21. Read a book that has been translated from its original language

[Martha]

For this task you can read books translated into English, or an English book translated into another language.

Listopia: Foreign books translated into English

Some examples
The Shadow of the Wind
Norwegian Wood
Anna Karenina
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
One Hundred Years of Solitude

Discussion prompts
- What did you / will you read for this task? What did you think?
- What are the original and translated languages for your book?
- Can you speak languages other than your native tongue? Do you think much is lost during the process of translation? Do you prefer to read in your native language?

[Martha]

For this task I read No And Me by Delphine de Vigan, translated from French into English.

It was an odd book, I happened to have it through Read It Swap It where someone had requested one of my books and I picked this from their list. It's all about a young girl who's incredibly intelligent (I wasn't sure if she was maybe a little autistic?) but struggles to make friends. Through a school project about social issues, she ends up befriending a homeless girl called No. It was a bittersweet story of friendship and the impact of lack of love, and I think I would recommend it.

I am a stereotypically crap and lazy English person who can only speak English! I can do very, very basic French and German from having learned them at school, and I went through phases of trying to learn Italian and Polish (can't remember much of either). Certainly never to the point of being able to read a whole book in another language. I'd like to learn though!

[Marina]

For this task I've read The cost of sugar, a novel originally written in Dutch and translated into English. I really liked it, although it was not without flaws. It's a good insight on life in Suriname in the second half of the 18th century, and a look on slavery in that timeframe. Very interesting.

I think some is inevitably lost in the process of translation, and one should also beware of mistakes. For instance, this book's sentences sometimes sound like they're not quite right, although I can't really say if that is true as English is not my mother tongue.

Aisde from Italian, which is my mother tongue, I can speak English, German and French, and I read in all four languages. I did study some Spanish and some Russian, but I can hardly remember a thing in those two languages, although I might understand some written/spoken Spanish, but not too much.

In fact, I realized only last year, when I started keeping track of my reading statistics, that I read much more in English than in Italian, which is quite weird. For instance, this book was also translated into Italian, but it only came out a few months after I had bought the English edition. As a general rule, I prefer, if at all possible, to read books in their original language, but then if I don't know the language I would rather read them in an Italian translation.

[Martha]

So many languages, that's so cool! It's interesting you've ended up reading more in English - do you think that's anything to do with the books you want to read being more widely available in English?

[Marina]

Yes, Martha, I think so. I read many English-speaking authors, too, but it's also true that some of the books I enjoy reading are only available in English, apart from the original language in which they were written. I'm currently doing an "around the world" challenge on my blog, with a plan to read a book by an author from each and every country of the world, and I can assure you many of them are certainly more widely available in English!

[Martha]

Ah I've heard about those challenges! It must start to get really challenging when you get to the tiny little countries - anything from Liechtenstein or Tuvalu yet? :p

[Marina]

Haha, yes, it definitely is challenging, but I'm loving it, I'm discovering so many great books! I'm taking my time with it, though: I started it two and a half years ago and I'm only at 80/196.

I found a historical fiction mystery by an author from Liechtenstein, but of course it's only published in German, which I luckily can read. No authors from Tuvalu, but I made do with Where The Hell Is Tuvalu?: How I became the law man of the world's fourth-smallest country, a book written by an Englishman who lived there for a couple of years. Quite fun, too.

[Martha]

Haha that actually sounds good! I might have to try this challenge at some point...

[Marina]

Martha wrote: "Haha that actually sounds good! I might have to try this challenge at some point..."

In case you do, just ask me if you need any recommendations :-)

[Martha]

Marina wrote: "Martha wrote: "Haha that actually sounds good! I might have to try this challenge at some point..."

In case you do, just ask me if you need any recommendations :-)"

Thanks!