Re: Lilly's log - French, Russian and reluctant Spanish
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:50 am
On days when I have doctor's appointments I get less Russian but more French done since I now listen to France Culture documentaries on the bus. And since my doctor studied in Germany, I actually get to speak German too, which means that a couple of days ago I actually engaged with 5 languages on one day, certainly a record for me! German with the doctor, English at home with my husband including 20min of reading out loud, an episode of Ministerio del Tiempo in Spanish, France culture on the bus and my Russian minimal study schedule - 100XP of Duolingo, 1 Assimil lesson, 15min of Clozemaster and 10min listening reading to Ночной дозор. Not half bad I would say!
Speaking of English and reading out loud: I live my life in English and it's also the language in which I write - primarily academic and journalistic content. This is mostly what we watch and read at home and also the language in which we speak with each other, with the odd Spanish word or sentence here or there. My husband lived in England for a very long time - longer than I did - and his Spanish is about as rusty as my German, since English is also still his primary language for work. Otherwise my Spanish would be much further along I suppose. After ten years of 10-15h of English a day and studying philosophy in English I have to say that nothing much counts as "language learning" for me anymore. Unless ... we read out loud! It's a great practice for language learning! We have been doing that for a few years and do it whenever we run out of things to watch. The last book we finished was Wilkie Collins The Moonstone and we are about to finish an English translation of the German translation (!) of Stanislaw Lem's The Invincible. I've read this book aloud in German as well and the German translation is simply beautifully written. I still find it a bit odd that they chose to translate this from German rather than Polish, but I guess there are more translators for German than for Polish. And since the German translation is beautiful - one of my absolute all time favourites in German - I see how a translator of German might have found the idea appealing.
In general German is difficult to translate into English because English has a preference for short sentences and German a preference for long ones, which means that English translations often overcompensate with too many short declarative sentences. It's the reason why there is hardly an English translation of German works I would recommend. The original will always be much much better. The exception are usually very long books, because then usually only the beginning is weak and then the quality of the translation goes up quickly. This is the case here as well, where the beginning was difficult to read due to too many short declarative sentences. The translator obviously started to get used to it after a while though as he progressed and further towards the end the translation isn't half bad. There are some pretty lovely passages in the penultimate chapter and I was almost not feeling bad anymore that my husband can't understand the German translation. So, in the end a passable translation, not too bad and even nice towards the end. Other good translations from German into English: W.G. Sebald is great in English because Sebald had a say in the translation and he lived in England himself. Also, Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain (Zauberberg) is long enough to be overall excellent. By the way, both are absolutely great in German, although probably somewhat challenging.
So since I'm talking about translations from German, I throw in some recommendations for German learners too: First off, read the German translation of Lem's Invincible, it's fantastic! And another translation into German I enjoyed was Georges Perec's A Man Asleep (Ein Mann der schläft), translated from the original French and I haven't yet had the guts to start this in French myself. I think it's several registers above anything I've read so far in French and the German translation isn't an easy read either. If I remember correctly, the first sentence is about 1 1/2 pages long, but so beautifully crafted that I could read it out loud without problems. Probably an excellent test to see how far you have come parsing long sentences. I also mentioned the German translation of David Eddings Belgariad saga before and the translation of a lot of the Terry Pratchett novels, especially the ones about Rincewind and the Night watch. Those last two are fairly easy to read pulp. Any of my other German recommendations have to be taken with caution though: In German I read mostly highbrow literature written between 1900-1945 with a preference for exile literature and works from the 1920s, so what I find worth reading would be quite advanced stuff for language learners, but excellent stuff for literature geeks.
I can give one recommendation that might be fairly easy though: Anything by Wladimir Kaminer. The language is comparatively simple, but has a broad vocabulary, and it's just insanely funny. It's not only a funny view on German culture from a deadpan Russian humour perspective, but contrasts it with an equally deadpan perspective on Russian culture as well. Hilarious and not too difficult I would expect. Recommended for anyone who is learning German AND Russian. For added enjoyment, listen to the audiobooks read by the author! He's got a Russian accent for sure, so that might be a little difficult, but he speaks exactly as he writes, so it has a nice flow. And I have no idea how he doesn't burst out laughing every couple of minutes! Also, let me tell you - although his stories sometimes sound somewhat unbelievable, I believe the majority of them to be true actually. My mum has told me similarly absurd stories, it's just the kind of crazy stuff that happens to Russians
Also, big heart for reading out loud! Even after 10+ years of daily language exposure on a high level it still gives me a good workout, especially when reading classics like the Moonstone.
