When should you write in a language you learned later in life?

When should you write in a language you learned later in life?

Some people never do. They are monolingual and they only write in the one language they learned to speak and listen and read and write in as a child. That is true of fewer people than you might think.

Some people always do. They have to write in a more privileged language to get published at all. Their own strongest language is not considered “serious” enough. Or the community of speakers and readers is too small to support publishing what they want to say. Or the community of readers and writers in their stronger language(s) doesn’t let them in. So they go to write elsewhere.

Some people have to. For example, if you are an academic, the pressure to publish in English is enormous. English is the lingua franca of the best recognized scholarly journals and publishers. Your funding, your project, and your whole career can depend on publishing in English. I help academics get published in English, so I know a lot about this. If you want to get published at all, you may have to write in the strongest language of the country you live in. Most of the publishing world in Finland, for instance, is in Finnish. Finland’s other languages – Swedish, Romani and Saami languages, signed languages – have a much weaker status. Not to mention the languages of people who were not born in Finland. Writers in these languages find it much harder to reach an audience. I know about this too, as I am only beginning to write for publication in Finnish.

Some people don’t want to. They want to write in the languages they learned first, to keep those languages alive and growing. They think and feel in those languages and want to help others do the same. This is essential. Languages are ecosystems that need resources: water, air, light, food. The biodiversity of languages is threatened and needs environmental activists.

Some people want to write in a language learned later. But it is not easy. It takes years of dedicated hard work to learn a language well enough to write in it and be published. You have to read widely. You have to find good teachers. You may need an editor – editing helps any writer, but some need it more than others. You need fluent speakers of the language you are writing in, who are on your side, and create space for you to share your work. You might end up creating those spaces yourself, with others. Because the traditional publishing channels are so hard to access.

The people who never, always, have to and (don’t) want to write in a language learned later in life need to talk to each other. This needs to happen on an equal footing. Soon, I’m talking about authors’ editors as access allies at a conference. Recently, we talked about writing in a language learned later at a book fair. Before that, I was at an event where somebody spoke about “us” and “immigrants who don’t have degrees.” I felt like I couldn’t challenge the speaker in plenary, in my fourth language, and say “I’m an immigrant with a PhD and I’m here.” Next time I will. For many of us, the conversation is just beginning.