Language Learners and Polyglots discussion
Our 2022 Foreign Language Reading Challenge Group Status Chat
Great aim and selection. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Sportyrod wrote: "Great aim and selection. I’m glad you enjoyed it."Thanks, Sportyrod! I can see you're reading in Swedish and Bahasa Indonesia! I'm super-awed!
Yes that’s right. I am certainly off-the-beaten-track with these two.Following on from your review…sorry about the dilemma. Totally understandable. It seems like you have a nack for finding good options though.
I finished my March French book. L’anomalie.A five star for me. I listened to the Audio version while I was reading.
Soon I will begin my April Italian book. I have chosen Il colibrì
I plan to also listen to the Audio version while I read the book.
Kalliope wrote: "A five star for me. I listened to the Audio version while I was reading.
Soon I will begin my April Italian book. I have chosen [book:..."
So nice when you can listen and read at the same time! Il colibri looks interesting. Books about or narrated by animals can either be too sweet or really great.
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 is a translation of The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St James, who is currently so mega popular on GR with her "Sundown Hotel" and "Book of Cold Cases". This is an early one of hers and supposed to be a really creepy ghost story. My favourite!
The other is Joel Dicker's Le Livre des Baltimore, which is originally in French. I read his "The Truth about Harry Quebert" and really loved it. Hope this one is also good.
I had on my goal list for French to read Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere", but since I'm really not a Gaiman fan, nor a fan of fantasy, I might just take it off and put one, or both, of these on. Hm, sounds like a plan!
I hope to finally finish up the Grisham in Dutch soon after spending a month on it! Ack! Way too long, but the man is verbose.
I love a good creepy ghost story. I’d switch them for sure.
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 is a translation of..."
What are the html markings to put a link into these comments, please?
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 ..."
Right above the comment box where you type, there are two things in blue. One says "add book/author". If you click on that a window will appear where you can type in the title or author and it will find what you want. Then just click "add".
To add an external link, I think you just copy-paste it in.
Kalliope wrote: "I finished my March French book. L’anomalie.A five star for me. I listened to the Audio version while I was reading.
I checked the description for L'anomalie and I'm intrigued! Thanks for the tip!
Listening and reading at the same time is great - I should do it more often... Somehow I rarely have both the book and the audio handy.
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! Oh I know that feeling! I got myself 10 (ten!) books on my recent trip to Spain. I entered the bookstore and they were calling my name! :-D
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?
Lenka 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! Oh I know that feeling! I got ..."
I second Berengaria.. please list those books.
I decided to reread Non esiste saggezza. My reviews have accumulated and I have not written this one yet... besides it is an excellent practice to reread books when learning a language.
Just finished in the original German: Pomponius in Rom: Ein Fall für Spurius Pomponius 5. This is the 5th in a series involving Pomponius solving mysteries. The whole series in worthwhile. This one is set in the Rome of Marcus Aurelius's time [170's], but the earlier ones have been in Carnuntum [near today's Vienna.]
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.
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.
Berengaria wrote: "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..."
Nookie is good! (P.S. On the theme of languages, be proud of your command of language. "Nookie" is some pretty esoteric English slang!)
Berengaria wrote: "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 ..."
I hope the author writes more in this series. According to Pomponius's boss, he's coming back to Carrnuntum and should arrive soon--the next day in fact.
Kalliope wrote: "I decided to reread Non esiste saggezza. My reviews have accumulated and I have not written this one yet... besides it is an excellent practice to reread books when learning a langu..."Agreed!
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!
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!
Berengaria wrote: "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 his..."
Something to add to a future list for consideration. Thanks for the idea.
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.
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.
Congratulations Peter. Great job. Let’s hope the next one is more interesting.
Sorry for being quiet here...I just counted how I am doing:
Fine in Italian - four books but two of them read twice. The last is Il colibrì - I still have to write the review.
In French I am one behind - only four so far... Hopefully will start another soon. The last one was the Goncourt prize L’anomalie, which I loved, and for which I have done my review.
I am behind - have done nothing so far!!! - in my German challenge. We'll see.
Thank you, Berengaria for keeping this going.
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?
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.
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.
No, but I just added the book to my list. I will hopefully be reading more Swedish books next year too. I am a stockpiler too.
Just finished Blassblaue Frauenschrift by Franz Werfel.
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?
Berengaria wrote: "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 p..."
I had just finished 40 days of Musa Dagh The Forty Days of Musa Dagh [in English] by the same author, really liked it and this one sounded interesting. I think the title drew me in. It's really short: just a novella.
Jane wrote: "Berengaria wrote: "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 publishe..."
How did you like 40 DAYS? It has been on my shelf for a while (it was gifted to me) and I'd like to get your opinion on it.
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 through early 19th century French...Also: I changed the book by Leïla Slimani to LE PARFUM DES FLEURS LA NUIT), because LE PAYS DES AUTRES got a second volume and I want to read them back to back once the second one comes out as paperback.
Iamthesword wrote: "Jane wrote: "Berengaria wrote: "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 origin..."
I really liked it; in fact, I've reread it several times over the years.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Jane wrote: "Iamthesword wrote: "Jane wrote: "Berengaria wrote: "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..."
That's great. Thak you
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 her major works, but still very nice.6/11: Guillaume Apollinaire - ALCOOLS. Very beautiful poems in very elaborated French (he even invented a couple of words for it). Took some time, but it was absolutely worth it. My volume also contained LE BESTIAIRE and VITAM IMPENDERE AMORI which were both fine.
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!
I would like to participate as well. I want to aim for five books in either Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, French or Spanish.
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.
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 vergeet ik veel.
I hope I can use this to kick myself in the butt a little. I was just at a yard sale at the Scandinavian embassy here last weekend and picked up three old Norwegian crime novels and a few Danish books, so I'm all set. But I think I want to start with a Dutch book because it's easiest for me.
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. 😀
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.
Language Learners and Polyglots
Books mentioned in this topic
De eerlijke vinder (other topics)Monterosso mon amour (other topics)
Gut gegen Nordwind (other topics)
Love Virtually (other topics)
Die Toten von Vindobona (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Alex Wagner (other topics)Alex Wagner (other topics)
Alex Wagner (other topics)
Shakirah Bourne (other topics)
Carmen Lyra (other topics)
More...
A new aim for myself: Calligraphy Lesson: The Collected Stories by Mikhail Shishkin. Completed short story Клякса Набокова also available online. Review here.