Around the Year in 52 Books discussion
Progress Posts 2016
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50: A book originally written in a language other than English
This should be an interesting one. My native language is English but I can read Japanese no problem. Several of my books last year were in Japanese so why not this one.I think I'll end up reading エス Essu . I have the book sitting around so may as well get onto it.
I am reading A Man Called Ove, originally written in Swedish. I am reading in English ... My first and sadly only language (I studied French and German at school but sadly that was many moons ago!!)
Progress Post:- What are you reading this week?
The Devil's Pool by George Sand
- What language was your book originally written in?
French
- Is English your native language? If not, what is? Yes.
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language? not really...a little bit of Spanish...and remember a smattering of high school Latin
Pauline wrote: "I am reading A Man Called Ove, originally written in Swedish. I am reading in English ... My first and sadly only language (I studied French and German at school but sadly that was ..."I read this book, too, this week. I loved it. Laughter and tears were plentiful. I thought the characters were endearing.
I am reading Genocide of One by Kazuaki Takano. It was originally written in Japanese. My native tongue is English and I know a smattering of words in French and Japanese.
- What are you reading this week?I'm reading The Girl in the Spider's Web
- What language was your book originally written in?
Swedish
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
No, not really. I learned German at school but can't really say much now. I know a few Thai words now too but not enough to say I speak it!
- What are you reading this week?Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami; meant to read this for last year's "originally written in another language" week.
- What language was your book originally written in?
Japanese
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes.
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
Yes; Japanese. My Japanese is not as fluent though so reading this in Japanese would take FOREVER.
- What are you reading this week?
- What language was your book originally written in?
Icelandic
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
I can speak very basic German and French but not really enough to hold a conversation.
What are you reading this week?I read The Ten Thousand Things by Maria Dermoût
What language was your book originally written in?
Dutch (and first published in 1955)
Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
After 5 years of German, 3 years of French, (all in high school, a lifetime ago) and taking a stab at Spanish myself, I am ashamed to say the best I can do is read signs!
I first learned of this book while reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed. I was intrigued and decided to add to my list. I am so glad I did!
- What are you reading this week?Ekspozycja Remigiusz Mróz
- What language was your book originally written in?
Polish
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
No, Polish
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
English and little Farsi (husband is from Iran)
I read Genocide of One by Kazuaki Takano. The book was originally written in Japanese, English is my native language. I don't speak any other language fluently, I do know a smattering of Japanese and French though.
- What are you reading this week?Ring
- What language was your book originally written in?
Japanese.
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes, it is.
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
Sadly, no, although I should learn one. I did Spanish for a few years in school but I couldn't quite get into it and although I still remember a few basic words and phrases, I can't remember most of it.
What are you reading this week? BeowulfWhat language was your book originally written in? Technically this was written originally in English but it was old English and still required translation into modern English so I counted it
Is English your native language? If not, what is? Yes
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language? No
Robijnrood (Ruby Red) by Kerstin GierGerman, but I read it in Dutch.
No, Dutch is my native language
Yes, English and Swedish. I can also understand a little German but probably not enough to read this book in German. Maybe I should try the second book in the series in German.....
- What are you reading this week? Pod sněhem- What language was your book originally written in? Czech
- Is English your native language? If not, what is? No, Czech is my native language
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language? Only English. And a little bit of German
What are you reading this week?I completed The Library of Unrequited Love for this prompt.
What language was your book originally written in?
It was written in French by Sophie Divry and translated into English by Siân Reynolds.
Is English your native language? If not, what is?
English is my native language.
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
I wish I did, but I'm no good at learning languages. I took 2 years of Spanish in high school and another 2 years in college, but I still can't converse in Spanish.
- What are you reading this week? I read Uneliivamees by Lars Kepler- What language was your book originally written in? The original book was in Swedish, but I read it in Estonian.
- Is English your native language? If not, what is? My native language is Estonian.
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
I speak English, Finnish, a little bit Frensh and German.
I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō which was originally written in Japanese. My native language is English and I don't speak any foreign languages. I tried to learn Spanish in high school/college and found it to be an incredibly frustrating experience.
What are you reading this week? The Infatuations written by Javier Marias and translated by Margaret Jull Costa
What language was your book originally written in?
Spanish
Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes, it's English
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
A little bit of Irish, with school French and German.
I'm reading Zeno's Conscience, by Italo Svevo (translated by William Weaver). It was originally written in Italian. My mother tongue is Serbian, but English is definitely my dominant language, as I started school in New Zealand. I can still speak Serbian and a little bit of schoolgirl German.
What are you reading this week? The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie KondōWhat language was your book originally written in? It was originally written in Japanese.
Is English your native language? If not, what is? Yes, English is my native language.
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language? Meh, not really. I can speak just a little bit of Spanish leftover from high school Spanish classes.
What are you reading this week?Autobiography of a Geisha by Sayo Masuda
What language was your book originally written in?
The book was originally written in Japanese.
Is English your native language? If not, what is?
English in my native language.
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
Not enough to be worth much. Just some very basic formalities and simple words in French and Spanish.
- What are you reading this week? The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden- What language was your book originally written in? Swedish
- Is English your native language? Yes
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
A little bit of Spanish, French, German, and Albanian
I read Daughter of Fortune last week.Origginally published in Spanish.
My native language is English but I'm trying to learn French and German. French is easier because I learnt it at school.
Mod
Me too! I hate skipping ahead this far, but my book group is reading and this seems the best fit.
- What language was your book originally written in?
Swedish
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
Not in a long time. In college, I got to being pretty fluent in Italian and read some books in it, but since then have had no reason to practice it, so have forgotten it. It was cool to know another language.
