The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Fri May 20, 2022 6:47 pm

iguanamon wrote:I think I am going to with "Parany per a una noia" by Sébastien Japrisot, a French "noir" writer.
Blurb wrote:Que un hom sigui l'únic testimoni del propi crim no té res de particular: vol dir que compleix una de les condicions que el fan perfecte.
Ara: si les coses es compliquen fins a l'extrem que la víctima i l'assassí es confonen, hom comença a anguniejar-se seriosament. I quan, si això fos poc, la persona en qüestió resulta que és al mateix temps l'investigador del crim que va cometre i que sofrí, la cosa es posa roent.
Però, és possible?
"Parany pera una noia", la millor novel·la policíaca publicada l'any 1962 a França, us ho dirà.

The original title in French is "Piège pour Cendrillon". Sébastien Japrisot wikipedia en français
Japrisot is an interesting author:
Wikipedia wrote:Sébastien Japrisot (4 July 1931 – 4 March 2003) was a French author, screenwriter and film director. His pseudonym was an anagram of Jean-Baptiste Rossi, his real name. Renowned for subverting the rules of the crime genre, Japrisot broke down the established formulas "into their component pieces to re-combine them in original and paradoxical ways. Some critics argue that though Japrisot's work may lack the explicit experimental element present in the novels of some of his contemporaries, it shows influences of structuralist theories and the unorthodox techniques of the New Novelists.
He remains little known in the English-speaking world, though all his novels have been translated into English and all but one of them have been made into films.

So, "little known in the English-speaking world" and "unorthodox" intrigues me. Might as well discover him in Catalan, since I don't speak French and it would be a translation into English anyway. According to his French wikipedia page he translated J.D. Salinger into French- no mean feat!
Sébastien Japrisot is one of my all-time favorite novelists. The two novels I like most are One Deadly Summer (L'Été meurtrier -Denoël, 1977) ) and A Very Long Engagement (Un long dimanche de fiançailles -Denoël, 1991). The latter is the more exprimental of the two. Both were adapted into films of the same names. But I don't find either of these titles in Catalan. One Deadly Summer seems to be a riff on a very famous Russian novel, but I'm not going to give anything away. ;)

If you like experimentals, try Boquitas pintadas by the Argentine Manuel Puig (in Spanish; there is an English translation).
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby PeterMollenburg » Sun May 22, 2022 11:03 am

iguanamon wrote:When satellite TV came out, I was finally able to watch Spanish-language TV and it did wonders for my Spanish. Short of actually living in a country, it's a pretty good way to get lots of immersion, develop listening skills and pick up new vocabulary and expressions.

I never cease to be amazed that there are learners who refuse to do something like this with audio/video to improve their skills. All one needs is an internet connection and time, but, people seem to be impatient... or, they think that courses, reading and/or technological fixes, or some combination will carry them through. There's no real substitute for listening. A series is better in my experience because of a) visual clues; b) limited set of voices to become accustomed to; c) situations, vocabulary repeat.

Some of the reluctance to engage with a series may be due to fear. Fear of not being able to deal with unknown words/phrases. Fear of not understanding everything immediately. Language-learning and impatience are a bad mix. Add in "perfectionism" and it becomes a fatal combination. Some people like to be above anything so pedestrian and crude as television. My response to this is to let go of preconceptions. There's nothing to be afraid of once a learner has reached an intermediate level and learned the basics with a good foundation.

When I was learning Portuguese and Haitian Creole, my notebook got a workout for sure. Listening was mind-numbingly hard. I wanted to quit. I didn't. I stuck with it. It became easier over time. Now I watch and listen because I enjoy it. It helps me maintain my skills and slowly improve them. Fear of the unknown often holds us back from doing things that we might really enjoy if we'd only just give it a real chance. We may not like it at first because it's hard. One must accept that the process takes time, however long it may take, perhaps months or (sometimes) even years. That's no reason not to try and give it a fair shot. The one sure way not to learn a language is to take the easy way out and quit.


Such sharing of knowledge from an experienced language learner like yourself, iguanamon, is invaluable. While I'm no beginner anymore and I've proved myself to a certain extent, there's always room for improvement and reflection.

