Onhell
Infinite Dreamer
cornfedhick said:
There is a difference between 'economical' and "well-written." I guarantee you Shakespeare, Stoker, Allan Poe and other pre Hemingway (who sucks by the way) writers are still considered "well-written." Just because it is old it is not "pompous" or not well-written. Sure the style is now outdated, but that is not the point. Point is most of the books being pumped out now-a-days are poorly written. For example Michael Crichton can't write to save his life. He's written good stories, that doesn't mean they are well-written...
Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
Onhell said:
It has become trendy to pick on Hemingway, I realize, but to say he "sucks"?? That's nutty. Getting off topic, but my point was not that older literature -- particularly that written in verse, such as Shakespeare -- is poorly written. My point is that people don't write like that anymore. And no, Crichton is not my example. I refer instead to contemporary authors such as Joan Didion, Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy, Gore Vidal, Kaz Ishiguro, and others who -- even when being "literary" and using imagery or symbolism or other poetic devices in their prose -- use simple, clear language to get their message across. Hemingway certainly influenced them, and I think that's a fine legacy. Even Faulkner at his most challenging used simple prose. ("My mother is a fish.") So, to the extent there was ever "High English," you just don't see it anymore, even from our literary masters.
cornfedhick said:
I like Hemingway. Quite a lot.
MoonStone
Prowler
Back on topic, in my case nobody has ever remarked my personality changed when I switched languages, but strangely in my school days I felt more comfortable speaking and writing in English. I took French for about 4 years and my tongue always got in the way and German frightens me (that's another story), so I stuck to English. Nowadays the situation has completely changed and yes, I try to be more careful writing in English to avoid being misunderstood and offend someone. I don't know what happened over the years, I guess the lack of practice took its toll. Or maybe I just got old.... 
Anomica said:
Haha, but that's Skåne of course!
Anyway, my 2 cents in this discussion. The answer for me is yes, I feel slightly schizo all the time. When I speak German I feel more aggressive, more in control and somehow more manly (my voice gets deeper automatically). With English I feel, well, just about normal. When I speak Swedish I feel ridiculous pretty much all of the time (I mean, it does sound ridiculous). But nobody's ever remarked to me that my personality changes. It doesn't really I think, I just feel that way.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Natalie said:
Funnily enough, it's quite the opposite for me, unless it's Swiss-German. Then I'm the same as you.
French makes me feel awkward, unless I don't need to control my accent and can spread my ugly Parisian accent around.
I only really feel at ease with English.
