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Book you’d read/recommend in any language | ||
Tags: Book | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| pookiebear79 Groupie United States Joined 6021 days ago 76 posts - 142 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Swedish, Italian | Message 1 of 22 15 December 2009 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ok, I'm hoping this has not already been discussed, and I couldn't think of a better title that would fit.
I know there's a lot of talk about reading particular books "in the original" or reading books because they're in your target language, but I'm curious if there are any books out there that people here like so much (or just think are so worthwhile to read) that they'd recommend to people to read it in any language they can get their hands on? For example, do you have a favorite book that you've read in several different languages, just because you like it so much and want to enjoy it in as many languages as you can, to see the different nuances of it in the various translations? It might be difficult because maybe there's not a huge amount of books that are available in a large variety of languages, but I know there are some classics and other popular literature that have been widely translated. As an example, I've seen many people recommend "The Little Prince" in its many translations, but I think maybe that's more due to the relative ease of reading it in one's target language than it being everyone's favorite book? I would like to ask people to exclude the main texts of the major religions and anything regarding current politics just to increase the chance of keeping things civil in this discussion (and also, in the case of the bible, there are already plenty of threads open to discuss that.) Books about religions or spirituality seem like they'd be ok, assuming there are any that are widely translated, I just wanted to avoid this being another bible discussion or a political one. There are plenty of other books on topics that are less likely to make people turn snarly. :D For me it's hard to think of something to recommend that's been widely translated. The only thing I can think of is "The Wizard of Oz," but I'm not sure if that fits the bill. It is one of my favorite books since I was a child, and it has been translated into many languages, but I realize that a so called children's book (even though it's something, in my opinion, that can be enjoyed by adults as well,) will not appeal to many people, but also it is surprisingly difficult to find out information about the translations, let alone get a copy of the actual translations. For myself, though, that would be exactly the kind of book I mean for the purposes of this thread...a story I love so much that I am interested in reading it in any language I can. Most of my other preferred reading is sort of specific...non fiction about culture and travel, historical and biography/memoir type stuff, which usually only come in English or at most, the original language (normally impossible to find a copy) and an English translation, so I don't really have any recommendations to add to the thread that are easily found in multiple languages. So...Is there a Shakespeare play you're so mad about, you simply must find it in Esperanto? (Just a random example there, not an invite to start another Esperanto debate!):) How about a classic you just have to read in every language you're literate in?...Etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| staf250 Pentaglot Senior Member Belgium emmerick.be Joined 5688 days ago 352 posts - 414 votes Speaks: French, Dutch*, Italian, English, German Studies: Arabic (Written) | Message 2 of 22 15 December 2009 at 3:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not digging now in history or childhood. I would mention "The loneliness of the primary Numbers" La
Solitudine dei Numeri Primi", like an Ancient Greek Tragedy. It is out since january 2008, first in Italy and in Italian. Now it already is translated into 22 languages. The autor is the 26 year young Paolo Giordano. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7147 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 3 of 22 15 December 2009 at 5:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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"Lord of the Rings" or "The Hobbit" would be my choice.
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| Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5900 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 4 of 22 15 December 2009 at 6:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with Chung, I'm reading The Lord of the Rings in Italian right now and would want to eventually read this in any language I'm serious about. I've also been trying to find things in Italian that I actually care to read, like Tao Te Ching (there's even a free Italian audiobook online) and I've read parts of Hamlet too. In general I'm not big on fiction, so I tend to go for the things I know I care about and would read even if it wasn't part of language study, and then the important works in that language that interest me, like La Divina Commedia in Italian. I have to be inspired to read it though, whatever it happens to be.
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| Iolanthe Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5632 days ago 410 posts - 482 votes Speaks: English*, DutchC1 Studies: Turkish, French | Message 5 of 22 15 December 2009 at 11:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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For me it's The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. I first read it while studying German at school. Unfortunately according to the annotations I have in the German version of the book, I didn't get past the first 40 pages but I read the English version within a week or so (which is quick for me, since I'm not a frequent reader of fiction). I've chosen to read it in Dutch now, as study. I think it lends itself well to being used as a study aid because there's a clear story and the language is quite direct and clear.
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| genini1 Senior Member United States Joined 5459 days ago 114 posts - 161 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 6 of 22 16 December 2009 at 4:23am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm using Harry Potter to learn, I like the story and it's available in 67 languages. Once I've managed to read at least one of the books in a language I think I'll buy the lord of the rings and give it a go.
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| delta910 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5866 days ago 267 posts - 313 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, German | Message 7 of 22 16 December 2009 at 4:47am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm looking to get "Animal Farm" and "1984" by George Orwell in Spanish soon. Another great book that I'm looking for is "It can't happen here" by Sinclair Lewis in Spanish, if I can find it. These are some of my favorite books!
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| Emerald Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom languagedabbler.blog Joined 6236 days ago 316 posts - 340 votes Speaks: Hindi, Gujarati*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 22 06 May 2010 at 3:00am | IP Logged | ||
Great choice. I hadn't thought about it. I love it in English, so I will have to find it in Spanish now. I use Harry Potter books for any language I want to learn. I know the story so well that I can use these books from the very early stages of learning a language, and therefore pick up new words as I go. I would also recommend, "His Dark Materials" Trilogy by Philip Pullman. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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