Learning languages to read great books (Books, Literature & Reading) Language Learning Forum

Learning languages to read great books
Tags: Book
Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading

76 messages over 10 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 4 ... 9 10 Next >>

Bao
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5
Joined 5800 days ago
2256 posts - 4046 votes

Speaks: German*, English
Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin

Message 25 of 76

21 June 2009 at 7:24pm | IP Logged

SamD wrote:

Yukamina wrote:

I'm learning languages to read books. Not necessarily "great books", just ones I would enjoy.

As far as I'm concerned, any book that you enjoy is a great book.

Seconded. I for one would love to be able to read Paasilinna in Finnish simply because I admire his characterization, which is no-nonsense and extremely absurd at the same time. I learnt a lot of my English by reading Pratchett.
Being able to read "classics" wouldn't be bad either, but I lack the stamina to even read the German classics (especially those written before the early 20th century)
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lyzazel
Tetraglot
Newbie
United Kingdom
interlinearbooks.com
Joined 5735 days ago
32 posts - 29 votes
Speaks: Lithuanian*, Esperanto, English, Swedish
Studies: Portuguese

Message 28 of 76

22 June 2009 at 2:01pm | IP Logged

Quote:

I read that James Joyce, while at university, taught himself Norwegian so he could read Ibsen in the
original.

It's kind of strange: I too have heard of some university professors, writers and similar intellectuals in the past
learning multiple languages so that they could read literally works in them. Guess it was more common then than
these days.
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Bao
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5
Joined 5800 days ago
2256 posts - 4046 votes

Speaks: German*, English
Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin

Message 31 of 76

22 June 2009 at 3:41pm | IP Logged

turaisiawase wrote:

Bao wrote:

I learnt a lot of my English by reading Pratchett.
Being able to read "classics" wouldn't be bad either, but I lack the stamina to even read the German classics (especially those written before the early 20th century)

As with everything else, it's mainly love. If you have it, you'll get the stamina.

Maybe when I'm older. I'll try it again when I'm in my thirties.
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