Book Writing: Why You SHOULD Take Foreign Language Classes

Hi Everyone!

Thank you SO much for the positive response to my last blog. It received such great feedback that I decided to continue on and keep to the book writing theme. The goal moving forward is to give you a more robust look at various processes and elements that go into my writing and what my personal experiences have been!

@ArtofChelleElle's Personal Collection of Foreign Language Books

(Yes, this is my personal collection of foreign language books! :D)

My Linguistic Studies: The Backstory

For those who know me well, you know that I LOVE studying foreign languages and cultures. I've been that way since I was little. I was fascinated by my peers who had different cultural backgrounds than me and wanted to eat the foods their moms made and try on the unique clothing they wore during special occasions!

A big catalyst for my passions came in second grade. I can remember doing a cultural project and picking a country to study based on where my family "originated". It was so fascinating to me. From then on, I was passionate about learning about where my family came from, what languages my ancestors might have spoken, what they would have worn, etc. That year, I was also was blessed to begin studying Hispanic culture and the Spanish language; to this day, it's the foreign language I comprehend most quickly, even if it's not my strongest spoken or, most heavily book-studied, foreign language. Kid's brains are sponges, guys. I believe it.

In middle school, I had the opportunity to take a foreign language exploration class. We studied Latin, French, Spanish, and German. Since I had Swedish roots and I was still on that cultural curiosity kick, I felt like German would be the closest language to my heritage and I was gung-ho to pursue that the next year when we chose a language of focus. I even remember watching "Professor Pappenheimer" videos in class and learning specific words like "ein Ritter" (a knight). To my disappointment, they cancelled the German language program at my school, so I chose to study French with my best friend. Guys... I nearly failed my first 2-3 years of French language classes. This fact doesn't have as much weight unless you really know me and my passion for languages today, but it was a struggle. I'm glad I pushed on, though. Really glad.

I went on to study the French language for at least ten years and ended up doing a foreign exchange to France. I also studied Spanish once again, and in college, finally got to pick up on German! YES! In a funny twist of things, it turned out to be my least favorite language to study as it resembled mathematical formulas (Thankfully, my husband was good at it and took it, too, as we honeymooned in Austria. Very helpful.). Perhaps I should have given it more time, like my French studies needed. But, as much as I started as a failure in French, I say... give me a confusing, random-rules, Romance language any day! Italian came into the picture when I studied abroad in Italy. I even briefly took Swedish lessons from a Swedish exchange student and friend during college. Over time, I casually picked up some Chinese, Japanese, and Korean from personal study, music, friends, and of course, foreign dramas. To this day, K-dramas are some of my favorite things to watch!!! And yes, I was on a major German rock band / J-Pop stint for a long time. What a combo.

To sum it all up, I really love foreign languages. I also love studying history, culture, body language, psychology, and I enjoy connecting with people... so, I thought I would be an international business woman! When I realized that I didn't love the business world as much as I had hoped, I was pretty bummed. Would I ever go back? If not, how would I EVER use all of these languages I studied? Would my interests and time all go to waste?

Present Day: How I've Found A Use for My "Failure"

Guys, when you feel like you've wasted the majority of your life on something, it feels pretty crushing. Especially when you put so much of your identity into that thing, which in my case, was a sort of linguistic and cultural enthusiast / generalist / "expert" (Whew, a bad thing to do... a topic for another day.).

When I moved to Seattle a little over two years ago, I had to start fresh in so many ways. I essentially had a whole new life. The move gave me an opportunity to do something I had been considering for a bit, though; changing careers. As tough as it was, I knew it was the time to seize the opportunity to accomplish career goals and projects I'd been dreaming of for years. So, I took the opportunity to begin something important to me; writing my book.

And what I found was that my foreign languages came back into the picture! They've helped me immensely during the writing process, sneaking back in like old friends, reminding me they were worth the investment. So that you guys can see what I mean, here's a few examples of how they help me now!

When I'm coming up with names for countries or characters, I have an easier time researching and choosing words that would convey certain meanings.
When I need to understand a point-of-view that I wasn't raised with, I turn to my previous studies and build off of them.
Building my world's cultures has become a fun process, not a daunting task!
Having my characters use certain languages, or having them communicate nuances to other confused characters has become easier; I've had many an opportunity to explain things across language barriers and cultures and in turn, have the same done for me. And I've also got some funny mistakes to pull from!
I understand the origins and connections between words within a single language and across multiple languages; etymology is important!
I can understand and connect how history and languages affect one another (i.e. A French word may have been brought into the English language because of trading during a certain time period, or an English word might have been brought into another language based on colonization... etc. This understanding helps me link things, like historical events, together in my own world!).
Bonus: This doesn't apply to me (yet), but if I wanted to create my own language, I could, and it wouldn't be "too" difficult as I understand the structures of a few languages already! Having a knowledge base to already pull from gives me confidence!

These are just a few of the ways I use my linguistic and cultural studies. I mean, who knows where else they will come in handy? Maybe I'll have some business-related ventures that require foreign language skills someday. Regardless, God certainly knows and whatever He has in store for this passion, I'm looking forward to finding out more about it!

I would encourage anyone and everyone, whether in school or out, to not give up on or shirk taking a foreign language. I get that for some it's boring, difficult, seemingly-pointless, etc. But, if you have the opportunity, especially while still in school, take at least one! And really try at it. In my case, it just took a little time, proof that foreign languages aren't impossible. :)

The advantages of taking a foreign language can be great. For one, your pool for career options widens a good bit! Another great reason is that you can travel and be respectful to those whose country you visit as well as feel comfortable in a new place. And of course, I would argue that languages work different parts of your brain, helping you with critical thinking and building associations or connections between things (which is REALLY helpful when world building in a novel or deciding upon character motivations). There's plenty of studies on how language studies affect the brain, and since I'm not a doctor or a professional on how that works, I'll leave it to the experts to explain. But, I will say... foreign language studies have helped me so much in writing my book. I have an arsenal of words in a variety of ways to choose from and a healthy understanding of their respective cultures to give me ideas in building out my own world.

Let me know how languages have helped you and if you've written anything where a foreign language was necessary to your plot! Sharing knowledge is so helpful! Hey, your experience may help me get through my own book!

Looking forward to learning from you,

Chelle Elle

“Chelle Elle” has been drawing since she was really small. No restaurant napkin was ever safe when crayons were involved! Now, she writes and illustrates characters and other fun ideas to help her dreams and the dreams of others come to life! And yes, she takes commissions and would love to hear from you.

Email her today to learn more about how she can bring your ideas to life at:

ArtofChelleElle@gmail.com!

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