Your days of satellite TV remind me of my early days of Spanish learning via Destinos somewhat. I had it on VHS, thus no subtitles, and had some key phrases (not an exact transcript) listed for each of the first 26 episodes. While I was using the audio cassettes and the textbooks and workbooks as well (not just the videos), I would play, rewind, play, rewind, play rewind and really work to catch what they were saying in the video episodes and imitate the speech. Although I was in the very early days of Spanish learning, I was getting every syllable I could out of those videos and making good beginner gains with listening skills. I don't think I've worked video that hard with another language, not even French since.

What you say makes a lot of sense and despite me fitting into to those categories at times - not wanting to move away from beloved learning textbooks and other such issues, after quite a number of years the realisation had gradually dawned on me (that courses alone were not enough to reach my targets). It seems I had to go through it myself, I had to learn what works and what doesn't work, and others didn't really get through to me despite their expertise and experience trumping mine. My textbook use and early days of language learning were invaluable. I made it to B2 with a heavy reliance and preference of using textbooks and courses and I feel that was okay, if not efficient then thorough, but I didn't know how to overcome the intermediate plateau using extensive materials and increasing the use of native content. So, while I don't think I was wrong per sé, as the courses did their part and worked well for me, I think I just didn't know how to transition effectively enough to drive my gains further. This is where, watching and working with a series (and then a lot more series) would be invaluable to me, just as you describe. And of course a heap of reading.

I know I've said this all before, but your above comments hit home and I think, as I said, they are invaluable.

So, while it's been high time for me to read lots and watch/listen to a ridiculous amount of content, I haven't done (enough) of it, still. It comes down to time now. I don't have enough of it because I'm busier than ever and I've given in to studying other languages. There is logic behind that decision, since by learning other languages I can incorporate them into my daily life with my family and they will grow with the family without setting aside dedicated study time for myself. Still, your (and others') language learning wisdom has sunk in and the day will come when I return to extensive activities just as your describe for each of my languages. I have to accept the long road now and juggle several languages over the long-term raising the level of each them in due course and drawing on the lessons of others, like yourself.

Always a pleasure to read your posts, iguanamon.
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby iguanamon » Fri May 27, 2022 12:17 am

PeterMollenburg wrote:... while it's been high time for me to read lots and watch/listen to a ridiculous amount of content, I haven't done (enough) of it, still. It comes down to time now. I don't have enough of it because I'm busier than ever and I've given in to studying other languages. There is logic behind that decision, since by learning other languages I can incorporate them into my daily life with my family and they will grow with the family without setting aside dedicated study time for myself. ...

The last post I wrote wasn't written with you in mind, PM. It was a general reaction to what I'm seeing amongst folks new to language-learning these days. Having seen a bit of your life from afar, I don't see how you have any time at all! Time is the enemy of all of us who learn languages on our own. There is never enough. I greatly admire what you are doing with your children. They will certainly gain a good grounding in other languages and gain a unique perspective in an overwhelmingly monolingual culture.

Spanish
Pleased to announce that I have now watched 2/3 of the TVE novela "Dos Vidas". That means I'm on episode 170 of 255. With only 85 more episodes to go, half again as much, I think I can make it. While both time periods, 1950s Río Muni in Africa and contemporary "Robledillo" in Spain, are pretty much given equal time and writing treatment, I find myself drawn more towards the African story. To me there's more going on in the African story. Well, a lot of the time I want to slap some sense into both sets of characters. Of course, if they had good sense there probably wouldn't be much of a drama to it. Still, I keep coming back to it.


The novela will soon be aired in Italian dub on Canale 5, maybe I ought to watch it again in Italian? Noooo!!!!


Catalan
Currently reading "Parany per a una noia" by Sébastien Japrisot.

Portuguese
I've discovered that Paramount has many series dubbed and subbed in Portuguese. I've been watching Star Trek Enterprise in Portuguese dub.

Haitian Creole
Haiti has been the poorest country in the Americas for as long as it's been a country, just about. There are many complex reasons, almost all of which stem from colonialism and slavery. Haiti was the first Black republic in the Americas, In 1804 slavery was the predominant economic model in this hemisphere. The European empires- Spain; Portugal; France; the Dutch; and Denmark along with the United States all were major participants in the slave economy.

Haiti could not be allowed to serve as an example to the enslaved peoples in these countries and their colonies. Might encourage them to revolt. So, Haiti was ostracized by the most powerful nations in the world at the time. The French punished Haiti making the country pay reparations to the French and French slave owners for the loss of their property- real estate and human- at gunpoint by massing warships off the coast and threatening to invade. "You must pay us for the privilege of having been enslaved by us" was basically what they were saying.

