhetoric very contrastive when trying to write in a second language. Because the cultures are very distinct from one another and due to the vast structural differences within both the spoken and written discourse, writers will face specific challenges in trying to make themselves understood to natives of the opposite culture.
Hoover, Eric. “An Immigrant Learns Two New Languages.” World of Writing. New York: Longman, 2011. 118-120. Print.
During the course of this class, I have had the opportunity to read literature from authors who come from different backgrounds and places in the world. Some of the stories and poetry we read were straight forward while others were confusing and sometimes required a second look. But one thing is clear, it changed the way I think about literature in a few ways that I wasn’t expecting. Three works in particular stand out in my mind. “ I Wont Let You Go” by Rabindranath Tagore, “To New York” by Leopold Senghor, and Pedro Peramo by Juan Rulfo all had an impact on my thinking for similar yet different reasons. They all incorporate their cultural backgrounds into their work through the setting of their pieces. They also compose their pieces in a way that makes you want to research their history to find the deeper meaning. Finally, a couple of the authors write about things they are emotionally connected to. Some of the examples we will look at, really opened my eyes to going beyond a superficial understanding of literature.
Overall, the impacts of translation in literature was spectacular, and indeed, it contributed to provide literature work a broader platform, and enabled it to be studied and analyzed from different angles by different scholars from different countries; but still, it affected the author’s style and artistic
Literature is always interactive. Thus, not only can the thoughts of people who write/translate it, but also those of people who read it can interfere. Different cultural backgrounds, growth environment etc. of different people will be the factors that can disrupt the intact understanding of the readers. Furthermore, the ‘taste’ of a word also can be related to the perception
Being multilingual has great importance. As previously presented, it keeps cultural diversity alive and creates better communication with the rest of the ...