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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7203 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 1 of 13 01 December 2006 at 5:36am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm getting close to finishing the audiobook Ángeles y Demonios for the first time and am unsure of where to go next. Basically, I believe I need to increase my proficiency in reading/listening and to do that I need to focus more on a single book until I learn it better than is possible by just going through it once. Some options I'm considering:
1) El Código Da Vinci was the book I planned to do next about a month ago. Downsides: I haven't read it yet, and therefore it would be starting from scratch. Upsides: I think the book will be better than the movie. 2) Don Quijote de La Mancha. Upsides: It's a classic. I've done some analysis of word frequency. Downsides: It's probably the hardest of the books at my disposal. It has a lot of unusual and archaic vocabulary. I haven't read it yet. It looks to be the longest book as well. The reading seems pretty fast. 3) Las Fábulas de Esopo. Upsides: Each individual fable is very short. The vocabulary would probably lay helpful groundwork for Don Quijote. It wouldn't be too onerous to do some written analysis of the fables in my target language, since they are short. Actually, I could probably do some of that with any of these books. The total audio is relatively small, probably an hour or two is available right now, which makes the time investment less than the other choices I have. The speech is at a natural pace, but not too fast. Downsides: Some of the vocabulary may not be instantly useful as it tends to be earthy. 4) Ángeles y Demonios. Upsides: I'm finishing it for the first time, and feel investing another twenty-five hours or so studying the book would pay off more than the same time on a brand new work like El Código Da Vinci. The language should be pretty modern. Downsides: It's not a classic. It's a translation. If you have any thoughts about this, I'd appreciate hearing your views. Edited by luke on 01 December 2006 at 9:43am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6657 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 2 of 13 01 December 2006 at 7:11am | IP Logged | ||
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I'd suggest finishing up Angeles y Demonios.
I've read The DaVinci Code in English and I've seen the movie; the book is much better than the movie. Las FAbulas de Esopo is probably the best book to tackle next. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6941 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 3 of 13 01 December 2006 at 7:41am | IP Logged | ||
Luke, I tried slowing down the tempo of the first chapter in Audacity, and 10% slowdown sounds pretty normal, and even 20% slowdown is not particularly unnatural. I am sure you can slow it down enough to get the speed you need. Edited by frenkeld on 01 December 2006 at 8:51am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6888 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 4 of 13 01 December 2006 at 8:28am | IP Logged | ||
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The Da Vinci Code is way better as a book than it was a movie so you will probably enjoy it, regardless of any linguistic setbacks. :)
Don Quixote is a great read but it is quite heavy-going in its original Spanish. The language, as you said, is quite archaic and there are a lot of words you'd never come across on a daily basis (unless you're very familiar with swords and shields!). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| rkunz Diglot Senior Member United States learnthatlanguagenow Joined 6823 days ago 103 posts - 101 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Japanese | Message 5 of 13 01 December 2006 at 9:00am | IP Logged | ||
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Do not do Don Quixote for now. It is more of an advanced text. I had to read parts of it for my Spanish AP class. Not only are there tons of words that are not even used today in Spanish, but the grammatical structure is also archaic, meaning you'll be seeing a lot of syntax which is simply not used today and is even confusing to modern day native Spanish speakers.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6892 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 13 01 December 2006 at 9:13am | IP Logged | ||
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Not sure if this helps the original poster with his question but since a couple of opinions have come up on The Da Vinci Code I feel it necessary to voice my own to get some kind of balance.
The book was the worst rubbish I have read in many years. It started off slightly promising in the first couple of chapters but then just went from bad to worse. I did read through the whole thing, though in the end I was left wondering why I bothered. Even so, I was curious about the film as I thought it might still be possible to make a fairly decent picture based on that plot, but it turned out the film was rubbish too, though not quite as bad as the book. Neither the book nor the film is worth spending any time or effort on in any language imho. About Don Quijote I second Lady Skywalker. It is a good read but perhaps not the most effective route if your primary aim is to build proficiency that is relevant in today's world. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6766 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 7 of 13 01 December 2006 at 9:46am | IP Logged | ||
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Heh, I'm with Hencke. I tried reading The Da Vinci Code but gave up near the beginning, even though the subject matter intrigued me and I like thrillers. Sorry to say, Dan Brown is just not that talented at putting sentences together. For something similar that is well-written, check out Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco.
I imagine, however, that someone who's just learning a language and wants something to practice on won't know the difference between good prose and bad, so it makes less difference. And who knows, maybe it's better in translation. Incidentally, I love what Roger Ebert wrote about The Da Vinci Code: That I have read the book is not a cause for celebration. It is inelegant, pedestrian writing in service of a plot that sets up cliff-hangers like clockwork, resolves them with improbable escapes and leads us breathlessly to a disappointing anticlimax. I should read a potboiler like The Da Vinci Code every once in a while, just to remind myself that life is too short to read books like The Da Vinci Code. Edited by Captain Haddock on 01 December 2006 at 9:46am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7013 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 13 01 December 2006 at 11:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I think that you should choose a modern book of the same genre that you would enjoy reading in English.
I don't think that it matters whether it's been translated or it's in the original language. In my opinion, as long as it's in the target language, I could be reading the instructions on how to clean my fridge translated from the original Mongolian and I'd be fine with it... ...I think! :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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