Berengaria’s
Comments
(group member since Nov 11, 2021)
Berengaria’s
comments
from the Language Learners and Polyglots group.
Showing 81-100 of 188
Calla Reviews wrote: "Reading 2 now
[book:Alif Baa: An In..."
Excellent! 👏 You can do it!
F wrote: "Hi, I'm joining late. I want to go back over book 1 and book 2 for learning Korean from sejong institute, along with the 1St workbook and its handouts, then I'll be moving on to two books, [book:안..."
That's great Fatima! Hope over to our chat (on this same profile) so you can interact with the rest of the group. I'll add you to the list.
I just discovered that the French publisher "Points" puts out very economical editions of some really great novels. And rather recent ones at that!!! Points prices are as low as 6.50 euros which makes them a good 5-8 euros cheaper than the German editions. It's more cost effective to read in French!
I've ordered 4 Points from 2 mystery series I read, so I'll probs have to put French on my list for next year, or read far more French than I expected to this year!
https://www.editionspoints.com/
Just finished up book 4 out of 5 on my Dutch challenge and book 3 of 4 on the French challenge! Man, remind me never to read middle grade fic ever ever again, okay? Not even when it's for free and about Sweden.
So here's my list now at the middle of the year....
Icelandic:
Italian:
1. Lo spaventapasseri -- Morchio, Bruno (mystery)
2. ??
French:
3. Les fantomes de Reykjavik -- Arnaldur Indridasson (mystery)
Dutch:
5. Solo -- Eisler, Barry (thriller)
8 down, 4 to go
So far, I enjoyed Advocaat van de Duivel, Godin van de jacht, Un esprit de Vengence and absolutely adored La mélancolie des sirènes par trente mètres de fond.
Lea wrote: "Yes, my native language is German. :) Wat leuk dat jullie ook in het Nederlands lezen. Ik was een uitwisselingsstudent in Nederland toen ik 16 was en zat er op school, maar als ik niet oefen verg..."
You're on our list!
Wat leuk dat jij een uitwisselingsstudent was! Was ik ook maar hier in Duitsland. Dat is de allerbeste ervaring om echt een taal en cultuur te leren en leren kennen. Absoluut, zoals we in het Engels zeggen "if you don't use it, you lose it".
A yard sale at the Scandinavian embassy? 😍😍 I'm hearing angels singing right now! I read Swedish already and want to add Danish and Norwegian to the pile (once I get a grasp on Icelandic). It's so difficult to track down appropriate reading materials in the Scandi languages. You lucked out!
Keep us informed how you are coming with your challenge. Since it's summer, it's a little quiet here now but don't let that discourage you. 😀
Lea wrote: "I would like to participate as well. I want to aim for five books in either Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, French or Spanish."Hi Lea!
That's a great list. We have a native speaker of Spanish here who is open to answering language questions, if you have any.
As you might have noticed, many of us have French as a challenge language. Peter and myself also have Dutch. Wat leuk dat jij hem ook hebt! Sportyrod is reading Swedish, but nobody has Norwegian or Danish.
I'll put you on the roster. I see you are in Germany. Is your native language German? I ask this so we know who might be able to answer language questions.
Iamthesword wrote: "5/11: Leïla Slimani - LE PARFUM DES FLEURS LA NUIT. I just like Slimani's writing style, so I did also like this collection of short reflections bound together by a short narrative, too. Not one of..."Hurrah! 👏 Glad to hear you're enjoying your choices!
So finished up the bestseller short story book Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part. That's my 3rd of 4 for French. Most of the stories were either too difficult for me to follow because of the style... highly colloquial, hipster Parisian vocab, cultural references, incomplete sentences...or just plain boring.
Still, there were a few VERY good stories in this collection, but I fail to see what made it go viral like it did when it was first published. Esp coming from an unknown like it did. Must have touched a nerve, but which nerve?
I'd not recommend this unless you are C1 or above or are very good at modern colloquial bobo.
Peter wrote: "I started today my 3rd foreign language book Monterosso mon amour. It was distributed as this year's "Boekenweekgeschenk" a Dutch tradition, which gives you a book for free if you b..."Ah! you've got a contact for Boekenweek! That sounds so cool. Hope you enjoy your freebie.