To add insult to injury, Haiti had to borrow the money from a French bank thereby giving the country a double debt that took nearly a century and a half to pay off. Add in a US occupation and more usurpation of Haitian funds in the early 20th Century.

The New York Times did a series of investigative reports on this history. I, along with others, think their claim of this being a "startling new discovery" is disingenuous. Anyone with any interest in Haitian history or Caribbean history has known about this for a very long time. Still, the wide reach of the NYT in the US and the world assures wide exposure. The newspaper translated the articles into French, and Haitian Creole.

The French "reparations", and US neo-colonialism, are not the only reason for Haiti's misery. There is plenty of blame to go around- rampant corruption, lack of public education or even public anything, environmental degradation, deforestation, natural disasters- hurricanes, earthquakes, a culture of criminal impunity. You cannot "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" if you never had any boots to begin with.

For those unfamiliar with this history, the NYT articles are a good place to start.

The NYT wrote:Ms. Present’s ancestors put an end to that, taking part in the modern world’s first successful slave revolution in 1791 and establishing an independent nation in 1804 — decades before Britain outlawed slavery or the Civil War broke out in America.
But for generations after independence, Haitians were forced to pay the descendants of their former slave masters, including the Empress of Brazil; the son-in-law of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I; Germany’s last imperial chancellor; and Gaston de Galliffet, the French general known as the “butcher of the Commune” for crushing an insurrection in Paris in 1871.
The burdens continued well into the 20th century. The wealth Ms. Present’s ancestors coaxed from the ground brought wild profits for a French bank that helped finance the Eiffel Tower, Crédit Industriel et Commercial, and its investors. They controlled Haiti’s treasury from Paris for decades, and the bank eventually became part of one of Europe’s largest financial conglomerates.

NYT wrote:Les ancêtres d’Adrienne Present ont mis fin à cette situation en 1791 par la première révolte d’esclaves victorieuse du monde moderne. Elle aboutit en 1804 à la création d’une nation nouvelle et indépendante, plusieurs décennies avant que la Grande-Bretagne n’abolisse l’esclavage ou que la guerre de Sécession n’éclate en Amérique.
Après l’indépendance du pays, plusieurs générations de Haïtiens ont pourtant été contraints d’indemniser les héritiers de leurs anciens maîtres esclavagistes. Parmi celles-ci: l’impératrice du Brésil, le gendre du tsar russe Nicolas Ier, le dernier chancelier impérial d’Allemagne, et le général Gaston de Galliffet, surnommé le “massacreur de la Commune” après sa répression sanglante de l’insurrection parisienne de 1871.
Ce fardeau a pesé sur Haïti jusque dans le courant du 20ème siècle. Les richesses que les ancêtres d’Adrienne Present tiraient de la terre ont généré d’immenses profits pour le Crédit Industriel et Commercial, ou CIC, une banque qui a co-financé la tour Eiffel, et pour ses investisseurs. Depuis Paris, ils ont eu, pendant des décennies, la mainmise sur les finances haïtiennes. Le CIC fait aujourd’hui partie de l’un des plus importants conglomérats financiers d’Europe.

NYT wrote:Zansèt madan Present yo fini ak sa, yo te patisipe nan premye revolisyon esklav ki fèt nan tan modèn an 1791 epi yo kreye yon nasyon endepandan an 1804 — plizyè dizèn ane anvan Angletè te deklare esklavaj ilegal oubyen anvan Gè Sivil la te kòmanse nan peyi Etazini.
Men pandan plizyè jenerasyon apre endepandans lan, yo te fòse ayisyen peye pitit pitit mèt esklav yo, pami yo madanm Anperè Brezil la; bofis Nicolas I, Anperè Larisi a; dènye Chanselye Enperyal Almay la; ak Gaston de Galliffet, jeneral fransè yo te konnen tankou “Bouche Komin nan” poutèt li te kraze yon rebelyon Pari an 1871.
Fado sa a kontinye san pwoblèm jis nan 20tyèm syèk la. Richès zansèt Madan Present te kapte depi o kòmansman te pote anpil benefis pou yon bank fransè ki te ede finanse Tou Efèl, Crédit Industriel et Commercial a Pari, ak envestisè li yo. Yo te gen kontwòl trezò Ayiti depi Pari pandan plizyè dizèn ane, epi finalman, bank lan vin fè pati yon pi gwo enstitisyon finansyè ann Ewòp.

