tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4569574036855621543.post1752217747668275512..comments2016-04-12T11:54:00.153-07:00Comments on Intelligent and Cognitive Processes: Bring Back The Dictionary!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01892044517479570731noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4569574036855621543.post-82893813636252366082016-04-08T15:11:55.201-07:002016-04-08T15:11:55.201-07:00Yes! I think it's quite interesting how as lit...Yes! I think it's quite interesting how as little as the definition of two words can define a very important part of a culture and create so much angst and insecurity! :) Kathleanorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01812073608928853358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4569574036855621543.post-67014616274582428542016-04-08T14:05:15.083-07:002016-04-08T14:05:15.083-07:00I agree; it shouldn't matter. The difference s...I agree; it shouldn't matter. The difference should be whether or not you can purchase someone's written work vs not. Self publishing, I agree, doesn't make you any less of w published author. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01892044517479570731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4569574036855621543.post-5292623260313278312016-04-08T14:03:52.806-07:002016-04-08T14:03:52.806-07:00Very interesting. I truly enjoyed reading that. I ...Very interesting. I truly enjoyed reading that. I love exactly that kind of comparison. <br /><br />No I don't speak German. I am German and I wish I had time to learn German! I don't exactly remember why it makes you a better writer, but I would imagine the reason is like what you said. It makes you speak in a different sense, more professional perhaps. <br /><br />So, the difference between the words is exactly the difference we place in our minds on the words in English. Very interesting. <br /><br />Thank you so much for explaining that to me. I enjoyed that. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01892044517479570731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4569574036855621543.post-61141589853918568072016-04-08T12:58:21.183-07:002016-04-08T12:58:21.183-07:00Aww, you're very much welcome! I'm sure I&...Aww, you're very much welcome! I'm sure I'll comment more often :)<br /><br />I think the biggest, well, oddity, is when people collectively agree on a wrong meaning of a word - regardless of language. You can't look it up and often times you don't even realize it until it's top late and you spent hours thinking about why on earth people just didn't get what you wanted to express. <br /><br />I've been thinking about what you said about knowing German helps to be a better English writer, but haven't come to a conclusion yet :D Did he say why he thinks so? Do you speak some German? <br /><br />One of the reasons might be that it's quite easy to sound like a 18th Century lawyer, a very dull and humorless one, when you stick too close to how you would write in German. It's very precise though ^^ <br /><br />The reason why the discussion of 'author vs. writer' is different is quite complicated to explain. I try to keep it as short as I can. :) Basically the discussion takes place on a different level. <br /><br />The German words are: author = “Autor” and writer = “Schriftsteller”. In some cases they are used synonymously by most people – but essentially they mean different things. <br /><br />“Autor” is a broader term than “Schriftsteller”. It is used for anyone who has written something. Like for example: Comics, lyric, drama, fiction, non-fiction, a blog, a newspaper article, an instruction manual, you name it. In a legal context the term is even broader and is also used for copyright holders of creative non-literary works like movies, music etc. The latter is important, because legally speaking you are the “Autor” and hence copyright holder of one of these 'creative works' regardless of its publication. <br /><br />If you do call yourself an “Autor” you often add what you write, like: I'm an author of children's books or I'm the author of a blog. Never the less people will expect that they can read something you've written somewhere, because: Who really does know legal definitions anyway? <br /><br />“Schriftsteller” → “Schrift” = script/text; “stellen” = provide <br />Historically a “Schriftsteller” was someone, who provided texts, like a lawyer. Today it's used for someone who's occupation/job it is to write literary texts like prose or poetry on a more or less regular basis. Writers of non-fictional texts are rather called “Autor”. (Think: Schriftsteller = writes and publishes 'pretty' literary things as opposed to instruction manuals.) A “Schriftsteller” always is an “Autor”, but not every “Autor” is also a “Schriftsteller”. <br /><br />You can argue whether or not it must be someone's main occupation, but there's no such thing as an unpublished “Schriftsteller”. There's just: I wrote something. If you call yourself “Schrifsteller”, people will expect that they can buy your works somewhere. <br /><br />And here is where the German version of this discussion takes place. If you want to call yourself “Schrifsteller” and you need to have been published for that, does self-published count? Can you only call yourself “Schriftsteller” if you've been published on paper? Can you call yourself “Schrifsteller” if you donate all your work and never make any money? The German 'writers guild' (Schriftsteller Verband) does not accept members who only are self-published. So, you need to be a “Schriftsteller” to become a member, but does that mean you aren't one if they don't accept you? <br /><br />I don't know if there really is a simple answer to these questions. I personally would say, that it only matters whether or not people have to pay for your published works in some way and that the self-published vs. published discussion will end sooner or later, because of the changing book market, but who knows?Kathleanorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01812073608928853358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4569574036855621543.post-52206550892119274242016-04-07T10:28:18.302-07:002016-04-07T10:28:18.302-07:00Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I&#...Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I'm so glad you enjoyed the post. That is a big problem, the idea that we associate with words. The idea we associate isn't always what the word actually means. I am guilty, too. At times I'll have an idea of what a word means, but I'll end up wrong. I basically live in the dictionary! <br /><br />Though, I have heard that if you want to be a better English writer, it pays to know German. A professor once told me it helped you to understand English on a different level. <br /><br />Good for you for committing to bettering yourself in such an intense way! <br /><br />I'm curious what you mean when you say that 'author vs writer' translated into German doesn't mean the same thing anymore. I'm curious what meaning it takes on. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01892044517479570731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4569574036855621543.post-80419663615284237842016-04-07T06:03:43.665-07:002016-04-07T06:03:43.665-07:00Yay! More than 140 characters :) Essentially the ...Yay! More than 140 characters :) Essentially the reason your blog is exactly what I've been looking for is, that I couldn't agree more with what you wrote. <br /><br />I'm not a native speaker and I had this insane idea to improve my English by committing to writing short fiction/poetry for one year in English only. I thought my Achilles heel would be grammar and that finding the right words would more or less be a matter of spending a ridiculous amount of time looking them up until finding the right ones and that a feeling for them would come over time. Little did I know. <br /><br />It turned out that the biggest problem would be, that there's no way for me to grasp what certain words mean for a native speaker. I often have no idea what their definition is, what mental images they create or what they feel like. For example this 'writer' vs. 'author' debate when 'translated' into German isn't quite the same anymore :D <br /><br />There are other problems with words I haven't quite figured out yet, but, long story short, it feels like what you write is tailor-made for me! And it feels great to know that there are others like me who spend a lot of time trying to figure out what a few letters really stand for :) Kathleanorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01812073608928853358noreply@blogger.com