To be, or not to be – a writer
I recently received two writing related job offers from two different people.
One friend who lives in France and does a PhD and internship at a big IT company said he would like to use some of my photos for a website he is putting up. He also asked if I do copywriting. I told him that I didn’t have any experience in copywriting yet but that I am considering exploring professional writing a lot more. He said I was a diamond in the rough and that I only needed some practice. I agreed to be perhaps a potential pearl.
Later the same day a friend who is one of the managers at WWF in South Africa said that if they ever needed a soulful creative writer he would consider me a perfect fit.
I am always a little surprised when people call me a writer.
I write a lot I guess, but I’m just a blogger.
To be a writer, to me, is something else.
Maybe it’s the fact that writer doesn’t have a better translation in Swedish than “författare”, which I think in English goes under the title “author”. I can’t think of any other Swedish translation of writer, than possibly “skribent”, who most often write columns in magazines and newspapers. If you have any suggestions, please share.
The word artist is even more multi-faceted.
The Swedish translation “konstnär” sounds so…pretentious? I perceive a picture of an elder bohemian man or woman in colourful clothes, selling expensive paintings.
It seems “konstnär” to me, coming from Sweden, relates to someone who makes art for a living, whereas the English “artist” suggests a much more free spirited kind of living, and the aspiration to create.
Further more, if you use “artist” in a Swedish sense, it suggests you are a singer or performer, but never a painter.
Do you agree that there is a cultural difference in the way we use these words?
It seems easier for me to call myself a writer than to say that I’m a “skribent”, just like it’s easier to say I love you than to say “Jag älskar dig”.
Words have different meanings to us depending on their cultural context.
Either way, I doesn’t matter. I am not a title.
I am just me.
I love to use the english language in writing. It’s too diverse and is easy to be understood plus you can use many words to describe one thing.
Hi! Yes, English is definitely a very rich language! I love writing in English, learning new words and ways to improve my expression in this language.
Of course. Our language determines our understanding to such extant we are rarely our of. And from this point, our use of a 2nd language is usually very clearly comes out of our first one. I find at many times it can enrich my English, as long as it doesn’t create too strong mistakes. Apart of it, it makes a multi-cultural, multi-lingual dialogue or even better, relationship a much stronger, harder and rewarding process as it enslaves as to work harder to understand the other person and ourselves. We must, must, open up for new meanings and new ideas. Language (and culture as language’s branch) can be very one-sided and narrowing thing.
as for the writer… – well, when you come to know what it means (in any language) please contact me asap 😉
Communication is a funny thing because as you say, each language has it’s own culture, and so different sayings, words and expression mean different things to us, depening on where we come from. Even within a language there are sub-cultures.
I know what you mean with the relationship part. Speaking different languages and/or trying to communicate in for example English, takes patience and hard work. But I also think you learn to respect each other even more, and besides, words are only a small part of communication. 🙂
As for writer. I guess we’ll never know!
(Hoppas det är ok att svara på svenska, fastän du skriver på engelska?)
Jag ville bara säga att jag känner igen mig så oerhört mycket i det du skriver i det här inlägget. Jag skriver också väldigt mycket, och har upptäckt att det är mycket lättare att tala om det med mina engelsktalande vänner än svensktalande, av just de anledningar du nämner. Lite dumt att språket kan skapa en sån onödig och imaginär tröskel, fast å andra sidan, om inte språket var vad det är (?) skulle det ju inte vara så outtömligt stimulerande att använda, leka med och förundras över. Jag tar också stundtals tillflykt i engelskan och fascineras varje gång jag stöter på oöversättliga ord och uttryck, från båda håll.
Nåja, det här börjar bli långt. Tack för en bra blogg!
Hej min vän!
Vad glad jag blir att se dej här! Självklart går det bra att skriva på svenska! Tack för dina tankar! Synd att vi bor på så olika håll du & jag! Vi hade kunnat ta en öl & pratat outtömligt om oöversättliga ord! 🙂 Stor kram!