MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Reading in English as a Non-native Speaker

bucsie · 07-18-2013, 09:14 AM

I only started 3 years ago - reading in English. (I had a failed attempt in high-school, but gave up when I had to search every 4th word in the dictionary - the book was Tom Sawyer)

While I did learn English in school, even at University (I attended the English version of the curriculum) I didn't really learn (or know) a lot until we got good internet and movie torrents (and DC++) became the thing.
Back then, there weren't many subtitle sites, and it was pure gold to get even an English subtitle to an English movie.
Still, we had movie nights in our dorms with the latest blockbusters (I think when Matrix came out, I've seen in about 11 times that year). And I've learned a good deal of English that way, with following the movie and the subtitles. That's a thing that I do even now, if I can be bothered to download subs (I do that sometimes for UK films/shows) - I only get them in English.

And then, a colleague of mine said -
"Did you hear about that sensational novel, Twilight?" I hadn't heard of it, but vampires sounded good, so she gave me a PDF version in English.
I was reluctant to start it, since I had only read computer-science books in English before, but I gave it a go. And surprisingly, it was incredibly easy to go through it. I think I only used the dictionary once or twice. And then I went through all her books.
Yes, I know, the books are crap, whatever, they were entertaining, and also extremely easy to read! It was only later when reading reviews that I realised that the writing was actually poor.
And then I read another YA series, and after that, the sky was the limit! I'll admit I had a hard time reading Dickens - the long sentences, the different grammar took me double the time. So I tend to stay away from classics.

I choose to read in English because I read English-speaking authors, because e-books are scarce here, because of incredibly poor translations that I've seen, because I tend to choose my next reads based on forum discussions (which tend to be about new books so they aren't yet translated) and sometimes because I read smut which sounds better in English anyway

.

I wouldn't read a French/Russian/[insert non-English language here] author in English though - I trust those to be better translated in my native tongue, for some reason.

07-18-2013, 09:14 AM	#31
bucsie Connoisseur Posts: 71 Karma: 674766 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kindle	I only started 3 years ago - reading in English. (I had a failed attempt in high-school, but gave up when I had to search every 4th word in the dictionary - the book was Tom Sawyer) While I did learn English in school, even at University (I attended the English version of the curriculum) I didn't really learn (or know) a lot until we got good internet and movie torrents (and DC++) became the thing. Back then, there weren't many subtitle sites, and it was pure gold to get even an English subtitle to an English movie. Still, we had movie nights in our dorms with the latest blockbusters (I think when Matrix came out, I've seen in about 11 times that year). And I've learned a good deal of English that way, with following the movie and the subtitles. That's a thing that I do even now, if I can be bothered to download subs (I do that sometimes for UK films/shows) - I only get them in English. And then, a colleague of mine said - "Did you hear about that sensational novel, Twilight?" I hadn't heard of it, but vampires sounded good, so she gave me a PDF version in English. I was reluctant to start it, since I had only read computer-science books in English before, but I gave it a go. And surprisingly, it was incredibly easy to go through it. I think I only used the dictionary once or twice. And then I went through all her books. Yes, I know, the books are crap, whatever, they were entertaining, and also extremely easy to read! It was only later when reading reviews that I realised that the writing was actually poor. And then I read another YA series, and after that, the sky was the limit! I'll admit I had a hard time reading Dickens - the long sentences, the different grammar took me double the time. So I tend to stay away from classics. I choose to read in English because I read English-speaking authors, because e-books are scarce here, because of incredibly poor translations that I've seen, because I tend to choose my next reads based on forum discussions (which tend to be about new books so they aren't yet translated) and sometimes because I read smut which sounds better in English anyway . I wouldn't read a French/Russian/[insert non-English language here] author in English though - I trust those to be better translated in my native tongue, for some reason.