Iamthesword wrote: "After a long time of other stuff: 4/11 Honoré de Balzac - Le Colonel Chabert. Not terrible, but a bit of a drag (like a less interesting COMTE DE MONTE-CRISTO). But I'm proud to have made it throug..."Hurrah! Very good that you've got your 4th goal book done! 👏 I've switched out several of my original choices because I found more interesting options or ones I wanted to read more. No problem with that! The point is just to connect with the language.
And 19th cent French! You have every reason to be proud of yourself, I agree.
Jane wrote: "Just finished Blassblaue Frauenschrift by Franz Werfel."Toll! 👏 That's such a great title. I haven't heard of that one before, but I see it was originally published in 1941. That's probably why.
How did you hear about it or what drew you to it?
Sportyrod wrote: "Hey Berengaria, how are your Swedish books coming along? I have my mid year exams this month and am looking forward to getting back into my Swedish books mid month."Oh, those are for later...like next year or when I complete this year's challenge and have some extra time. I'm a squirrel like that...I stock up on nuts way early! But, yes, I'm really looking forward to getting back to Swedish, too. Perhaps you'll inspire me to read the intermediate reader one when you start your reading!
Good luck on your mid-years!
Oh, and has your friend bookclub read Daisy Jones & The Six ? That's got TONS to talk about. Everything from the writing style to characters to historic events and the music of the 70s.
I'm reading it with my French learner-of-English friend and we can't pack everything that's in even one chapter into the 1 hour convo lesson.
Kalliope wrote: "Sorry for being quiet here....."You're welcome! Time gets away from us all.
You are doing quite well in your challenges for Italian/French if you've only fallen behind by one. A book in both languages per month is a very ambitious goal! I know I couldn't keep up, so pat yourself on the back for getting through what you have.
For German, any book ideas?
Peter wrote: "Finally, I finished my first book for this challenge Bajki robotów, literally translated "Robot fables". The commercial English title "Mortal Engines" is very misleading. .."HURRAH!!!! Your first challenge book!👏👏👏 That's great!
It's a shame you didn't enjoy the stories better. Perhaps the next one you pick up in Polish will really be something for you. The concept does sound interesting, but perhaps it was too technically detailed. Sounds like it was.
Finished up my 2nd novel in French (out of 4 for the challenge) which was "Un Esprit de Vengance" by Simone St James! It's the French translation of "The Haunting of Maddy Clare". If you like historic ghost stories with romantic subplots this might be something for you. The level of language is a good intermediate and you can read it fairly quickly without much reaching for a dictionary.
I tandem read it with a French friend of mine who I think liked it more than I did!
Just finished my 3rd novel in Dutch! The Dutch chic lit one was far better than expected, and it was nice to read out of my usual genres.
So, so far...
Icelandic:
Italian:
1. Lo spaventapasseri -- Morchio, Bruno (mystery)
2. Lezione di Tango -- Modignani, Sveva (popular women's lit)
French:
1. La Folle de Maigret - Simenon (mystery)
2. Le café des petits miracles - Barreau, Nicolas (cute YA)
4. Un Esprit de Vengence - St. James, Simone (paranormal)
Dutch:
3. Een eiland in zee -- Thor, Annika (middle grade fic)
4. Solo -- Eisler, Barry (thriller)
5 down, 6 to go...
How is everybody else doing on their challenges? Things have gotten quiet around here -- let us know where you are with your reading!
So I've started on my Dutch challenge novel number 3: "Goddess of the Hunt"...a total chick lit sex romp with lot of....sexy stuff and stuff.Anyway, learning some very good words regarding female biology I don't think I'd have come across otherwise. Not terribly important (or perhaps even interesting) for male readers, but possibly highly practical for the ladies.
Did I mention there's nookie? 🙀 😁
Such a nice change from what I normally read.
Jane wrote: "Just finished in the original German: Pomponius in Rom: Ein Fall für Spurius Pomponius 5. "Great! That's one down for this year! Fantastic that you have a series you enjoy in German so you can keep coming back to it.
Lenka wrote: "I got myself 10 (ten!) books on my recent trip to Spain"Ten? Score! And you walk out of the store thinking "how am I ever going to get all this home?" but you'd turn right around and buy more, wouldn't you? When one calls your name it is so very hard to say no.
What were your ten books?
Paul wrote: "Berengaria wrote: "I'm so excited! Got two books in French yesterday...not that I need more books in French, but they were on super discount and I couldn't resist! "Un Esprit de Vengeance" which ..."
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