How writing in English has helped understanding my writing style
This week I give a recap on my journey so far. I also give an insight how writing in English AND learning a bit of Finnish at the same time helped my process in finding back my writing style.
Two months ago I posted my first Substack. I remember rewriting my first post over and over again while sending countless try-out emails to myself. My mailbox got overloaded with introductory mails on how to set up a Substack page. I was struggling. At the end I was asked to upload a mailing list. I did not have one. I just wanted to start writing online. In the end I decided to send it to a small group of people. It was enough.
This week a friend asked me in which language I prefer to write. A good question as I had not thought about it before. Earlier I wrote that I grew up in a bilingual surrounding. I first learnt my parents native language Hungarian at home and later Dutch at my school, study and later as my work language.
Yet, here I am in Finland and writing about my writing style journey in English! Maybe I just like to challenge myself! I have to admit that some days it is a pretty mixture of languages in my head. After some time my brain somehow managed to adapt. Writing in a non-native language turned out to be an efficient way to reflect and describe things more from a distance, without losing the relevance to the content. The biggest change though was that I decided not to ask anyone to correct the English spelling. A good learning experience to let go off the concern what people may think about my writing!
If this was not enough, I had also started to learn a new language: Finnish. After some search I found a way that would not take up much time and energy: simply by listening using the online method developed by Lotta. Arriving in Helsinki at first all the pre-learning seemed in vain. Speaking Finnish proved a bit more of a challenge, though. It did help however to understand some of the struggles I had before with learning the Dutch language as a small child.
Sitting in a Finnish language cafe for the first time, I felt four years old again. Surrounded by people from all over the world I felt insecure as I really did not understand anything at first. Yet there was this eagerness and curiosity to learn new words. Many studies confirm that at a young age the brain has the ability to learn more languages at the same time. Now I had to accept the fact that my brain would not work so quickly as it did when I was four..
“Missä sinä asut?” Heli asked me at Pasilla Kirjasto language cafe. Ten pairs of eyes looked at me with anticipation. My brain blocked, I felt my face turning red. I did not understand.
“Ehm, olen Anni” I stumbled.
Looking at the reaction of the others, I knew I had not paid attention. I saw Heli sighing softly and was about to speak when a girl around 17 years old, veiled with a headscarf, smiled at me and said with a clear voice:
“Olen kotoisin Somaliasta. Asun Pasillassa. Mistä olet kotoisin?”
Now I got it! Koti meant home. I thanked her:
“Kiitos! Olen kotoisin Hollannista.”
I turned my head to the older woman sitting next to me.
“Mistä olet kotoisin?”
“I am from Irak ehm.. Olen kotoisin Irakista!”
Time for a recap!
At the beginning of may I wrote about my struggle to give a definition on the meaning of ´writing style´ concluding in the end:
“I do not need other people to define the meaning of my writing style”
This eyeopener led me to five pillars I discovered on my journey to find back my writing style. Here you can read all about the first two pillars:
First first pillar: You listen to the stories that were read to you. I challenged myself and the reader with the question: which book has had an impact on your life?
Second pillar: You learn to write. I explained how literally learning to write helps shape your identity.
Short stories coming to you this summer!
Last week's post gave me inspiration to take another big leap in my journey: I want to use this summer period to share some of the short stories I have been writing in my search to find back my writing style. It is time to leave the serious part of my quest behind and see where the writing flow will take me! Each week I will be sharing a short story. In addition I will also share how the story came about. Please feel free to share these stories with others:
Have a good summer! Hyvä kesä!