Bringing Words to Life: Talk When You Write
The beauty of “Lost in Translation” is that it shows how people can intuitively connect on a fundamental level. The medium through which the message is relayed doesn’t matter as long as its spirit remains intact. Delivering that spirit is one of the more difficult aspects to master in writing, and doom the writers who can’t grasp it to creating bland pieces forever.
Multiple Translations
What most writers need to understand is that there are two translations happening when they commit something in writing. The first translation happens when you form an idea in your mind, and put it into the words of your language. The second translation happens when you try to put that language into letters instead of sound.
Why does the first translation need to happen, though? Can’t a writer take the idea from the mind and transfer it onto the page? Remember, we don’t communicate primarily through letters. When people write, they’re imitating how they normally speak. Likewise, when people read, they hear the voice of the author in their heads “talking” to them.
The Rise and Fall of Language
The more people feel they’re listening to a person, the more they’ll be able to relate to what they’re reading. The best way to traverse these gaps in translation is to understand the music in language. When we speak, we don’t just drone on and on.
We stop for breath, and use inflections and intonations. Our sentences rise and fall, they speed up, and slow down. There’s constant movement that helps set the atmosphere, tone, and story of whatever the writer wants to communicate.
A Punctuated Life
There’s one very important element that helps this happen, and this article has been using it from the start – punctuation. These little dots, strokes, and dashes are the visual signals readers need, to know whether they’re supposed to pause or keep going. They give a sentence that spark of life that helps a reader enter the writer’s state of mind.
Talk to your readers by giving your sentences the bounce and jiggle of speech. If you think you can craft worlds with words, contact us today, and talk to us with your letters and punctuations.