冬天不懂事

我们一个像夏天一个像秋天
却总能把冬天变成了春天。
我离不开darling更离不开你...
遇见一个人然后生命全改变
原来不是恋爱才有的情节
我不会相信
朋友比情人还死心塌地

－ 范玮琪《一个像夏天一个像秋天》

我生命中的好友

在哪里能找到呢？
等待离不开的春天，
难道是那么难得的依赖？

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我最近读过,当一个有名的作家写文章的时候，会先用第二语言来写，才把文章翻译回母语。他认为当我们熟悉习惯用某一种语言，会渐渐地衍化思想的“近路”表达我们的意思。 当我们用另一个语言来沟通，需要从另外的方式思想，经常会更直接更清楚。

我自己发现我经常会用那老旧的几句话。用另一个语言，用脑的另一部分，也许能够找到一个新的表达方式。对我来想，果然有道理！ 但我现在试一试，得到的直不过是失望。写着这几句话超过半个小时还是写不完。我对于华语一点掌握都没了 － 对于句子沟通，我一点都不清楚。虽然这样做对那作家是有效的好方式，但对我这种华语差的人，好像没什么用处。

Translated, I was describing how I had recently read about an author who used his second language to write before translating it back to his first language, the original language he intended to write in.  He did it to avoid using the same few habitual phrases, to avoid taking the mental shortcuts of expression that develop over time.  He found it to be very effective in making his prose clearer and more concise.

When I tried this for myself, I was frustrated because of my poor grasp of my supposed mother tongue. I found that I lacked the range of vocabulary I have become accustomed to in English, and I was spent what seemed like eons casting about my brain for the right words.  Furthermore, I was unsure of the grammatical syntax used in Chinese.

I concluded that what works for one person does not work for another.  That was about as far as I got.

 Despite the frustrations I experienced, I do feel there is a certain economy of language that I am more cognizant of in shifting between the languages.  Or could it just be some kind of experiential bias or placebo effect?