John August

QandA

You only have to destroy the Death Star

Genres

Something I try to remind myself when writing epic-themed stories — which is a lot, recently — is that my hero doesn’t have to fix The Big World Problem by the time the end credits roll. Rather, he just needs to achieve the small, specific goal I’ve set out for him. He only has to destroy the Death Star.

Yes, that task should be exceedingly difficult. But it’s several orders of magnitude away from The Big World Problem.

Darth Vader and the Empire are still very much kicking at the end of A New Hope. Nazis are alive and well at the end of Raiders, The Guns of Navarone, and every WWII epic you’ve seen. By the end of The Matrix, Neo has learned something of his powers, but the world is largely unchanged.

In fact, the rule seems to be that it’s only at the end of a trilogy that the hero really transforms the world. And you don’t get to make a trilogy unless the first one works. So make the first one at human scale.

When writing partners disagree

Psych 101, QandA

questionmarkI’m co-writing a script with a writing partner and we’ve run into a wall because we have opposing opinions on our latest draft. I think we should go one way and she thinks we should go another way.

Normally we would try to find a way to compromise and work both of our ideas into the next draft, but in this case it’s seemingly impossible. What she wants do will change the way readers perceive the story in a fundamental way. We have a twist at the end of the second act that is very important to the story, but if we make her changes the twist will lose all of its impact. I’m certain that if we make the changes our story will suffer. She thinks otherwise. We’ve come to a standstill because we disagree with each other wholeheartedly and we don’t know what to do now. Any ideas?

— Will
Los Angeles

I don’t have an answer, really. I’m posting your question mostly so readers will consider one of the significant downsides of writing with a partner. While it’s great to have an extra brain helping to write a script, you’re unlikely to always agree, and compromises may not always make sense.

I’ve only written one thing with a partner — the [pilot(s) for Ops](http://johnaugust.com/library#ops), with Jordan Mechner. Jordan’s a friend and a good writer. But I have more experience, and tended to use that fact to win any and all disagreements. That’s not a particularly healthy working relationship. We’re better friends now that we’re not staring at the same scenes.

Some people are good writing partners, just like some people are good roommates. I’m not either one, frankly, and that’s not likely to change.

It’s not an answer, but my best suggestion at this point, Will, is to let her try it her way. It may spoil the twist, but it may uncover some other interesting possibilities you aren’t considering.

Spanish or Mandarin

Education, International

At the gym yesterday, we were discussing which language would be the best foreign language for a native English speaker to learn first. Specifically, can you make a compelling case for any language other than Spanish or Mandarin?

I couldn’t.

I asked again [today on Twitter](http://twitter.com/johnaugust/status/1578387481), and those two were by far the most common answers.

Sure, some qualifiers are in order. By “foreign language,” I’m using shorthand for “language not spoken natively in the home.” If you’re born in Rhode Island, but your parents are Italian, I would hope they’re speaking Italian in the home; the best way to learn a language is from your family. So “foreign language” in this case would mean the third language after English and Italian.

And there are other special circumstances. For example, if you move to Sweden, you should really learn Swedish. If you or a family member are deaf, ASL would be the choice. If you’re from a country with two official languages (e.g. Canada), that second language may be the default.

But beyond what you pick up from your family or neighbors, your first non-English language should be Spanish or Mandarin.

My logic and biases
====

I was born in the U.S. I’m fluent in English. I’m competent in Spanish, less so in French. I can ask directions in German, Portuguese, Japanese and Mandarin, with declining likelihood of being able to understand the answer given. I live at the edge of Koreatown, and while I can read Hangul well enough to decipher transliterated signs, I don’t speak the language at all.

I learned Spanish starting in second grade, part of a bilingual project in my elementary school in Colorado. Obviously, part of the reason I admire the language is that it’s the first one I learned.

There is a misperception that one “needs” to speak Spanish in Southern California. In 17 years here, I can count on one hand the number of times in which my Spanish was actually necessary. But it’s certainly useful.

I think people should speak several languages, not only for the opportunities it presents for international business and travel, but the broader global and literary perspective it provides. You’re going to learn one language first. Pick wisely.

