How to write a book in another language

Did you ever think to write a book in another language? Tell the truth: You did! The idea to write books in foreign languages has always gone through the mind of authors. During the history there were many authors who tried to write in a different language from their own.

Why does a writer attempts to write in another language? There are many reasons, among these, the one to promote him/herself in another editorial and publishing market. We can think of those authors living in poor countries where it would be impossible to get published and paid. The idea to write in another language could be very profitable, instead. In order the dream comes true you need to study very much. Especially when you don’t live in a foreign country, to learn a new language could turn out very hard.

The secret to learn a new language is always the same: read books in original language. Such a way is the only advised when an author decides to write in another language. Nowadays, many people write texts in another language for business. Just think of not English mother tongue scientists and researchers who to get their works published are forced to write just in English.

Writing in another language, however, can be a very hard goal to overcome, because every language is utterly different from another. Just think of the positions of adjectives, verbs and adverbs inside a sentence. Each language is a bit as they like, and thus, to put words in a text in a foreign language is not so easy to do.

By itself, reading it is not sufficient to learn the grammar rules of a new language. You must always add the study of grammar to readings. Then, you need to practice very much, often by making mistakes. Only some years later, you can try to write your new book in another language. In the past, there had also been many famous novelists and writers who wrote books in another language.

We can quote

Heart of Darkness

by Joseph Conrad

, Polish Author who learned to write in English after he settled in England. Even today, Joseph Conrad is regarded as one of the brightest authors in English, even though he always considered himself as a Polish novelist. Another famous writer who wrote books in another language is the German author Hannah Arendt,a philosopher and political theorist who published in English a useful philosophy book titled The Life of the Mind. Hannah Arendt is also famous for other history books such as The Origins of Totalitarianism

and bEichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

, the latter is a journalistic account of the trial against the merciless Nazi officer Adolph Eichmann.

After learning a new language, don’t worry to make some mistakes in your text: it is normal. Instead to fear to fail your goal, think of the subject of your book. In the case of original ideas, publishers can be available to read and edit your text. Book writing is not like a journal article or a report. Book publishers are nearly always ready to modify incorrect texts, especially when they know you are not a mother tongue. To get success, it is also useful to memorize many words, sentences and idioms of the language you want to learn.

I want to reveal you that I am not a native English speaker. I am Italian. However, a day,  I decided to write in English. If I succeeded. You'll succeed, too!