Progress Post:- What are you reading this week?
I read The Shadow of the Wind
- What language was your book originally written in?
French
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes it is
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
Sadly no
What are you reading this week? The Girl Who Played with Fire
What language was your book originally written in? Swedish
Is English your native language? If not, what is? Yes
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
I learnt French and German at school, but wouldn't want to read in either
- What are you reading this week?My Brilliant Friend
- What language was your book originally written in?
Italian
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
English is my native language
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
I can speak some Danish, a little bit of Spanish, and a smattering of phrases in a few other languages.
What are you reading this week? The Cold Song by Linn UllmannWhat language was your book originally written in? Norwegian
Is English your native language? If not, what is? Yes, English is my native language.
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language? I was a Spanish major in college, so I speak Spanish, plus I can read and speak some French, Brazilian Portuguese and am in the midst of learning Italian.
What are you reading this week?The Angel's Game
What language was your book originally written in?
Spanish
Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes.
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
Not for lack of trying. I can't seem to retain enough to maintain a casual conversation. Sometimes I feel like I just need to drop myself off in a country for 6 months and learn it through trial and error without any interpreters. HA!
Manda, that's definitely the best way to learn a language, even though it's not often possible :(
What are you reading this week?Penguin Island by Anatole France
What language was your book originally written in?
French
Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes.
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
un poco Espanol
- What are you reading this week?Amerika: The Missing Person by Franz Kafka
- What language was your book originally written in?
German
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
It's English, though a Midwestern American dialect.
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
I'm decent enough at Spanish to read books untranslated (with a dictionary handy).
I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog, originally written in French.My native language is Italian but I am bilingual in French and I can speak/read English also
- What are you reading this week?A Man called Ove by Fredrik Backman. It's my favourite book so far this year.
- What language was your book originally written in?
Swedish
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
English
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
No. a smidgeon of French and Latin.
For this week, I read Night by Elie Wiesel. It is Wiesel's account of the time he spent in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. It was originally written in Wiesel's native Yiddish, then translated into French. English is my native language but I also speak Spanish. I took two and a half years of Chinese and I'll be starting Japanese in a few weeks during this current school semester.
Progress Post:- What are you reading this week? The Phantom of the Opera
- What language was your book originally written in? French
- Is English your native language? If not, what is? English
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language? Nope
- What are you reading this week?The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón
- What language was your book originally written in?
Spanish
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yup.
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
I know a minimal amount of Hebrew (I'm not fluent but if someone talks to me I can sometimes understand the gist). So uh... I can listen & write to some extent, but not really speak?
I just finished The Alchemist, which I presume was originally published in Portuguese since the author is Brazilian. Yes, English is my native language. I also know some Spanish and a little Russian.
What are you reading this week?As Red as Blood
7/2/16- What language was your book originally written in?Finnish
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?yes
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language? no
What are you reading this week? Madame Bovary- What language was your book originally written in? French
- Is English your native language? If not, what is? Yes, English
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language? I took a couple years of Spanish in high school, but I've forgotten most of it.
- What are you reading this week?For Week 50 I am reading Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes. Sorry to read out of order but I needed to read whatever I had on Kindle!
- What language was your book originally written in?
The book is originally written in German - perhaps unsurprising as it is a fictional spoof based on the premise that Hitler has woken up in 2011 still believing he is in charge of the Third Reich.
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes, English.
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
I speak German well enough to have a crack at the original German version of this book: Er ist wieder da. In fact I bought the German version first so I will either tandem read it or read it afterwards. The language in the English translation is fairly simplistic - it is essentially a light comedy - I perhaps wouldn't be so confident with a trickier text!
I read a few of the reviews for Look Who's Back and if you don't take into account people shocked by the subject, it looks like an interesting read! I don't know if I still understand German well enough to try and read the original version though...
What are you reading this week?What Is Mine
What language was your book originally written in?
Norwegian, I think.
Is English your native language? If not, what is?
English is my native language.
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
I don't speak any other languages.
Progress Post:- What are you reading this week? Theogony and The Odyssey
- What language was your book originally written in? Greek
- Is English your native language? If not, what is? Yes, English
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language
Not fluently.
- What are you reading this week?Perfect Days
- What language was your book originally written in?
Portuguese
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Yes
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
I don't speak any other languages.
- What are you reading this week?A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
- What language was your book originally written in?
It was written in Swedish.
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Hungarian is my native language.
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
I speak English (I grew up partly in Africa-Zambia-where the official language is English).
I can speak a bit of French and German, not enough to hold an intellectual conversation, but enough to get by.
I know a smattering of Spanish, and as Russian was compulsory in Hungary at the time I went to school, I know the cyrillic alphabet, but can't remember much else.
- What are you reading this week? Battle Royale- What language was your book originally written in?
It was written in Japanese.
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
Nope, it's French.
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?
English at a good level (I think) and Spanish at a low level as I understand most of it but don't speak it.
Around the Year in 52 Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Suite Française (other topics)Orange: The Complete Collection, Volume 1 (other topics)
Silent House (other topics)
Kon-Tiki (other topics)
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Timur Vermes (other topics)Carlos Ruiz Zafón (other topics)
Franz Kafka (other topics)
Anatole France (other topics)
Marie Kondō (other topics)
More...
Suggestions for Each Week
If you're reading in order, this week is: 12/9 - 12/15
To discuss the book, don't forget to add it in the A-Z folders or join the existing discussion if your book is already listed.
Progress Post:
- What are you reading this week?
- What language was your book originally written in?
- Is English your native language? If not, what is?
- Do you speak any other languages besides your native language?