From English to Catalan to English
July 07, 2011
All this time, I couldn't help but wonder what my problem with English had been. It took me more than a long while to work out that English was not my language at all: British English was. A language in which syntax, vocabulary, slang and the odd turn of phrase involuntarily delineate the class origins of either the author or – should there be one – the fictional narrator.
Matthew Tree, "Finding My Voice in Spain," The Telegraph, 6 July 2011
The above is from a really interesting piece in which the author, a native Englishman living in Spain, talks about finding his voice in English after years of writing in Catalan. Tree's latest book is Barcelona, Catalonia: A View from the Inside. I've always wanted to visit Barcelona, and since summer is a good time to travel, if only by reading, I'm going to hunt down a copy.
Link via The Book Bench
Oh, someday, someday Spain... a lovely bookcation sounds like just the thing.
Posted by: tanita | July 07, 2011 at 05:03 PM
Bookcations, aaaaah. I'm so glad to have 'em!
Posted by: Susan T. | July 08, 2011 at 09:15 AM