Reading Language

    I know mapcore is a pretty international forum so I figured it would be a good place for this question.

    What language do you read your books in? I've noticed in the "purchased" thread a lot of you buying english language books. In your home country do most people read in english or only mass market type stuff? If you have the choice which language would you read in? What kind of books are available in your native language?

    I know this varies widely depending on country but plz educate me. Any other book/language related tidbits welcome (cost discrepancy for example)

    Are you comfortable reading English? As comfortable as your native language? Your national newspapers are in your native language, correct? Are most people you know this way and it doesn't bother them?

    I sometimes even think in English It's a bit weird, and kinda freaks me out sometimes.

    I read Norwegian books, but I try to read English books instead of translations. Cost really isn't an issue, since it's such small amount if they are both bought in Norway.

    Maybe I am retarded, because sometimes I have troubles explaining something in Norwegian and know the exact meaning in English.

    What Peris said. If a book is originally in English, i'll try to find an English edition. And yes, it's as easy as reading Dutch. Most movies and half the series on Dutch TV are in English so i pretty much grew up with it. I try to read a German or French book too every once in a while. My French isn't as good but i can understand it all, but i probably miss a few details, like the meaning of choosing one word instead of it's synomyn. Reading German is like reading English or Dutch for me as well. I used to read Latin as well but it's been a few years so i'm not sure if i still could.

    I always prefer to read stuff in the original language. Something always gets lost in translation. Same for movies/tv shows etc. I even utterly despise subs nowadays but in germany they are unfortunately everywhere. So what happens is that i basicly watch no shows and movies on TV anymore. Instead i download british/american/canadian shows that interest me and watch them in english.

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    Maybe I am retarded, because sometimes I have troubles explaining something in Norwegian and know the exact meaning in English.

    I notice something similar when people ask me to translate stuff into english. I know perfectly what it means but i have trouble to instantly find the german words for it. I think that is because my english has become good enough that i don't need to translate stuff in my head anymore. I'm able to think and to understand in english. So when someone asks me for a translation thats something i'm not used to anymore.

    Of course my english is not as good as my german but one interesting thing about languages is that its way easier to read and to understand them then to speak them or to write them. I only lived in sweden for 2 years but i can read most of it and i understand quite some but i have absolute trouble to speak or to write it.

    Quote from Steppenwolf

    I always prefer to read stuff in the original language. Something always gets lost in translation. Same for movies/tv shows etc. I even utterly despise subs nowadays but in germany they are unfortunately everywhere. So what happens is that i basicly watch no shows and movies on TV anymore. Instead i download british/american/canadian shows that interest me and watch them in english.

    I do exactly the same. Although usually the choice of english books in the local shops is very limited, or does not match what I'm looking for, so I order novels and comic books on amazon .uk or .com

    Any creation is always better in the original version because it usually loses depth or quality as it gets translated, so all the movies I watch are in original version (subtitled when I don't know the language or when I watch them with somebody else)

    Quote from Steppenwolf

    I notice something similar when people ask me to translate stuff into english. I know perfectly what it means but i have trouble to instantly find the german words for it. I think that is because my english has become good enough that i don't need to translate stuff in my head anymore. I'm able to think and to understand in english. So when someone asks me for a translation thats something i'm not used to anymore.

    The same thing happens to me, and I think, besides what you mentioned, that it's partly because there's no perfect translation, but you try to find it still. Once you really start grasping english, you get subtle meanings and why a word was used instead of another and all that, and trying to translate that in your mother language simply doesn't work. The opposite situation is true aswell, french has a lot of synonisms for a single object or action but none of them truly have the exact same sense or usage, so translating french to english is also a pain and you lose much subtlelty.

    I find it really easy to learn how to read and understand english, but practicing in france is proving quite difficult. Trying to speak english with people I know (be it family or friends) always proves to be harder than it should be. So once in a while I try to go back to the UK, so I'm not completely rusty when an interview comes up.

    i feel translations are always watering stuff down so i prefer to get everything i am interested in in the original language a book by a german author id read in german anything by an english author in english any other language that i don't speak where i need a translation i prefer translated to english and not german.

    movies are the same deal i watch movie only with their original voice track NEVER EVER any thing dubbed ... EVER ! and if i don't understand the native language than subtitles in english please !

    and i hear you guys ! i have started thinking english aswell as my main language even though i am back in germany and everyone aroudn me speaks german to me again...

