Etgar Keret Quotes About Language

Quotes about: Language

• People in Israel would write in a high register, they wouldn't write colloquial speech. I do a special take on colloquial speech. When I started writing, I thought [the language] was telling the story of this country: old people in a young nation, very religious, very conservative, very tight-assed, but also very anarchistic, very open-minded. It's all in the language, and that's one thing that doesn't translate.

  Etgar Keret

  Country, Religious, Writing

  "Etgar Keret: We Can Try to Be Human". Interview with Meakin Armstrong, www.guernicamag.com. August 17, 2015.

• I think that, in Hebrew, it's like the language creates a more unique and specific universe even before the story.

  Etgar Keret

  Unique, Thinking, Stories

  "Etgar Keret: We Can Try to Be Human". Interview with Meakin Armstrong, www.guernicamag.com. August 17, 2015.

• In Israel, the role of the writer is dictated by the language in which you write. Writers see themselves as cultural prophets.

  Etgar Keret

  Writing, Israel, Roles

• When I started writing my stories, I thought that not only nobody outside my language, but nobody outside my neighbourhood would get them.

  Etgar Keret

  Writing, Stories, Language

• When my books were translated, it was always about the characters, because the unique language aspect was lost in translation.

  Etgar Keret

  Book, Character, Unique

  "Etgar Keret: We Can Try to Be Human". Interview with Meakin Armstrong, www.guernicamag.com. August 17, 2015.

• Hebrew is this unique thing that you cannot translate to any other language. It has to do with its history.

  Etgar Keret

  Unique, Hebrew, Language

  "Etgar Keret: We Can Try to Be Human". Interview with Meakin Armstrong, www.guernicamag.com. August 17, 2015.

• You don't need to use the language of God to ask where the restrooms are.

  Etgar Keret

  Needs, Use, Language

  "Etgar Keret: We Can Try to Be Human". Interview with Meakin Armstrong, www.guernicamag.com. August 17, 2015.

• What happens when you speak colloquial Hebrew is you switch between registers all the time. So in a typical sentence, three words are biblical, one word is Russian, and one word is Yiddish. This kind of connection between very high language and very low language is very natural, people use it all the time.

  Etgar Keret

  Biblical, People, Typical

  "Etgar Keret: We Can Try to Be Human". Interview with Meakin Armstrong, www.guernicamag.com. August 17, 2015.

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