What do you read in "other" languages

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

I hope you are not talking about Mr Bean?

Are there any books by or with Mr. Bean?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Are there any books by or with Mr. Bean?

Rowan Atkinson? Apparenty not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowan_Atkinson
Lots of screenplays but no books...yet.
He's too busy playing piano on the world stage.

[StoryEnthusiast]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

I don't know enough Japanese to read in Japanese, but I am determined to get my Japanese knowledge up to speed! I really enjoyed learning Japanese and I do find the time to work on it, but not nearly as much as I would like.

If you enjoy it, you'll be very good at it. I didn't like Katakana at first, but daily reading of Japanese newspaper eventually helped me overcome the problem.

Language learning has been a great joy to me, I hope to be able to get back to it soon!

The best thing about learning languages is that they serve as the road to understanding other people's heart.

[StoryEnthusiast]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Are there any books by or with Mr. Bean?

I have not been able to appreciate the British humor in Mr. Bean.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by StoryEnthusiast

I have not been able to appreciate the British humor in Mr. Bean.

Hey, don't be mean and tag it as British Humour... I'm British and have great difficulty with the "humour" of Mr Bean... more like irritation most of the time...

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Many Eastern European SF authors have been translated into German, most notably, Stanisław Lem, whose book Solaris was made into a movie, and the Strugatzky brothers.
Most Jules Verne books have been translated into German and are available for free at amazon.de and Projekt Gutenberg.
Also many German SciFi/Fantasy short stories and novels by Kurd Laßwitz (a contemporary of Jules Verne) are available here at MR.

Sapkowski's witcher is (in contrary to English) already completely translated too.
I have read the 1st two books in their german translation (too) and have a high opinion on the translator's work. He definitely manages to catch and transfer overall feeling or flavour of the witcherverse and the characters. Don't even know how to express how I mean that in English...
I'd definitely recommend it to every german-literate reader unwilling to wait until the English translation of the saga is finished.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by StoryEnthusiast

The best thing about learning languages is that they serve as the road to understanding other people's heart.

Well, at least it gets you a wider selection of friends. Good enough for me.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by StoryEnthusiast

I have not been able to appreciate the British humor in Mr. Bean.

British humour tends to be based on irony, rather than being "in your face" like American TV humour is. It's been my experience that many Americans struggle with it. (That's not a criticism - it's simply a cultural thing.)

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

British humour tends to be based on irony, rather than being "in your face" like American TV humour is. It's been my experience that many Americans struggle with it. (That's not a criticism - it's simply a cultural thing.)

And Mr. Bean is for me "in your face" which is probably why I do not like him.

[StoryEnthusiast]

Originally Posted by elcreative

Hey, don't be mean and tag it as British Humour... I'm British and have great difficulty with the "humour" of Mr Bean... more like irritation most of the time...

No, I was only indicating my inability to understand his humor/humour.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by tompe

And Mr. Bean is for me "in your face" which is probably why I do not like him.

The "Gold standard" for British humor, Benny Hill, was both. At times "in your face", at other times subtle and based on irony.

[Kumabjorn]

The Gold Standard for British humor has to be Fawlty Towers.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

The "Gold standard" for British humor, Benny Hill, was both. At times "in your face", at other times subtle and based on irony.

And therein is a perfect illustration of what I mean. I've met many Americans who think that Benny Hill was hilarious; I've never met anyone in the UK who could stand it .

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by HarryT

And therein is a perfect illustration of what I mean. I've met many Americans who think that Benny Hill was hilarious; I've never met anyone in the UK who could stand it .

Well, are you trying some British humor on us? After all, he had one of the longest running shows in the UK.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Well, are you trying some British humor on us? After all, he had one of the longest running shows in the UK.

Oh yes, I'm well aware of that, but I don't know who it appealed to. It makes me cringe to watch it . I suppose some people must have liked it, as you say.