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What’s everyone reading? | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5570 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 41 of 177 22 November 2009 at 1:12am | IP Logged | |||||
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I am reading the French translation of Richard Dawkins' The Ancestor's Tale, called Il était une fois nos ancêtres. It's a delightful book about the history of evolution, told as a story going backwards from modern humans to the origin of life, taking note of all the times we diverged from the evolutionary paths of the other organisms we share the planet with. I also have the English version which I can consult if I don't understand something, but so far I've been doing pretty well just sticking to the French. I started reading the book a while ago, in English, but never finished it (it's a long book). I wanted to return to it, but I didn't want to take time away from my language study, so I decided to tackle it in French. Two birds with one stone!
Birds, incidentally, being the only surviving descendants of the dinosaurs. I love science. :) Edited by Levi on 22 November 2009 at 1:20am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5850 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 42 of 177 22 November 2009 at 12:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
Me too, I am very interested in natural science. I would like to read such a book, but my French reading ability isn't good enough to read thick books in this language. Reading a science magazine in French with short articles is more adequate for me. Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Juan M. Senior Member Colombia Joined 5902 days ago 460 posts - 597 votes | Message 43 of 177 22 November 2009 at 3:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't understand why people read books translated from languages they know into languages they're studying. There are many great books on physics and biology originally written in French. The brief but excellent introduction to quantum mechanics by Scarani is one I wish to read as soon as linguistically possible.
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| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6442 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 44 of 177 22 November 2009 at 3:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
- Availability. - Reading a familiar book is a great boost when you're able to sort of read, but not comfortably. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Juan M. Senior Member Colombia Joined 5902 days ago 460 posts - 597 votes | Message 45 of 177 22 November 2009 at 4:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
I personally would prefer reading simple material originally written in the language I'm studying, like children or adolescent books. Translations from other languages would expose one to forms and styles which are unnatural or alien to the language one is studying. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6442 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 46 of 177 22 November 2009 at 4:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
I have to agree with those that say books for children and adolescents tend not to really be all that much simpler. There are some very simple books for adults (in terms of writing style), while many books by authors like Asimov are considered to be for children. Even one-sentence-per-page picture books for very young children can be surprisingly difficult, because they use so much vocabulary you rarely encounter elsewhere. Translations vary a lot in how unnatural they are. That said, I do agree that the benefits of reading a book translated into your language and then reading it in the original are better than those of reading a book in your language, and then in translation, usually. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Juan M. Senior Member Colombia Joined 5902 days ago 460 posts - 597 votes | Message 47 of 177 22 November 2009 at 4:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
I would hope that after a period of conscientious study, reading a couple of bilingual books of short stories, excerpts from novels or essays originally written in your target language with translation on facing pages should be enough to prepare oneself to engage most original material with a dictionary. This kind of books are also readily available in all the major Western languages, being particularly plentiful in the case of French. In my personal opinion, reading things like Harry Potter translated into the language one is studying is not a very profitable exercise, since a big part of learning a language is also becoming accustomed to how ideas are presented, prose is constructed and vocabulary employed, something one may miss to one degree or another in works translated from foreign authors. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6442 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 48 of 177 22 November 2009 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
It's about as profitable as reading a bilingual book; the bilingual book is usable at a slightly earlier stage of study for similar use (and at any stage of study for closer reading, as opposed to extensive reading). I fully agree that it would be downright stupid to make the majority of ones' language study be through books translated into the target language, when one is at the level to read books. I see reading translations into the target language as a bridge, and as something to do when something one wants to read is most readily available in that form. I don't particularly like using dictionaries more than absolutely necessary, and prefer to acquire vocabulary from context, bilingual texts, or reading the same thing in more than one language - but in the latter case, preferring works originally in the target language provides the advantages without the disadvantages you very correctly point out. Edit: I'm intermittently reading Harry Potter in Latin, to solidify/internalize my knowledge of the grammar and core vocabulary. It's full of neologisms and the style certainly isn't very classical - but it's useful to me at this stage. I do find a few translations are an excellent way of bridging into my target language - after that, watching how excellent writers of the target language branch off from what I know is a pleasant way to see how the target language is written well and differs from similar ones I can read. Edited by Volte on 22 November 2009 at 4:55pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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