Friday, January 28, 2011

Blogging for The Non-English


Lolita blogging has recently become more popular rapidly. Loliblogs pop up all over the internet, talking about (non-)brand, coords, experiences and outfits. I think this is a very good thing (Lolitas of the world, unite!) and I really hope there will be even more! ^^
Starting a blog isn’t an easy thing. What will you write about, how often will you write and how do you want to do it? I know some blogs have great tips on (Lolita)blogging, so I won’t write an article about that. As a Lolitablogger who doesn’t write in her mother tongue, I would like to focus on the subject of language.

Before you start a blog, you need to take a lot of things in account. One of them being the language you want to write in. There are three different, simple forms you can pick:

MBML. My Blog, My Language. MBML-Lolis write in their own language, so they can express themselves freely, without the limitations of a language that is not their own. Expressing yourself in another language is very difficult, because of all the differences in grammar and expressions. The downside is that not everyone will understand what you write.

50/50. 50/50-Lolis prefer to write in their own language, but still want to reach those that can’t understand a single word of it. They translate or summarize their articles for their ‘foreign’ readers. In this way they can still express themselves the way they mean to, but are still able to reach other Lolitas.

ETRA. English To Reach All. ETRA-Lolis prefer to write in English and in English alone, being it because it’s their mother tongue or because they want to reach everyone. English is still the biggest language in the world, so most people will understand what you say or at least a big part of it.

When you start a blog, you simply ask yourself the questions:
Who do I want to reach? Only the Lolitas in my country, so there won’t be any language barriers? Or everyone who understands English, with the risk of not being able to express myself exactly the way I want? Or do I want to do both?

When I started my blog, I could easily skip these questions. There was not a single moment of doubt about the language: I love to speak, read and write English and I highly dislike my own language. I also like to speak English with my friends sometimes, simply because I like it. One of them once said: ‘You always somehow make me speak English. I don’t understand how you do it!’
I often express myself with English words, often because my own language lacks the expressions I need. Of course, whenever I write a blogentry, I also open a page with a dictionary, because I often need to look up words or check if the expression I want to use even exists. I’m sure my entries won’t be spotless English, but hey. As long as people understand me and are not offended while I don’t mean to, I’m happy. ^^

10 comments:

  1. Yea, I'd have found it really difficult to express myself in my mothertongue, I suppose I have been living in England for too long.

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  2. I find that some expressions are easier in English (I love how easily you can butcher English and still have it make sense. Inventing your own words is funtabulous! ahaha see what I did there...) but some are easier in Chinese (my second language)

    Despite being born and raised in USA, there are some things where I can find the perfect phrase or description in Chinese, but in English there just seems to be something a little off from what I am trying to say...

    50/50 sounds like it would be fun to do though... maybe I should try that on my blog :o

    I like this post ^u^v

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  3. Hello!
    I also have a blog (http://thebittersweettearoom.blogspot.com/) and I have though of translating the entries to english many times, but baecause I write some poems, it is really hard to express the same feelings in a language that is not your mother language ^^U
    I don´t mind when reading other blogs if I read some mistakes, I agree with you that is preferable to understand the text than to be gramatically perfect.
    Keep on bloging! I love your posts!

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  4. @ Alice in Fashionland: Ah, that can happen too of course. I hope you like the English language?

    @ Sparklewolfie: Funtabulous!!! <3 When I make up words in my language, it just sounds stupid. XD You should definitely try it! =D
    And thank you so much! <3 I'm always so happy when I see you've posted a comment, you're always so nice. ^^

    @ Sara: Hello to you too! ^^ I visited your blog, it looks really nice! =D
    Poems are even harder in another language, I can understand you wouldn't want to do that! *o*
    Thank you so much! ^^

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  5. First off, I think yours is probably the best English of a non-native-speaking lolita blogger I've ever read- it's better than some native speakers I know!

    I'm really glad you wrote this post. I've always been envious of people who speak another language well enough to blog it. I think it'll be helpful for those who want to start blogging but aren't sure what language to use.

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  6. First of all, your English is stupendous! I didn't even know it wasn't your first language until you mentioned it in a post once.

    I think it's amazing how some Lolitas are capable of blogging in multiple languages; or even speaking them. I love learning languages, and I'm aware of the struggle to learn pronunciation, spelling, and grammar rules. It's hard, and I hold so much respect for you for being so fluent in multiple languages!

    Hm, I think this is the first time I've commented on your blog. Hello~

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  7. I'malittle late to comment (I only just found your blog) but I want to say I love this post. Languages and cross-lingual communication are topics that are close to my heart, so it was great to hear your thoughts on the subject.

    I'm a native English speaker, but you've inspired me to think about (again, because I've considered it in the past) trying to blog in the language I'm learning, Japanese, as well as English. I think it'd be fun to blog bilingually, and reach a wider audience in their own language.

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  8. @ Miss Lumpy: Wow, thank you so much! You have no idea how much this means to me! <3 Thank you again!

    @ Avoss: You think so? o.o Wow, thank you so much! And hello to you too! ^^

    @ DuskRose_Dreaming: Then I would like to say: welcome and thank you! ^^
    I think blogging in two languages can be so much fun! You should definitely try it! =D

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  9. I'm one of the 50/50 Lolis. My mother tongue is German but I blog in English, too to reach more people^^

    I just left school last year and doing a social year, so blogging in english is also kind of exercise for me, because I'm afraid of forgetting all I've learned and then have to start new when it comes to university^^

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  10. Wow, that is a really smart idea! =D

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