Your first book in a foreign language...

A place for everyone to have discussions about literature, classical and contemporary.

Moderator:Forum Administrators

User avatar
Mikael
Posts:557
Joined:2007-01-31, 22:55
Gender:male
Location:New York, NY
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:
Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby Mikael » 2009-01-09, 21:52

Reveuse wrote:
Mikael wrote:
Reveuse wrote:And did you understand it immediately? I read 'L'étranger', another book of Camus in high school (when I was 16),


I got L'étranger for Christmas! I've already read it in English though.


Ah ok, then it should be a bit easier to understand :)


Probably. It's an odd one. :hmm:
*~

User avatar
Bubulus
Posts:7647
Joined:2008-08-14, 2:55
Gender:male
Country:CACanada (Canada)

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby Bubulus » 2009-03-20, 0:34

My first book in English was some boring 150 pages long tale about a boy falling from a boat while travelling around the world with his parents and surviving on an island. I don't really want to bother what was the book's title. :roll:

User avatar
polishboy
Posts:273
Joined:2008-12-17, 23:42
Real Name:Krzysztof
Location:Katy Wroclawskie
Country:PLPoland (Polska)
Contact:

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby polishboy » 2009-04-13, 13:44

Mailny I read book for learning foreign languga.
In Poland there are not many possiblities to read a book in original verion, unless in English, I have read a little Dracula in English, but not all.
Also tried Harry Potter a litte in Japanese.
But online.

And I have very old book in French.
Pecheur D'islande.
But I have not read it.
Too hard was.
Maybe I should trying reading it now, mabye.

User avatar
Hummfrea
Posts:482
Joined:2008-05-24, 17:57
Gender:female
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby Hummfrea » 2009-04-16, 0:52

I think my first book in Spanish was one of the Curious George books for little kids. :oops:
All the world gave a light touch in my shoulder says, “Ha, you are big!” and they gave my shoulder again.

User avatar
Formiko
Posts:13388
Joined:2008-01-25, 10:21
Real Name:Dosvdali
Gender:male
Location:Ashghabat
Country:TMTurkmenistan (Türkmenistan)

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby Formiko » 2009-04-16, 4:50

This is a tough one. When I was a kid (9 or 10), the library up the block from me used to give me their old language books. I remember getting a stack of Spanish books. I had no idea who he was but I started reading Unamuno! One was a play called El hermano Juan o El mundo es teatro, and the other was a collection of poetry. I was bored with both for 2 reasons. First, I was 9! and secondly I didn't know Spanish well enough (or English for that matter) to grasp his symbolism. I dropped the play after 10 pages. The poetry book I think I fell asleep to.
My first Esperanto book was a book called Karlo, when I was 10. (1981) It was maybe a 20 page book (It was a tiny book). These were all donations from my library. I just had to read something. (That's why I read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in one sitting when I was 9 or 10). I spent a Friday afternoon and finished Sunday night. For Italian I read a comic book. With German I read a kids book called "Fun with German" http://www.amazon.com/Fun-German-Cooper ... 525&sr=8-1

I loved it. It was about circus animals. I think I read it 100 times. I still remember the main narrator's popular line, Ach sagt das Schaf. Das macht Spaß!. Frau Känguruh was the narrator. :)
How do I rememebr these things?
Cherokee Indian STILL improving German.
Getting reacquainted with Swahili Msaada!
In no particular order
[flag]eo[/flag][flag]de[/flag][flag]es[/flag][flag]yo[/flag][flag]chr[/flag][flag]ru[/flag]

User avatar
obler9
Posts:446
Joined:2008-09-27, 22:17
Real Name:davide
Country:ITItaly (Italia)

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby obler9 » 2009-04-17, 2:29

"The Prince and the Pauper" (In English)
linguaholic wrote:I usually eat them with ketchup (I hate mayo, plus it's not vegan), also like satésauce (salty peanut stuff). Hummus sounds great, but I don't see anybody making that available here anytime soon.

Le parole sono importanti!

User avatar
lyzazel
Posts:105
Joined:2009-04-05, 23:12
Contact:

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby lyzazel » 2009-04-18, 20:05

I don't remember my "first books" in other languages (perhaps there aren't that many) but my first one in French was "Le Petit Prince".
Check out my project with interlinear translations (or, you could say, 'subtitled books') at Interlinear Books

SamD
Posts:38
Joined:2008-03-07, 18:01
Real Name:Samuel Dickey
Gender:male
Location: Youngstown, Ohio
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby SamD » 2009-05-01, 16:47

For me, it was "Le petit prince" in French.

User avatar
loqu
Posts:11891
Joined:2007-08-15, 21:12
Real Name:Daniel
Gender:male
Location:Barcelona, Catalonia

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby loqu » 2009-05-01, 16:56

Formiko wrote:I started reading Unamuno [...] I was bored with both


No wonder, dude.
Нека људи уживају у стварима.
Let people enjoy things.

Rivaldo
Posts:281
Joined:2008-07-07, 16:29
Real Name:Rivaldo José
Gender:male
Location: Minas
Country:BRBrazil (Brasil)

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby Rivaldo » 2009-05-02, 0:47

A tale from Comrad called "youth", in english
Le petit prince, of course, in french :D
El Aleph, from Borges, in castellano
Teogonia, in old greek

Except for 'youth' that has a complicated written, I guess the others are good suggestions for who are learning those languages.

