Blog Hop: Books in Foreign Languages

Friday, August 25, 2017


This blog hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer.

Question:
Have you ever read a book written in a foreign language you might be fluent in, and then read the same book in English?


Answer:
I took four years of Spanish and I'd be lucky if I could introduce myself properly. The only language I'm fluent in is English, so no, I have never read a book in another language. I really wish I could though. I wonder what lost when books are translated from one language to another.

13 comments:

  1. I only read English books even though I am bilingual in Spanish, but there is a reason why I don't read Spanish books which I explain on my blog hop post. Thank you so much for the awesome post have a great weekend and here is my blog hop link.

    http://katisbookaholicramblingreviews.blogspot.com/2017/08/book-blogger-hop-55.html

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    1. Thanks for stopping by. I'll pop over to read your response now. I'm intrigued. Have a great weekend.

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  2. I had four years of Spanish and a marvelous teacher.

    I can understand if the conversation is slow.

    I don't think I could read a book in a different language, though.

    I am so impressed with how many folks are bilingual.

    ENJOY your weekend.

    Happy Hopping!!

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My Book Blogger Hop

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    1. When some of my friends are talking on the phone in Spanish, I'm always so proud when I can pick out random words. It's great that you can understand conversations when they're at a moderate pace. Yay Spanish Teachers!

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  3. Yeah, it's so easy to forget things if you don't use a foreign language much. However, if you take it up again, you'll be surprised how fast it all comes back to you.

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    1. You're right. I downloaded Duolingo. There was a lot I remembered. hanks for dropping by.

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  4. I also wonder what kind of things get lost in translation if we don't read the books in their original foreign languages.

    Here’s my Book Blogger Hop!

    Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog

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    1. A mystery that will never be solved by some of us (mainly me, I'm horrible at languages. lol).

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  5. I took French from Grade 4 to 10, and I can barely remember how to ask where the bathroom is. I don't think I'll be reading any French books soon. :)

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    1. Puedo ir al bano (the n is suppose to have the tilde over it I think) That's Can I go to the bathroom in Spanish. One of the few phrases I have total confidence in. lol.

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  6. My family moved to the U.S. from Cuba when I was 9, and I grew up in Miami. Thanks to my mom, though, I have retained my fluency in Spanish, as she made us girls speak the language at home. Plus, I've always read a lot, and my first books were in Spanish.

    What gets lost in translation is the author's cultural mindset. Languages are inevitably tied to the cultures they are used in. This is very evident when translating jokes, for instance. Other than this, I have found great translations from English to Spanish, and vice versa. The only other thing is that books translated from English to Spanish use Castilian Spanish, which is the version spoken in Spain. It's somewhat different from the Spanish spoken in Latin America.

    Thanks for commenting on my BBH post!! Have a GREAT weekend!! <3 :)

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    1. That makes perfect sense. It reminds me of reading books that make a ton of pop culture references that I don't understand. I'm sure there's a joke somewhere, but I don't know what it is. I think it's very easy to forget that a person's culture greatly influences their writing. Thanks for this informative response.

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  7. I started doing that with the first Harry Potter book and apparently the French word for "wand" is "baguette," which makes everything more fun, frankly.

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