My criteria were, roughly:

1. Number of people who speak it worldwide
2. Usefulness in daily life
3. Usefulness in international business or travel
4. Availability of media in that language
5. Applicability to future language learning
6. Economic power of native speakers

The contenders
===

In the list of [top languages spoken worldwide](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_by_number_of_speakers), there are several worth serious consideration.

Hindi (#3) and Arabic (#5) both have vast numbers on their side. With satellite, access to media in both languages has increased worldwide. They are clearly useful languages for business and travel. But I can’t make a compelling case for learning either of these before Spanish or Mandarin. I’m happy to be convinced otherwise; my American bias may be coming through.

Portuguese (#6), Russian (#8), Japanese (#9) are each spoken mostly in their respective economically-powerful countries, and not many other places. They’re great languages to know if you intend to do business in those countries, but it’s hard to argue that they should be general-case choices.

German (#10) shares roots with English, though that doesn’t necessarily make it easy to learn. English is widely taught in Germany, which makes learning German less essential for native English speakers than it might be otherwise.

French (#12) has a tremendous amount of literature and Western Civilization in its favor. While the total number of French speakers isn’t that high, there is fairly wide distribution given the language’s role in international diplomacy. As a romance language, it shares a lot of structure with Spanish. I found it quick to learn given what I already knew.

I’m omitting Cantonese just based on numbers. More people speak all of the languages listed above. Learning Mandarin would put an English speaker on a path towards learning Cantonese later. I’m guessing familiarity with a tonal language like Mandarin could be a help for other Asian languages in general.

I’m also omitting Esperanto and Klingon, even though each has a special place in my heart.

The case for Mandarin or Spanish
===

Mandarin is the most commonly spoken language in the world, ((The exact numbers vary based on what degree you differentiate native languages from secondary languages, and how much you assume dialects are mutually intelligible. Regardless, the big four stay on top.)) and China’s influence will only grow in the years ahead. China is an active investor worldwide, including Africa and South America, yet distribution of Mandarin speakers is relatively sparse outside of Asia. Fluency in English and Mandarin could be a tremendous asset.

Cons for Mandarin: It’s a more challenging language for native English speakers. Learning its rhythms, tones and phonemes — and writing system — would take a lot of work. But getting that practice early in life would be a boon. Currently, there are limited outlets for Mandarin media in the U.S. One’s ability to actively use the language may be limited based on location.

Spanish is the fourth most common language after English and Hindi. It’s tremendously useful in the Western hemisphere — spoken in almost all of Central and South America with the notable exception of Brazil. ((A competent Spanish speaker will find Portuguese easy to navigate, however.)) In the U.S., one finds an abundance of both native speakers and Spanish-language media outlets. You can use Spanish on a daily basis without ever leaving the country.

While it has a daunting number of conjugations, Spanish is grammatically straightforward and remarkably consistent with pronunciation and sound rules, which makes it well-suited for school-based study. With its Latin roots, it has tremendous vocabulary overlap with English and most European languages. Learning Spanish early may increase overall English vocabulary as well. ((Like French, Spanish has many recognizable cognates with English. Dormir :: dormitory, blanco :: blanch. This doesn’t mean the words came from Spanish, but rather than the words reveal common roots, which is so very helpful come SAT time.))

Cons for Spanish: While the number of Spanish speakers will probably continue to grow, there is no reason to anticipate its reach expanding beyond its current borders. It’s certainly more useful in the U.S. than in the U.K. or Australia. Fluency in Spanish is so common in the U.S. that it’s not a particularly unique or marketable asset.

Should we bother teaching other languages?
====

In high school, yes. In college, absolutely. You need to reward motivated students who want to learn languages. But I’d argue that in grade school and junior high, we would serve students better by offering them either Spanish or Mandarin. That’s it.

We clearly have the raw capital (i.e. native speakers) to teach Spanish. I’m not sure we have the capacity for Mandarin.

So have at it. Can you make a compelling case for something other than Spanish or Mandarin as a first foreign language for a native English speaker?