Sometimes I wonder if we as humanity should just hope that another species will evolve enough to take over the Earth.

Mèsi pou li tou sa. M di orevwa pou kounye a. M a wè nou pita.
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby CDR » Fri May 27, 2022 2:05 am

iguanamon wrote:An analogy can be made of the Nordestino dialect relationship to standard Brazilian Portuguese as to the relationship of US Southern and Southern Appalachian dialect to standard American English. Nordestinos often face discrimination when they migrate or visit the more developed Brazilian South and are mocked for their accent and usage.


A little late on my comment here, but:

My wife is from the Northeast so I have heard a lot about this, and witnessed some of this prejudice.

We saw it recently in Big Brother Brazil. Southerners were constantly referring to a Northeasterner as from Paraíba, I asked my wife about it as I knew this person wasn't from there. That is when she mentioned that this is something people from the south do, they will say everyone from the NE is from Paraíba (or Bahia, it depends where the southern is from).

My father-in-law is from a rural area of the northeast, and he is very difficult to understand (both his accent and his vocabulary). When they go south to visit my sister-in-law, Brazilians down there actually have a hard time understanding him. (Although, I cannot know how much of this is actually incomprehension, or just prejudice and unwillingness to accommodate).
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Fri May 27, 2022 3:41 am

The Spanish actress in the African part of Dos Vidas has an important role in the Italian TV show Summertime on Netflix, if you want to watch something in Italian without rewatching the telenovela. Or hey, it’s Netflix, you could watch in Spanish or Portuguese…
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby iguanamon » Thu Aug 04, 2022 3:47 pm

Spanish
I am now on episode 228 out of 255 of RTVE's "Dos Vidas". So, I'm getting very close to the end of it. Most novelas have a certain end where everything gets wrapped up. The producers had planned on two seasons, but only got one out of RTVE. So things are getting to a point where everything is building towards getting tied up and resolved. I am going to miss it when it's over... just like I miss a good book when I am finished reading it. The characters, no matter how ridiculously over the top they may be, become familiar and I get used to them whether I like them or dislike them.

Watching DV gets me well and truly deep into "Spanish mode". Sometimes, it's hard to watch because of the length- about an hour for each episode. Still, I manage to finish and move on to the next one. I don't really learn anything new. There are only very few words I don't know, but I do notice things more. Things like phrasing and how to sound more natural. Watching a novela in Spanish is worth the time and effort put into it.

Portuguese
I am now watching "Star Trek: Enterprise" on the Paramount app in Portuguese dub. The sci-fi vocabulary is easy to figure out through familiarity in having watched the series before in my native language. I haven't watched the series a gazillion times, so I am enjoying re-watching it in Portuguese. It was well made.

The UOL app is good for Brazilian news. I also see plenty of CNN Brasil via twitter and live on occasion.



Catalan
Picked up reading "Parany per a una noia". I am halfway through it. The experimental nature of the narrative is something I find to be annoying. I'm sure it was innovative 60 years ago. I just don't find it to be so today in the 21st Century. Twitter also keeps me up with Catalan in writing and video. At some point, I am probably going to have to admit that I am B2.


One of the reasons I like Catalan so much is I admire its persistence in the face of a constant onslaught from Spanish, French and even Italian. It is familiar yet at the same time just different enough to hold my interest and keep me coming back. Whenever I my get back to Iberia, I would love spending more time in Catalunya exploring and discovering the culture- which is why I learn languages in the first place.

Orevwa pou kounye a. M a wè nou pita.
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby iguanamon » Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:44 pm

Catalan
I am done with "Parany per a una noia". It was a bit too psychological for me and the premise, with my modern knowledge, was a bit too much of a stretch. So, I'm glad to have it in the bag and can move on to the next book.
That will be a short "novelette" by the master of noir- Dashiell Hammett. It's titled "La ferradura daurada" or, in English Original, "The Golden Horseshoe".
Image
The image above is from the Portuguese edition. I couldn't find the Catalan cover image online.
Here's the blurb in Catalan:
Publisher's Blurb wrote:"L’agent de la Continental rep l’encàrrec d’una dama anglesa de localitzar el seu marit drogoaddicte. Seguint els passos d’un petit traficant, el detectiu el localitza a l’altra banda de la frontera a Tijuana, a la cantina de La Ferradura d’Or, on conviu amb una prostituta i es dedica a beure, a fumar opi i a injectar-se cocaïna."

