Hello!
This is Elizabeth, and I have a workshop for you on multilingual poetry. Do you need to be multilingual to take part? No! If you speak just one language you can still join in.
I speak several languages, and have long incorporated them in my work. See this poem which is based around the Mandarin Chinese names for planets.
For me, comparing words in different languages is fascinating. The last thing I would think to call Mercury is Water Star, yet I find the name beautiful and apt.
The Mandarin Chinese for water is "Shui", pronounced "Shway", which always seemed just right to me, though I couldn't put my finger on why. In trying to suss out why I like it, I wrote this poem.
And it doesn't have to be Mandarin! I also speak French, Spanish, Catalan and bits and pieces of other languages. I find the relationship between the foreign (to me) languages and English, and between each other, can provide the basis for some powerful writing.
So, how do you get started writing a language poem?
If you speak more than one language
If you speak more than one language, ask yourself some questions. How do the two languages differ, and how are they the same? Do you speak them in different circumstances (with your friends, with your family, at school) and does that affect your relationship with the languages?
How does each language feel in your mouth, in your ear, in your heart? How does it look written down? The answers to all of these questions can provide the basis for a poem.
An exercise you could do if you speak at least three languages is choose an object, state its name in each language you speak, and then discuss what you think about the variation in the names, and what it might tell you about the culture the name comes from.
If you speak one language
If you speak only one language, you can still write multilingual poetry. Choose a word or phrase and look it up on a reliable dictionary or translator in another language. Focus on that one foreign word and think what is means to you. Read it, listen to it if possible, say it aloud. Then write a poem.
If you are monolingual and are reading this, statistically the odds are high that your language is English. English is made up of so many other languages: French, Latin, German and more. Why not choose an English word and find out its origins, and write about it?
I really hope you enjoyed this workshop and found it useful. Why not send your multilingual poems to Miracle? The information can be found on the submissions tab at the top of the page.
Please bare in mind that poems sent to us must be principally in English, though of course you can include some foreign words, as that is the point of this workshop! However, please make it clear what they mean.
Thank you, and we look forward to hearing from you!
Elizabeth Gibson
Blog Editor and Fiction Editor at Miracle
This is Elizabeth, and I have a workshop for you on multilingual poetry. Do you need to be multilingual to take part? No! If you speak just one language you can still join in.
I speak several languages, and have long incorporated them in my work. See this poem which is based around the Mandarin Chinese names for planets.
For me, comparing words in different languages is fascinating. The last thing I would think to call Mercury is Water Star, yet I find the name beautiful and apt.
The Mandarin Chinese for water is "Shui", pronounced "Shway", which always seemed just right to me, though I couldn't put my finger on why. In trying to suss out why I like it, I wrote this poem.
And it doesn't have to be Mandarin! I also speak French, Spanish, Catalan and bits and pieces of other languages. I find the relationship between the foreign (to me) languages and English, and between each other, can provide the basis for some powerful writing.
So, how do you get started writing a language poem?
If you speak more than one language
If you speak more than one language, ask yourself some questions. How do the two languages differ, and how are they the same? Do you speak them in different circumstances (with your friends, with your family, at school) and does that affect your relationship with the languages?
How does each language feel in your mouth, in your ear, in your heart? How does it look written down? The answers to all of these questions can provide the basis for a poem.
An exercise you could do if you speak at least three languages is choose an object, state its name in each language you speak, and then discuss what you think about the variation in the names, and what it might tell you about the culture the name comes from.
If you speak one language
If you speak only one language, you can still write multilingual poetry. Choose a word or phrase and look it up on a reliable dictionary or translator in another language. Focus on that one foreign word and think what is means to you. Read it, listen to it if possible, say it aloud. Then write a poem.
If you are monolingual and are reading this, statistically the odds are high that your language is English. English is made up of so many other languages: French, Latin, German and more. Why not choose an English word and find out its origins, and write about it?
I really hope you enjoyed this workshop and found it useful. Why not send your multilingual poems to Miracle? The information can be found on the submissions tab at the top of the page.
Please bare in mind that poems sent to us must be principally in English, though of course you can include some foreign words, as that is the point of this workshop! However, please make it clear what they mean.
Thank you, and we look forward to hearing from you!
Elizabeth Gibson
Blog Editor and Fiction Editor at Miracle
