Writing styles
I've managed to finish the first chapter of 《第8號當舖》 (only looking up phrases that were repeated that I didn't know really helped; I was surprised how much I could pick up of the general gist of the story), and I've noticed that the author uses lots of commas. Lots and lots of commas. To a native English speaker, this looks really bizarre, and I'm wondering if it's just her style (if so, it's annoying), or if it's a more general writing style in Chinese to use commas differently than they're used in English.
For example:
To me, the sentences all look like run-on sentences, and it looks as though she doesn't know how to use a semicolon... but that's because I read and write primarily in English, where use of commas like this isn't a convention of the language. And I figure her grammar can't be entirely horrible; she has something like 60+ books published, and if this were a larger stylistic error as it is in English, then my assumption would be that she wouldn't have that many books published... but I'm not sure if this assumption is correct.
If it is indeed just her style and not the style of Chinese writers as a whole, then I have another question—in which languages is punctuation used differently than in English? By which I mean marks such as commas, semicolons, colons, periods, etc. ETA: I mean in a way that would be jarring for an English reader. Difference in quotation marks, the Oxford comma, differing punctuation in numerals, etc. aren't necessarily jarring, but different ways in separating clauses and groups of words can be. If that makes sense?
Thanks in advance!
For example:
- 「他神色沮喪，走路時一拐一拐的，事實上，他左邊腋下，正撐著一副拐仗。」
- 「每二十年一條小路，一望無盡，走一走不完，這些小路上，有永遠贖不回的珍寶。」
- 「地圖上的指示是朝郊外走，在一個墓園之後向右邊的路拐去，直行，再在分岔路上拐左，再
直行，上山，然后向右邊的路走去，便會看見一座大宅，門牌外有一個『8』字。」
To me, the sentences all look like run-on sentences, and it looks as though she doesn't know how to use a semicolon... but that's because I read and write primarily in English, where use of commas like this isn't a convention of the language. And I figure her grammar can't be entirely horrible; she has something like 60+ books published, and if this were a larger stylistic error as it is in English, then my assumption would be that she wouldn't have that many books published... but I'm not sure if this assumption is correct.
If it is indeed just her style and not the style of Chinese writers as a whole, then I have another question—in which languages is punctuation used differently than in English? By which I mean marks such as commas, semicolons, colons, periods, etc. ETA: I mean in a way that would be jarring for an English reader. Difference in quotation marks, the Oxford comma, differing punctuation in numerals, etc. aren't necessarily jarring, but different ways in separating clauses and groups of words can be. If that makes sense?
Thanks in advance!