So how should I start?

[Sameer Telkar]

My mother tongue is Marathi and my official language is Hindi.But I had a great passion for English since childhood.So I am commencing my quest for short stories,play and poetry.But I still stumble in grammar and don't seem to understand the inversion of poetry.Should I stop speaking in my mother tongue?But it would seem really weird to start communicating with my friends and family in English as I am talking to them in my mother tongue since childhood.What should I do?I need your advice.Thanks.

[hillwalker]

If you want to learn how to write in this language you should read as much contemporary English as possible - short stories, paperback novels, newspaper articles - anything that uses 21st century English rather than literature of the 1800's and early 1900's.

There is a great wealth of material from the past that makes for wonderful reading, but the fact that you are trying to write in the same form suggests you're missing the point. Read old stuff for pleasure and inspiration by all means, but don't try to copy the style of someone who died over 100 years ago. It will make your writing appear either over-formal or hopelessly out of touch with the way English is spoken and written today.

To show you an example - you state you are 'commencing' your quest. Most people would look upon that as a very stilted way of saying you are 'starting' your quest.

How to understand poetry? Poetry is usually the simple condensation of one or more thoughts or experiences or observations into as few words as possible - where every single word of the poem has been chosen for a particular reason (and NEVER just because it rhymes!).

H

[Sameer Telkar]

Thank you hillwalker.I will always look up to you as a teacher.