My loose translation: "The Continental Op is on the case of an English lady to find her drug addict husband. Following the steps of a small-time trafficker, the detective finds him on the other side of the border in Tijuana, at the Golden Horseshoe cantina, where he lives with a prostitute and dedicates himself to drinking, smoking opium and shooting up cocaine."

Well, that's pretty noir, if I ever heard it. The short story, novelette, was written in 1924. So, it was written 98 years ago. The "Continental Op (operative/agent)" is a Hammett character based on his job working as a PI for Pinkerton's Detective Agency in San Francisco- that foggy, damp, corrupt city by the bay that I've come to know through his novels.

Of course, I've been reading them in Catalan. I always wanted to read Hammett but having a language-learning predilection, I couldn't justify reading his work in English... of course. To me, he's a Catalan author since I know him through reading in Catalan.

Despite the age of his writing, his books read like modern novels. The stories are engaging. His writing evokes the milieu of the time and place of 1920's San Francisco. Hammett writes in an almost screenplay-like fashion. The story is driven by dialog. For me, as a language-learner, this is important as it gives me a glimpse (albeit through being scripted and translated) into conversation.

Here's the first two paragraphs:
Dashiell Hammett wrote:—No tinc res emocionant que oferir aquesta vegada —em va dir Vance Richmond mentre fèiem una encaixada—. Només vull que trobi un home, un home que ni tan sols és un criminal.
En la seva veu havia un deix de disculpa. Els dos últims casos que aquest advocat de cara eixuta i grisenca m’havia encarregat, havien acabat en autèntics escàndols de carrer acompanyats de tiroteig, i suposo que pensava que qualsevol treball de menor munta m’avorriria a mort. Confesso que hi va haver un temps, quan tenia uns vint anys i l’Agència de Detectius Continental m’acabava de contractar, en què això va poder ser cert. Però els quinze anys que havien transcorregut des de llavors m’havien aplacat el gust pels plats forts.

My translation:
"I don't have anything exciting to offer this time" - Vance Richmond told me while we were greeting each other. "I just want you to find a man, a man who isn't even a criminal." In his voice there was a dash of apology. The last two cases that this wrinkled, gray haired lawyer had assigned me had ended up being real street scandals accompanied by gunfire/shootouts., and I suppose that he thought that whatever minor job would bore me to death. I confess that there was a time when I was around 20 years old and the Continental Detective Agency had just contracted me, that that could've been true. But the 15 years that have gone by since then had satisfied my taste for strong dishes."

This will be my next read in Catalan.

Spanish
Things are heating up in the RTVE novela "Dos Vidas". I'm on episode 244 and have only 11 more to go til I finish it. Both in Rio Muni and Madrid, the story is at the point of boiling over.




255 hour long episodes is a lot for me. I started watching it back in December. Of course, it's in Castillian Spanish, and I live in the Caribbean... but... Spanish is Spanish. I also enjoy traveling in Spain and have always been fascinated by Equatorial Guinea- one of the two least well-known former Spanish colonies along with "Spanish Sahara". So those are aspects, along with daily life in a Spanish village in the Sierra near Madrid that got me hooked. The story is good too. I will have more to say about the experience and benefits of watching a long series such as this after I finish.

After this many episodes, the inhabitants of Rio Muni and "Robledillo" (the fictional Spanish village) have become my friends and I will miss them when I finish "Dos Vidas". I'd love to hang out in Tirso's Hotel chatting with the villagers. I'd thoroughly enjoy passing the time in el Rio Club with the characters of Rio Muni. I get that way about books I really enjoy too. I almost don't want to finish them. Life is about moving on. We keep memories and we make new ones.

Portuguese
I will be leaving to go on a long vacation to Brazil in mid September. I haven't had a true vacation in three years, like many people post-pandemic. The pandemic isn't even over. It may never be "over". Still, I want to get on with living. I am really looking forward to it.

Creoles
I still maintain my abilities in both Haitian Creole and Lesser Antilles Creole French. Haiti is pretty much "off-limits" for tourism right now what with political instability; rampant crime; kidnappings; etc. Some day, maybe. I still can explore the culture from the diaspora.

Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol
I still read a bit in Rashi script now and again. I also watch the "Enkontros de Alhad" on youtube which are entirely in Ladino. These interviews/conversations came about because of the pandemic and are a real blessing for those interested in Ladino. These "Sunday Meetings" are a good source of content for a language in which learners won't be watching dubbed films or reading modern translated/original novels in the language.

