Quote:
Originally Posted by hidari
Interesting point-
Most Russians and Japanese who bought Harry Potter books in English never read them. In fact most of my friends in Japan and Russia could not get through the first few pages. However- Sales were huge.
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I think this has more to do with the general level of English taught in Russia and Japan than with the books themselves. I enjoyed Potter in English a lot but I had by then several years of living abroad and reading books almost exclusively in English (interestingly, I got hooked by reading my nephew's first book in Russian translation which is considered a pretty bad one by most people). I don't expect I would be able to read is as freely right after school.
Speaking of which, the first complete novel in English I've read was Coral Island by Ballantyne. I've struggled through it for several months, looking up about every fourth word, and many of them weren't even in my dictionary! I did finish it but was really exhausted by the end.