Books worth learning a language for - Page 2

Angela-74 · #21 11.09.2009, 10:26

	Quote:	MathNut
	Casting about for some motivation to get on with my German, and someone the other day recommended Goethe's Faust, with the comment that he would consider it worthwhile learning German just to read Faust. Dunno if he's right or not - I haven't read it yet - but that's got me thinking... What book do you reckon would it be worth learning English to read? How about French? Urdu? Have you ever learned a language to read a particular book or author? I'll start... I think it would be worth learning Irish to read Cré na Cille by Máirtín Ó Cadhain. And I have learned French - what sorry scraps I know - in order to read a particular 'book.' Many years ago, in a frenzy of shareware acquisition, I accidentally installed a French security app on my programmable calculator (I know...) only to find that (1) it came preset with a default password, unknown to me, and (2) the user's manual was entirely in French. (The word, as I found out after several evenings' hard glossing with a dictionary and Teach Yourself French book from the public library, was "PASSE".)

Spanish: Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Memoria de mis putas (sorry) tristes" I loved the book.
I have read The Faust in English and was impressed so I am guessing in German it might even be better

Angela-74 · #22 11.09.2009, 10:28

	Quote:	lucy_sg
	One Hundred Years of Solitude and D. Quijote de la Mancha for Spanish. The Maias (nothing to with the civilization with the same name) and Dona Flor and her Two Husbands for Portuguese (actually, any Eca de Queiroz or Jorge Amado). The short tales of Quim Monzo for Catalan (oddly enough, his work is barely translated to be in Spanish at all. I barely can speak Catalan, but I am quite good at passive understanding. This author was one of the main reasons why I decided to make an effort on listening and trying to make sense out of it.

Rispectuflly disagree on One hundred years of solitude, love GGM but that book made me sleep (although I might try it again now that I am older and wiser). DOn Quijote is great though!

CitizenDuMonde · #23 11.09.2009, 10:33

SHANTARAM, in English

STEPPENWOLF, in German

EUGENE ONEGIN, in Russian (lyrical and wonderful to recite)

Lifetime Goal: REMEMBERANCE OF THINGS PAST (Proust), in French (read it in English, learning French)

Dougal's Breakfast · #24 11.09.2009, 10:37

	Quote:	CitizenDuMonde
	Lifetime Goal: REMEMBERANCE OF THINGS PAST (Proust), in French (read it in English, learning French)

I doubt I'll ever read any Proust (unless the Readers' Digest bring out an abridged version of his works), but I'm emulating the lazy wheezer right now, by staying in bed and coughing a lot.

Will that do?

flow23 · #25 11.09.2009, 10:52

	Quote:	Treverus
	I think he is wrong. I read Faust and - since I chose German besides English as "Leistungskurs" at my Gymnasium - I discussed and read the secondary literature explaining it as well. I find the books (there are two parts, the second one is completely rubbish while the first one is somewhat ok-ish) completely overrated. And like Shakespeare, Goethe is not really a 20th century guy... so expect his language to be very difficult for non-native-speakers. Try something that is good to read from the language point, I would recommend Dürrenmatt's Physiker (you are into science, right?).

overrated? wtf? man, he thought about THE TEMPTATION of human race ever:
eternally wisdom n stuff in return to give your most precious "thing" to the devil, your soul. for me its mindblowing, espeacially when you look at what time it was written. and the language is awesome. not to forget how many other poets n writers he inspired, etc., etc. the achievements attached to it are endless...

Treverus · #26 11.09.2009, 11:49

	Quote:	flow23
	overrated? wtf? man, he thought about THE TEMPTATION of human race ever: eternally wisdom n stuff in return to give your most precious "thing" to the devil, your soul. for me its mindblowing, espeacially when you look at what time it was written. and the language is awesome. not to forget how many other poets n writers he inspired, etc., etc. the achievements attached to it are endless...

I know what the book is about and I agree that it is an historically important piece of German literature. If any adult person with a western cultural background reads Faust today, I do not think it is full of mind-boggling relevations, but maybe that is just me and maybe this was completely differently at the time it was written.

But I do not think it is the book a German learner should read as it will be frustrating and I defenitely do not think that it is a strong enough motivation to learn German. I personally found it overrated when it comes to the actual text as well, but that is surely a matter of personal taste.

Maybe it is for my like Wagner's operas: Everyone will agree that they are an important piece of music history, but I personally do not need to listen to them and would definitely not spend a fortune to visit the Bayreuth festival for it. But others do...