Selfie by A. N. D’Angelo – All Rights Reserved
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7 August 2026
A premise: for simplicity’s sake, consider “native speakers” as implicitly referring to those whose first language is English, and “non-native speakers” to those whose first language isn’t English.
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I knew well it would be hard. Native readers aren’t the most open community on this planet when it comes to translations. They didn’t grow up reading a great many translations, not as many as non-native readers did.
It isn’t their fault. At most, it’s a collective cultural responsibility, but the reasons at the root of the “problem” — which only becomes a problem when you’re a foreigner — are clear and partly justify that intellectual stance.
There’s a great abundance of writing by native authors — especially once you start talking about “genre fiction.”
We non-native speakers learn English — some more, some less, but all of us by now. It’s a necessity native speakers don’t have. If you’re an avid reader of genre fiction, it becomes a must, because little of what’s produced in English gets translated, especially if you’re looking for quality and depth in the vast cauldron of fantastical fiction in the broadest sense — unfortunately, commercial fiction wins hands down.
We non-native speakers aren’t better. We’re more open because the world pushed us to be.
