Peter’s Comments (group member since Nov 13, 2021)

Peter’s comments from the Language Learners and Polyglots group.

Today I finished reading Monterosso mon amour, which lifts me over my goal bar for 2022: I read 6 books in 4 foreign languages (English, Polish, Italian and Dutch). My Russian choice unfortunately was beyond my skills.

I also extend my thanks to Berengaria for her moderation and motivation.

Well done *Tau*. I am struggling at the moment with my Dutch reading (my mother tongue is German), though the similiarities between the languages really help a lot. I found great comfort in the fact that Dutch also counts numbers backwords like "vijfentwintig" (fünfundzwanzig, five and twenty) which most foreigners find odd. I would not be so critical about English, though, Berengaria. There are many short words which are very concise, but yes, obviously German has the famous/infamous capability of creating new words, simply by concatenating existings words like the "Hottentottenmutterattentäter", which can be found in some textbooks. And English has the advantage of diriving its words from two language families at the same time Germanic (Anglo-saxon) and Roman (Norman).

Today I finished Wybór nowel (Selected short stories) by Bolesław Prus and Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney and wrote reviews for both of them. This is my second book in Polish and first book in English. Still Dutch, French and Russian on the goalsheet.

Berengaria wrote: "Peter, you've posted to the wrong thread. :-) ..."

Sorry, Berengaria, and thank you for the hint. I deleted my comment. As an administrator you should be able to delete this one and yours so the chat is "clean" again.

By finishing Intermediate Italian Short Stories: 10 Captivating Short Stories to Learn Italian & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way!" I ticked off my second foreign language (after Polish). Still books in French, Dutch, English and Russian on the goal list.

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 by another book during the "Book week". I received it as eBook by a dear Goodreads friend.

Finally, I finished my first book for this challenge Bajki robotów, literally translated "Robot fables". The commercial English title "Mortal Engines" is very misleading. These are fairy tales with kings, princesses and knights, very much as in those of our childhood. Only that the acting persons are robots.

The interesting and (for a foreigner) cumbersome aspect of these stories is Lem's creativity in adapting fairy tale language to technical aspects. Reading these stories took me much longer than expected. Polish after all is (after English) my most proficient foreign language. But the stories themselves were much less captivating than I had hoped for. Please see my (German) review here.

Berengaria wrote: ".... Especially new words created to sound like English, which aren't, or aren't really ...."

My favourite in this category is "public viewing", which in Germany denotes a broadcast of a sports event on an open air mega screen, whereas (as I am told) in English it means "to lie in state".

Sportyrod wrote: "Hi Everyone, I’m about to start my first foreign language book ever. ..."

Courage Rod, don't get frustrated if you don't understand everything at once. I often have to read passages twice of three time before I get the meaning.

I have already started two foreign language books during the Xmas vacation: A Easy Reader with Italian short stories for intermediate learners and the book Ночь перед Рождеством (The Night before Christmas) by Nicolai Gogol. The later is quite a challenge, and I need to look up many words, so I hope to keep it up.

Thank you for your invitation to this group, Berengaria. Having German as mother tongue, I plan to read books in English, Polish, Russian, and Dutch as a regular goal and additionally French and Italian as a stretch goal. I am also learning Spanish, Hebrew and Jiddish, but still at basic level, not advanced enough for regular reading.