Speaking of English and reading out loud: I live my life in English and it's also the language in which I write - primarily academic and journalistic content. This is mostly what we watch and read at home and also the language in which we speak with each other, with the odd Spanish word or sentence here or there. My husband lived in England for a very long time - longer than I did - and his Spanish is about as rusty as my German, since English is also still his primary language for work. Otherwise my Spanish would be much further along I suppose. After ten years of 10-15h of English a day and studying philosophy in English I have to say that nothing much counts as "language learning" for me anymore. Unless ... we read out loud! It's a great practice for language learning! We have been doing that for a few years and do it whenever we run out of things to watch. The last book we finished was Wilkie Collins The Moonstone and we are about to finish an English translation of the German translation (!) of Stanislaw Lem's The Invincible. I've read this book aloud in German as well and the German translation is simply beautifully written. I still find it a bit odd that they chose to translate this from German rather than Polish, but I guess there are more translators for German than for Polish. And since the German translation is beautiful - one of my absolute all time favourites in German - I see how a translator of German might have found the idea appealing.
In general German is difficult to translate into English because English has a preference for short sentences and German a preference for long ones, which means that English translations often overcompensate with too many short declarative sentences. It's the reason why there is hardly an English translation of German works I would recommend. The original will always be much much better. The exception are usually very long books, because then usually only the beginning is weak and then the quality of the translation goes up quickly. This is the case here as well, where the beginning was difficult to read due to too many short declarative sentences. The translator obviously started to get used to it after a while though as he progressed and further towards the end the translation isn't half bad. There are some pretty lovely passages in the penultimate chapter and I was almost not feeling bad anymore that my husband can't understand the German translation. So, in the end a passable translation, not too bad and even nice towards the end. Other good translations from German into English: W.G. Sebald is great in English because Sebald had a say in the translation and he lived in England himself. Also, Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain (Zauberberg) is long enough to be overall excellent. By the way, both are absolutely great in German, although probably somewhat challenging.
So since I'm talking about translations from German, I throw in some recommendations for German learners too: First off, read the German translation of Lem's Invincible, it's fantastic! And another translation into German I enjoyed was Georges Perec's A Man Asleep (Ein Mann der schläft), translated from the original French and I haven't yet had the guts to start this in French myself. I think it's several registers above anything I've read so far in French and the German translation isn't an easy read either. If I remember correctly, the first sentence is about 1 1/2 pages long, but so beautifully crafted that I could read it out loud without problems. Probably an excellent test to see how far you have come parsing long sentences. I also mentioned the German translation of David Eddings Belgariad saga before and the translation of a lot of the Terry Pratchett novels, especially the ones about Rincewind and the Night watch. Those last two are fairly easy to read pulp. Any of my other German recommendations have to be taken with caution though: In German I read mostly highbrow literature written between 1900-1945 with a preference for exile literature and works from the 1920s, so what I find worth reading would be quite advanced stuff for language learners, but excellent stuff for literature geeks.
I can give one recommendation that might be fairly easy though: Anything by Wladimir Kaminer. The language is comparatively simple, but has a broad vocabulary, and it's just insanely funny. It's not only a funny view on German culture from a deadpan Russian humour perspective, but contrasts it with an equally deadpan perspective on Russian culture as well. Hilarious and not too difficult I would expect. Recommended for anyone who is learning German AND Russian. For added enjoyment, listen to the audiobooks read by the author! He's got a Russian accent for sure, so that might be a little difficult, but he speaks exactly as he writes, so it has a nice flow. And I have no idea how he doesn't burst out laughing every couple of minutes! Also, let me tell you - although his stories sometimes sound somewhat unbelievable, I believe the majority of them to be true actually. My mum has told me similarly absurd stories, it's just the kind of crazy stuff that happens to Russians
Also, big heart for reading out loud! Even after 10+ years of daily language exposure on a high level it still gives me a good workout, especially when reading classics like the Moonstone.