    ENGLISH FOR WORLD LANGUAGE LETS RID OUR PLANET OF ALL OTHER LANGUAGES !!!

    Mostly German, here and there some stuff in English and Bulgarian.

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    English has the largest vocabulary of any language...

    ...because, if you look at it as a whole, it also includes pretty much every Latin word used in a text, beside the Germanic words and the French loanwords; yet the average vocabulary of a native English speaker is much smaller than the average vocabulary of a, say, native Germanophone, or a native speaker of any other European language for that matter, which practically nullifies that.

    There are countless subtleties and phrases in english that are extremely hard to translate. Works both ways tho. Just yesterday i found no propper solution to translate "Ist der Ruf erst ruiniert, lebt 's sich gänzlich ungeniert". You can translate the words but you can't translate the wit.

    i doubt english to have the largest vocabulary.

    trying to read books in theyr original version as it most probably shows most of what the author wanted to say. what i wonder the most is how people can read Goethe, Buechner and Schiller and stuff like this in a translated version?

    Actually you can't find a good book in your language if you're non-english spoken man. A lot of people from European contries read and even write own book is english because it's universal. Writing in english will gain more readers than in german or french...

    i mostly read everything in english (quote what peris said about english having a large vocabulary). i feel confined when limited to either of the other languages i know, and will usually mix english into them when i'm lacking a word. i've been speaking english daily for the past 7 years in gradually accumulating manner. i'm actually beginning to forget how to say things in either of my native languages due to this.

    thanks for answering

    I was reading The Brothers Karamazov when I thought of the question. I really enjoy Russian literature for some reason but I realize much is probably lost in translation. Odds are I'll never learn to read Cyrillic so some of the most clever and witty lines will forever go over my head

    well honestly any language you pick regardless of vocabulary is at best going to be an emulation of thought through a semantic. if you'd manage to find or create one that can translate semantics perfectly, i would personally crown you are the ruler of the entire known universe.

    What makes an author talented and a book exceptional is GETTING "emulation of thought through a semantic." I've heard many great authors say that the novel in their head is much better than the one they manage to get down on paper. For better or worse, language is how we communicate. I could say that in my head I have devised the greatest story ever created, but that doesn't do anyone much good. For this reason new technology is being created all the time the enhances the way we communicate (music, film, video games).

    It's similar to why a program might be written in C instead of binary. You sacrifice some efficiency (requiring better hardware) for the ability to express yourself (not taking 2 days to write a program that converts Fahrenheit to Celsius).

    Being inspired by a translated novel is a testament to the greatness of the work, especially if it's translated by someone other than the original author. It's like breaking down Michelangelo's David into fist sized rocks, sweeping them into a pile and having people still look at them in awe.

    Quote from Duff-e

    What makes an author talented and a book exceptional is GETTING "emulation of thought through a semantic." I've heard many great authors say that the novel in their head is much better than the one they manage to get down on paper. For better or worse, language is how we communicate. I could say that in my head I have devised the greatest story ever created, but that doesn't do anyone much good. For this reason new technology is being created all the time the enhances the way we communicate (music, film, video games).

    *standing ovation*

    i have never seen the thoughts in my head expressed this nicely in written word ! /edit now thinking about it that is quite a meta accomplishment considering our topic !

    i salute you !

    /edit this thread is over now we have successfully completed it !

    Quote from e-freak

    what i wonder the most is how people can read Goethe, Buechner and Schiller and stuff like this in a translated version?

    Interesting thought. Germans proud themself of being the people of poets and thinkers. But how could an outsider ever truly appreciate german literature without speaking the language perfectly? Foreigners may have heard storys about Goethe and Schiller but what are their chances to grasp them? Even in german its hard because their way of using the language is so oldschool by now.

    Well Faust is on my list of things to read and I can't read German so I'll let you know when I get there

    When people speak about the german literature you mentioned above it usually is in some kind of metaphorical abstraction. For example the entire play or book will be condensed into a single theme and that theme is what you're referring to when you say something like "Faustian." Of course it varies but for your normal college educated layman this is what I most often see.

    Do people in Germany read translated works of Shakespeare? To me that sounds as ridiculous as translating Goethe sounds to you. But then in that same respect the Italians probably think we're wasting our time reading a translated version of Dante's Inferno.

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