LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

I have been a fan of Trunk and White 's The Elements of Style ever since my daughter Lorraine presented me with a copy in 2000. I keep it handy and I peruse it often. The wise recommendations in this short book can be applied to any language. "Writing good standard English is no cinch" we are told. Writing good standard Spanish is no cinch. Hastiness and laziness are the devils we must fight off. "... since writing is communication, clarity can only be a virtue." What is clear to the writer may not be clear to the reader. "Clarity, clarity, clarity" Strunk and White shout at us now, just as Thoreau wrote "Simplify, simplify" a hundred years before. This post is to remind you, and me, to reread and consult The Elements of Style often . It will stand us in good stead when we write English and Spanish.          

“The primary – indeed the first – and most abiding precept for all writing is clarity, to be clear, understood and intelligible.” Después de leer estas palabras de Steven Pinker, de la Universidad de Harvard, decidí pedirle un prólogo para mi libro bilingüe “Escribir y comunicar en inglés” (publicado por Anaya, Oberón Libros) y su respuesta es un excelente ejemplo de escritura breve: “Good luck with it, Delfin, but unfortunately I will not be able to write a foreword. Sincerely, Steve Pinker.” No hay más que decir. Emplea las palabras justas, y hasta es cordial al mencionar mi nombre dentro del texto. “The greatest writers have the gift of brilliant brevity.” Ernest Hemingway Y es que, en la escritura, como decía Baltasar Gracián… “lo bueno, si breve, dos veces bueno.” Y no escribo más sobre la brevedad en la escritura.