What do you read in "other" languages

[HansTWN]

Reminds me of the old man in "My awful Greek wedding" who claimed that every word has Greek roots. Then someone gave him "kimono". He thought long and hard and suddenly his eyes brightened and he said, "I got it. Hino means winter in Greek, in winter you wear a coat, hence 'kimono'!"

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Or the other way arround. Just because Hakka is on the mainland doesn't necessarily mean the flow has to go out to the sea and the islands.

For historical reasons I would think that Japanese language and culture did not spread much beyond Japan before they embarked on their rampage across Asia in the late 1890s. But the "Hakka" words may just have come from Cantonese or Mandarin, since most words are similar among those three, anyway. So the whole matter definitely has no scientific basis. Then again, who said we should believe everything we see on TV or read on the internet?

[Kumabjorn]

Actually, the Japanese went to the mainlad as early as 5th century, granted no mass invasions but their contact may even go beyond that. Artefacts from Silla has been found in Japan. Also, Hideyoshi had a huge invason of the Korean peninsula late in the 16th century, yes, it failed miserably, but when these things happen people are left behind.
The reason I just wanted to point at the opposite being a possibility is that there were never, as far as we know, any large scale migration the other way around.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Asawi

I don't like his books much. Most other people seem to do though... (I'm odd enough to not be a huge fan of Henning Mankell either. Probably something wrong with me, but I'm old enough to not care...)

I just read on Nesbö book and I did not like it so much. And I do not like the Mankell books either. I think it is because that are to much of "heroes" that always succeed and in the Mankell case that is unrealistic since he works as a policeman.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

As I get older though, I find that American literature, using a broad defintion here, doesn't hold the same appeal as it used to. The fight between "good" and "evil" is depicted too much in black and white for my taste, the motives and reasons for why a person turns evil are almost non-existent (are some Americans evil by birth? I doubt it), the heroes tend towards the super-human. I find a George Smiley inherently much more fascinating than a Mitch Rapp or Scott Harvath. Hence, I find myself "discovering" British literature of lately. Nuances seem more detailed, characters are more fully portraied.

For my science fiction I definitely nowadays go first to the British authors. The Carke Award nominations are usually much more interesting than the Hugo or Nebula nominations.

In crime I probably read more British authors also.

[kaleissin]

I work with computers so I read a lot of English at work for that reason. I read mostly fantasy/sf for pleasure, which again is mostly in English.

I'm trying to improve my German but paper books take up a lot of space (I mostly read ebooks these days) and I doubt I am allowed to buy ebooks in German (since I don't have a German bank account). Anyway, are there any sf/fantasy in German that isn't Perry Rhodan? I did French in high school but not well enough to read BD even

Local news I read in the local language, which is Norwegian, but I haven't really read much Norwegian since high school. Knowing Norwegian I can also read Danish and Swedish with no trouble, but: what to read? There are very few Scandinavian books on Gutenberg and Runeberg too, hardly any Ibsen even.

I've looked at lots of other languages but can't really use any of 'em well enough to read.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by kaleissin

Local news I read in the local language, which is Norwegian, but I haven't really read much Norwegian since high school. Knowing Norwegian I can also read Danish and Swedish with no trouble, but: what to read? There are very few Scandinavian books on Gutenberg and Runeberg too, hardly any Ibsen even.

There's lots of Scandinavian crime fiction, if that interests you.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by kaleissin

Anyway, are there any sf/fantasy in German that isn't Perry Rhodan?

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.

[StoryEnthusiast]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Reminds me of the old man in "My awful Greek wedding" who claimed that every word has Greek roots. Then someone gave him "kimono". He thought long and hard and suddenly his eyes brightened and he said, "I got it. Hino means winter in Greek, in winter you wear a coat, hence 'kimono'!"

I remember the movie (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). It's hilarious!

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by StoryEnthusiast

I remember the movie (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). It's hilarious!

Yes, I got the title wrong. Thanks!

[Latinandgreek]

I read Greek and Latin both for fun and research (I'm working on an article and a book that involves reading in both languages, in between working on my thesis and having a home life!) That doesn't leave me much time for reading in the other languages that I speak, unfortunately. I used to read in French and Italian much more often than I do now; I really feel Ficbot's pain about the lack of Quebecois ebooks! I will occasionally read a novel in Spanish as well. My German is not good enough that I can read without the help of a dictionary, and my German reading is mostly limited to academic reading. I would love to beef up my Catalan and Modern Greek when I have a bit more time; I really enjoyed learning both of those languages, but haven't had much time to practice them in the past few years. I read quite a bit of Croatian, but I have to admit that it is mostly academic reading. 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.

Reading over my post I have come to the realization that I am a bit of a nut, and I really should cut down on all of the projects that I have going at the same time - I've been like this for years and it is really starting taking its toll on me. Language learning has been a great joy to me, I hope to be able to get back to it soon!

[MidnightBlue]

I haven't noticed this thread before. I read mostly in English either British or American, not much Australian or Canadian, and I read in French. There is a lot of good public domain material in French. I wish I could read German, but my German will get me served in a restaurant or bar, but not much more. I suppose that I like some genres more than others in either British English or American. I much prefer British humour, and American thrillers.

[HappyMartin]

News articles in Afrikaans and very occasionally Afrikaans poetry. Poetry doesn't always translate well.

[owly]

If the orignal language is Swedish then I read in Swedish, otherwise I read in English.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by MidnightBlue

I much prefer British humour

I hope you are not talking about Mr Bean?