Mèsi pou li tou sa. M a wè nou pita.
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby Le Baron » Thu Aug 18, 2022 7:09 pm

iguanamon wrote: of course. To me, he's a Catalan author since I know him through reading in Catalan.

It's an unusual thought.
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby kujichagulia » Wed Aug 24, 2022 1:51 pm

I’m curious about the process you go through for finding books to read, especially for fiction. Seems to me like it would be hard to find books that you like before paying for them to be shipped over to the VI, etc.

I’ve never been a big fiction reader to begin with, and when I try to get into it, it’s always hard for me to find a book I enjoy. The last few fiction books I bought were disappointing and I regretted spending the money on it (even if it’s only a few dollars). And that’s in my native language.
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby iguanamon » Wed Aug 24, 2022 4:46 pm

First, Welcome back, Kuji. It's good to see you here again after such a long absence :)
kujichagulia wrote:...I’ve never been a big fiction reader to begin with, and when I try to get into it, it’s always hard for me to find a book I enjoy. The last few fiction books I bought were disappointing and I regretted spending the money on it (even if it’s only a few dollars). And that’s in my native language.

Reading is something I like to do. I always have. I grew up in a town of 6,000 people, pre-internet, in the rural Upper South. If I hadn't enjoyed reading I wouldn't have learned much.

I was extremely lucky to have had an English teacher who was passionate about literature and reading. My class (year) only had 80 students (I knew most of them since kindergarten.). Mrs. Newton wanted us to be exposed to more than our little rural town and region had to offer. So she assigned diverse readings from American, British, and world literature. I still remember most of them. We read everything from Moliere, Mark Twain, Chaim Potok, Chinua Achebe, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Bronte, to Walt Whitman, Wendell Berry, and Thoreau.

Of course, I also have my mother to thank. She always encouraged reading and I had a library card at a young age. My friends used to ask me why I'd be reading something that I didn't have to read/ forced to read for homework.

So, I think, a love of reading is essential. This cannot happen overnight, but it can happen and does... even with people who say they don't like to read. Not liking to read is ok. Plenty of people in this world don't read. I doubt if my father ever read many books in his life beyond school... he did read a daily newspaper for most of his life until newspapers started to fade from the scene. The good newspapers are an amazing font of information- "the poor person's university".

I read several papers online. In English, the NYT, the AP, and the Manchester Guardian. In Portuguese: Público, UOL (Folha de São Paulo), A Verdade (Moçambique). Spanish: El Nuevo Herald (Miami), AP en Español, El País. Haitian Creole: Lavwadlamerik. Ladino: weekly El Amaneser (Turkey). Fortunately, my curated twitter feed allows me to keep up with all this. I just click on what looks interesting. That comes from my father and mother always reading the daily newspaper. It's a good habit. ( of course when I talk about news, I don't mean depressing actuality- murders, war, politics, but behind the scenes stories of life, nature)

So, to start with, I recommend an old book by Mortimer J. Adler from the 1940- How to Read a Book. This article in the Atlantic is a better explanation of how to become a reader than I can explain myself- Why Some People Become Lifelong Readers. It talks about the critical role of parents. I was blessed to have parents who read. You can still do it as an adult- I googled it: 7 steps to becoming an avid reader. A way to find books you may want to read is by going to Goodreads to get an idea about them before getting the book. I do this. I also check out wikipedia and online reviews.

If you know what interests you, you can find a book. There are reviews; synopses on wikipedia; and "booktubers" (people who review books on youtube). I watch a couple of them in Portuguese. My favorite Brazilian booktuber channel is Ler Antes de Morrer. Isabella does a great job. She doesn't give away spoilers. I always get good ideas from her about what to read. I'm certain something similar exists for Japanese.

The thing about reading fiction that I find useful is it can be an entree to spoken dialog. Yeah, it's not entirely natural, but it's pretty good. I always pick up new words and phrases to use and/or think about. I know of no better, easier, and enjoyable way to expand my vocabulary in TL's than reading. It works wonders.

Some of the online Catalan bookstores have a free chapter preview in pdf to download... like when you're in a physical bookstore when you can read a bit of the book before buying it. I do follow the 50 page rule. If a book doesn't grab me in the first 50 pages, it probably won't. It works almost all the time. I've only had a few that I've dropped after 50 pages.

Boa sorte, meu amigo!
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