User avatar
mushroom
Posts:189
Joined:2009-05-04, 18:18
Gender:female
Location:Bahía Blanca
Country:ARArgentina (Argentina)

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby mushroom » 2009-05-07, 0:57

"Dracula" by Bram Stoker. I was 11 years old, and very interested in ghost stories. I didn't understand the details of the narration, but I enjoyed it.

In German, I read some Märchen (fairytales) from the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Andersen.

And in Greek, a couple of poems by Kavafis.
Native:[flag]sp-ar[/flag]Fluently:[flag]en-uk[/flag]
Intermediate [flag]de[/flag]Intermediate:[flag]el[/flag]
Currently studying:[flag]it[/flag]

User avatar
BezierCurve
Posts:2626
Joined:2008-03-07, 12:21

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby BezierCurve » 2009-05-07, 1:14

Some German book for little kids, I only remember the plot was about a toy tractor, which fell into a stream and was carried away from the owner... I remember the illustrations until today, but I've no idea who the author was and what the title was. :)
Brejkam wszystkie rule.

"I love tautologies, they're so ... tautological." Hunef

User avatar
phaed
Posts:859
Joined:2008-09-14, 15:18
Gender:male
Location:Phoenix
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby phaed » 2009-05-07, 2:26

I haven't read any foreign-language book yet, but I'm hoping to order Eragon or Harry Potter (which are always interesting and complex-phrase-filled) in French soon.
Native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
B2: [flag=]es[/flag] (2006), [flag=]fr[/flag] (2008), [flag=]de[/flag] (2012)
A1: [flag=]ro[/flag] (2013)
Admiring from a distance: [flag=]sco[/flag] [flag=]la[/flag] [flag=]el[/flag] [flag=]fa[/flag] [flag=]no[/flag] [flag=]ru[/flag]

User avatar
ILuvEire
Posts:10398
Joined:2007-12-08, 17:41
Gender:male
Location:Austin
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby ILuvEire » 2009-05-07, 2:48

I would kill for a copy of Hans Christian Anderson's works in the original Danish.
[flag]de[/flag] [flag]da[/flag] [flag]fr-qc[/flag] [flag]haw[/flag] [flag]he[/flag] [flag]es[/flag]
Current focus: [flag]ga[/flag] [flag]ar[/flag]
Facebook | tumblr | Twitter
“We need to make books cool again. If you go home with somebody and they don't have books, don't fuck them.” —John Waters

User avatar
Zorba
Posts:3169
Joined:2006-03-24, 21:09

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby Zorba » 2009-05-07, 3:07

I would kill for a copy of Hans Christian Anderson's works in the original Danish.


They're all available for free online, most 19th century classics are because there are no copyright issues.

http://www2.kb.dk/elib/lit//dan/andersen/

If you want a hard copy, it shouldn't be too difficult to get a Danish copy of the fairytales if you do a bit of hunting on the internet. I have a bilingual Danish/Russian copy of the fairytales.

KingHarvest
Posts:4168
Joined:2008-03-21, 5:46
Gender:male
Location:New York
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby KingHarvest » 2009-05-07, 3:15

www.abebooks.com is always a good place to look for rare books. Amazon will usually have a lot of books, too, just put the title of it in Danish into the search engine.
Most men are rather stupid, and most of those who are not stupid are, consequently, rather vain.
-A.E. Housman

User avatar
voron
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:4945
Joined:2007-07-15, 3:29
Real Name:Igor
Gender:male
Country:TRTurkey (Türkiye)

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby voron » 2009-05-08, 0:11

I read my first book in English when I was about 15, and it was "Tales from Shakespeare" by Charles and Mary Lamb. It wasn't an easy read, but I was much more persistent back then, caring enough to flip through the dictionary every 5 seconds.

User avatar
BezierCurve
Posts:2626
Joined:2008-03-07, 12:21

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby BezierCurve » 2009-05-08, 1:25

I was much more persistent back then, caring enough to flip through the dictionary every 5 seconds.

I still do that, but I often wonder what the point is, if after two minutes you have to check the word again, because your language aquisition is nothing like it used to be... Thank God I don't need a nurse to wipe my ass so far, that would be even more disturbing :lol:
Brejkam wszystkie rule.

"I love tautologies, they're so ... tautological." Hunef

User avatar
voron
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:4945
Joined:2007-07-15, 3:29
Real Name:Igor
Gender:male
Country:TRTurkey (Türkiye)

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby voron » 2009-05-08, 8:53

I don't think language acquisition differs much between 15 and 30... BezierCurve, stop feeling old, 'cause you are NOT! :nope:

User avatar
Lymphocyte
Posts:76
Joined:2009-03-13, 21:15
Real Name:Szilvia
Gender:female
Country:HUHungary (Magyarország)
Contact:

Re: Your first book in a foreign language...

Postby Lymphocyte » 2009-05-09, 17:17

The first book I read in a foreign language was "Completely Unexpected Tales" by Roald Dahl, in English. I don't read short stories very often, but this book was pretty interesting, a good experience for first reading. :) I don't remember how old I was though.


Return to “Literature”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests