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Do you read often in foreign languages? | ||
Tags: Foreign Languages | Reading | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| markchapman Diglot Groupie Taiwan tesolzone.com/ Joined 5272 days ago 44 posts - 55 votes  Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: Portuguese | Message 41 of 75 12 August 2010 at 10:23am | IP Logged | |||||
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I love reading in English - my language - but I write a lot, and if I read too much in English, I find myself
unconsciously copying the style of the writer I'm reading. This just doesn't happen if I read in another language. So, yes, I read what I can in other languages. It's also fun, of course. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| fireflies Senior Member Joined 4981 days ago 172 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* | Message 42 of 75 13 October 2010 at 2:46am | IP Logged | |||||
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There are a lot of books in Spanish where I live (not nearly as many as there are in English but it's still a very prevalent language) so I find myself reading in it. It's certainly an extra motivation to learn/use a language when materials in it are easy to find.
I haven't read a book in English in awhile although I have one on hand now I plan to read because it seemed really entertaining. Edited by fireflies on 13 October 2010 at 3:57am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| starst Triglot Senior Member China Joined 5314 days ago 113 posts - 133 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, Japanese, EnglishC2 Studies: FrenchC1, German, Norwegian | Message 43 of 75 13 October 2010 at 3:43am | IP Logged | |||||
I won't say it doesn't count, but I'll say that it's different. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5356 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 44 of 75 13 October 2010 at 10:23am | IP Logged | |||||
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Not enough really - I currently only read in English and German before going to sleep. I'd like to manage my time better and read much more foreign literature in the original.
I hope to extend this soon to Spanish and Swedish, if everything goes well with studies, and it would be the icing on the cake to have Russian by the end of the year too. It would be cool to have books in 5 different languages piled up on the bedside table at a time. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| maydayayday Pentaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5019 days ago 564 posts - 839 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, SpanishB2, FrenchB2 Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Persian, Vietnamese Studies: Urdu | Message 45 of 75 13 October 2010 at 10:51am | IP Logged | |||||
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I re-read some french novels recently - Madame Bovary etc. I need to read more current literature to up my grasp of idiom.
I do my preliminary background research on any new topic in either French or Spanish and then do a cursory mop up in English. Unfortunately a lot of technical material is published in English. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6503 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 46 of 75 13 October 2010 at 11:03am | IP Logged | |||||
Reality is bad enough as it is, and I don't see the point in adding even more disgusting criminals, fanatics, people who cannot get their personal lives in order, natural and manmade catastrophes and dripping sentimental fools. Unfortunately my local library has few non fiction books in other languages than Danish, English and (to some extent) the other Nordic languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| OlafP Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5235 days ago 261 posts - 667 votes Speaks: German*, French, English | Message 47 of 75 13 October 2010 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
That is as if you would say you don't listen to music because there is already enough noise on this planet. I would agree if you said that the majority of what is called "literature" is not worth reading, but how does your statement about criminals, fanatics, catastrophies, and fools apply to, for instance, these books: Ernest Hemingway: "The Old Man and the Sea" Stanisław Lem: "Solaris" Ivan Turgenev: "Fathers and Sons" 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| fireflies Senior Member Joined 4981 days ago 172 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* | Message 48 of 75 13 October 2010 at 8:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I was puzzled by that opinion towards fiction too. I agree that the world has a lot of grim stuff going on in it but not all fiction is bleak. In fact it is often escapism because the writers are free to create their own worlds or write improbable happy endings.
The first book that came to mind for me was 'The Hobbit'. Yes there was a conflict but it was nothing that anyone has to deal with in the real world. Edited by fireflies on 13 October 2010 at 8:11pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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