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’Polyglot’ books | ||
Tags: Multilingual | Book | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| Tjerk Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Belgium Joined 6748 days ago 54 posts - 59 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, Flemish*, English, Spanish, French Studies: Swedish | Message 1 of 23 25 July 2006 at 6:30am | IP Logged |
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I always really enjoy movies where people speak different languages within one film(examples L'auberge espagnole, Aime ton pere, the Bourne identity ...) It's so much more realistic if people just speak the language of the country they are in. But I wonder do there exist books like that ? Must be great to read an english story about a Spanish couple travelling to france for example.. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6759 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 2 of 23 25 July 2006 at 8:02am | IP Logged |
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Agatha Christi often wrote bits of French into her mystery novels —
particularly the ones with Hercules Poirot. Not whole passages, but enough that knowing French lets you enjoy her books more. Umberto Eco, a polyglot himself, often has a fair amount of words and sentences in foreign languages in his books. He writes in Italian, but his translators preserve the non-Italian content as well as possible. I remember playing one of the Gabrial Knight adventure computer games a number of years back. In one part, I had to eavesdrop on a telephone conversation in French for clues. My French skills were up to the task, but later I found out that players were expected to tape the conversation and have it translated. :) I guess I skipped that step. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dmg Diglot Senior Member Canada dgryski.blogspot.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 7002 days ago 555 posts - 605 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Dutch, Esperanto | Message 3 of 23 25 July 2006 at 8:35am | IP Logged |
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My favourite movie along those lines is "The Red Violin", which has long parts in French, English, Mandarin, Italian and German. It's also an excellent Canadian film.
However, TV writers generally don't go to all that trouble. The TV Tropes wiki has an interesting page on foreign languages in TV: TVTropes: Translation Convention I particularly like the comments on "Casanova" and "Lost". Edited by dmg on 25 July 2006 at 11:01am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7137 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 4 of 23 25 July 2006 at 8:40am | IP Logged |
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Ludlum, who wrote the Bourne Identity, often puts in dialogue in different languages. I have wondered if he knew the languages or got someone to wrote the foreign bits for him.
There are other thriller writers who do the same. I will have to check with some of my books. I am addicted to thrillers as well as to learning languages. And yes, I do find it fun to understand foreign dialogue in books and movies. It sort of gives you an inside track. Also, watching documentaries on television where people are being interviewed and they speak in a foreign language and they have sub titles below, it is great to be able to understand exactly what they are saying and to compare the subtitles. I remember watching a movie where Tom Hanks speaks Ladino for much of the movie. Does anyone know if he actually speaks Ladino or did he just parrot the dialogue? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7095 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 5 of 23 25 July 2006 at 1:22pm | IP Logged |
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Just a side point. When I saw this thread I thought it was yet another one for the company Multilingual Books. Can it be changed to something like "books with multiple languages" or anything along those lines.
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| Felixelus Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6829 days ago 237 posts - 244 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 23 25 July 2006 at 1:58pm | IP Logged |
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Well when reading Lolita I had to have a french dictionary near by as there are some passages in the book where the main character speaks in french. I found that for a person who doesn't know French (my boyfriend who I lent the book to) this was quite frustrating! so maybe thats why it's uncommon for authors to write in different languages during a prodominately english novel.
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| Tjerk Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Belgium Joined 6748 days ago 54 posts - 59 votes Speaks: Dutch*, Flemish*, English, Spanish, French Studies: Swedish | Message 7 of 23 25 July 2006 at 4:31pm | IP Logged |
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This is why I would value those books a lot.. even if it's a language I don't understand... (there can always be translation provided in foot notes.) It would be cool if each character just talked the language he's supposed to speak.
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| Felixelus Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6829 days ago 237 posts - 244 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 23 25 July 2006 at 5:55pm | IP Logged |
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You see Tjerk I agree with you! I'd love to be reading a book with characters from all corners of the globe who speak in their native languages at least some of the time. Translation could be provided else where...infact I'd try to work out excatly what meant what...it would excite me! but I've realised people like us are rare and the majority of people would find that it would stop them from enjoying the book even if the translation was provided! (which it wasn't in Lolita) I think it's the same principle with people to refuse to watch subtitled movies...and I really cant understand those people! *laughs*
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