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Benvenuti, Bienvenue, Croeso and Welcome.
Hi, I’m Juliet. Join me on my language learning journey and discover my thoughts on different aspects of language learning with the A Language Learning Tale Podcast. Today, the subject is:
WHAT? CREATIVE WRITING?
Or
HOW I’M EXPERIMENTING WITH CREATIVE WRITING IN ITALIAN
If you follow me on the A Language Learning Tale YouTube channel, you’ll know that I’ve been dabbling in writing poems and very short stories - flash fiction - in Italian. I thought that today I’d explain how I go about this, because doing something like this is not exactly easy - there’s the understatement of this podcast. However, the one thing I’m not here to tell you is how to get your writing ideas, that’s nothing to do with language learning. This is just to discuss my process of putting together the words on the page to come up with something that’s vaguely passable in the language. No, I’m not claiming that what I’m writing is anywhere near perfect, but we’ll get into that more later.
So, once I have an idea, the first thing I do is to try to write it. Duh! Obviously, this means that I will have to look up some words that I don’t know, or aren’t in my active vocabulary, to flesh out the piece, but I largely write that first pass using what I know already and end up probably not expressing things how an Italian person would do it.
If I do have to look things up, I’ll first go to Google Translate. If that comes up with something I’ve already heard of, so something in my passive vocabulary, rather than my active vocabulary, I’ll just go ahead and use it. I’ve had a lot of, oh, of course, moments doing that. However, if it comes up with something I’ve never heard of, and which might not be the right word in context, I’ll then go to Reverso Context and look it up there, under the context section, in proper sentences, so I can judge whether that’s actually what I want to say. Now, if you do this you do have to be careful, because Reverso Context can find actual sentences using the words, but when you write something in your language, it will translate that context into the target language. So, what I do when I’ve found a word, or a phrase, in Italian, is then put that into the search bar to make sure it comes up in text that’s originally in Italian. If you don’t do this, you might just get what an AI thinks is the translation, rather than what’s more likely to be correct in everyday usage. I say more likely, because you can never be one hundred per cent sure you’re getting something right.
Then, over the next few days, which may go into weeks, I revise what I’ve written, as best I can. This is a normal writing process, getting rid of the crappy first draft and shaping it into something better. Admittedly, I don’t always do this with my very short pieces in English. I mean, I do revise them, but I may do that very quickly and move on. In Italian, that’s not really an option.
Once I’m as happy as I can be with what I’ve written, as in the actual story, or verse, then comes a detailed checking phase.
I will copy whole paragraphs into Google Translate and see what it spits back at me as the English translation. This, in some cases, will show me where I’ve made an error, such as a singular rather than plural word, or if I’ve missed something out, or, perhaps, used the wrong tense. Even with errors, though, it usually gives me pretty much what I thought I’d written, which makes me feel better, even if I do subsequently find more errors, which I always do. It means that I would probably be understood, at least.
I then reverse the translation and see what Google says here. Now, this is, again, where you have to be careful, because Google Translate doesn’t necessarily give you the correct wording. But, it will show you, once again, if you’ve missed an agreement, or a plural.
When it comes to other changes, such as different vocabulary, or a change of tense, I never take Google’s word for it, unless I have another ‘ah’ moment, as in, yes, I knew that, but I’d forgotten it. I will go to Reverso Context again and look into the detail. Sometimes, I find that Google is right and I’ve got it wrong. Other times, though, I’ll find that what I originally said seems to be far more common than what Google said. Once again, seems. I can’t be one hundred per cent sure.
One thing I’ve found is that sometimes a phrase I’ve never seen before comes up lots of times in this process, which makes me think, should I be using that instead? Specifically, as I’m writing this, I’m thinking of the phrase ‘in grado di’, which is another option when talking about being able to do something, in certain situations. I’m definitely going to start practising using that, because it’s always better to not be too repetitive in a single story. It also, quite often, sends me down grammar rabbit holes, which is probably a good thing, because it helps to reinforce and improve what I already know.
I also use Reverso Context to find other meanings for prompt words, if I’m using specific prompts, rather than the obvious translation that I already know. For example, I found that ‘cieco’, blind, can also be used to describe a dead end, ‘a fondo cieco’ or ‘vicolo cieco’ and to talk about something indiscriminate, for example ‘consumismo cieco’. Another word ‘gocce’, which is drops, like drops of water, can also be used for chocolate chips, ‘gocce di cioccolato’. Reverso Context is great for this. It doesn’t cover all languages, but if it covers one you’re learning, it can be really useful.
Once I’ve done all the checking I can, which doesn’t take as long as you might imagine, and I’ve made my decisions as to whether to change things or not, I let the piece rest a few more days before actually recording anything.
Of course, I know whatever I write will never be perfect, because I’m not a native speaker. I can’t expect it to be, but if I can get close, I’m happy with having done it and I’m learning as I go along through research and repetition.
So, some of you will be saying why don’t you put it through something like ChatGPT to do your corrections? Because that is possible, although I’m not sure how good the free version would be - I haven’t tried. Well, my feeling on all grammar checkers, which is what this would be, in effect, is that in trying to get things perfect, they take the soul out of the writing and make it bland. Perfect isn’t always best.
And if you’re now saying, but Google Translate uses algorithms, as well, just like ChatGPT, as does Reverso Context. Well, that’s right, they do. But I’m not asking them to correct my work. What I’m doing is piecemeal, thinking carefully about everything suggested, before moving on. I don’t want the piece rewritten to algorithmic perfection, which, as I’ve already said, is not necessarily perfection. I want, ultimately, for it to be my words.
So, that’s basically my process. I think this is definitely a good exercise in understanding the language better and it’s fun for me. Much more fun than trying to do journaling in the language, which I attempted again earlier this year and completely failed, because it bores me, however I try it.
Of course, you don’t have to do creative writing to get this same benefit. You could simply write about a topic you’re passionate about. You also don’t have to publish it anywhere, like I do. But as I have a language channel, I’m trying to prove to everyone and, I guess, myself, that you don’t have to be perfect, you just have to give it a go. Everything is a learning experience.
That’s all for today’s episode. Don’t forget to join me again next time, for more language learning tips, tricks and tales and in the meantime, check out the A Language Learning Tale YouTube channel for additional, non-podcast content.
Ciao, salut, hwyl and bye for now.