Taking the step into creative writing in a foreign language is difficult. I have been writing poetry for most of my life, but it took me 6 years of studying Spanish before I could write in Spanish a halfway decent poem. If you love to write in English, chances are you will want to learn to write creatively in Spanish as well. While I can’t make you an excellent writer in either language, I can give you some tips.
1. Try not to translate when you write in Spanish
Yes, famous poems and stories are translated all the time. However, they are translated by professionals who have spent years perfecting their creative translation skills. If you write a poem in your native language with the goal of putting it into Spanish, chances are you are going to lose a lot of the emotion. Try to think in Spanish first. Jot down your ideas in Spanish. Keep a Spanish thesaurus nearby to investigate new vocabulary. If you translate a poem from your native language, you are not likely to have enough vocabulary in Spanish to properly translate it.
2. Don’t set your standards too high too fast
Do not expect your first few attempts at creative writing to be as amazing as your native language stuff. That’s just not going to happen. Set reasonable goals. Once you start and actually finish a few things, you will grow more confident and comfortable writing in Spanish, so your writing will improve.
3. Take inspiration from the greats
Read a lot of Spanish stories and poems. Check out lots of different styles before you begin to write Spanish. This will help ingrain some Spanish flow in your mind while also building your adjective word bank.
And to encourage you to go for it, here’s one of my poems I wrote several years ago in Spanish:
Este sentimiento
Estoy alcanzando algo
que todavía no conozco
pero sé que lo necesito
porque este sentimiento
no lo puedo parar
Estoy pensando en algo
en un deseo desconocido
un pensamiento no bien entendido
lo que no está desarollado
y este sentimiento
no lo puedo dejar
Estoy soñando con algo
con una meta no realizada
un plan no bien explicado
un acto no bien intentado
porque este sentimiento
no lo puedo explicar
Estoy experimentando
una época derrotada
una emoción desolvidada
bondad no bien apreciada
y este sentimiento
lo tengo que salvar
Do any creative writers out their have a tip to share for how others can take a first step to write in Spanish?
Check out these other articles about the Spanish Language.
Featured photo credit: writing in the journal by redcargurl
