For people who already have (or tried to) read a bilingual book

Submitted by Cautious-Bid-8117 t3_zz1zsd in books

Hi, I am currently writing an essay for graduating (graphic design licence). I am looking for some people who already have read a bilingual book and would be so kind as to answer a few questions:

Why did you read a bilingual book? language learning? Improvement of language skills? Other?

What level of language did you have when you started reading it (the very first)? (approximatively A1-C2 or choose between beginner, intermediate, advanced)

Why opted for a bilingual book, and not a book in the original version?

Have you finished the book? If not, why?

Thanks a lot for reading :) (and sorry for my English ^^')

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YossarianWasntWrong t1_j2906bm wrote

Are you just talking about books in a second language? Somewhere between B1 and B2 you can start reading "normal" books in a second language... I started reading the first harry potter in english as a 12 year old, after 3 or 4 years learning it in public school...

Currently I'm trying to learn german and I admit its a bit up hill reading books when I'm only slightly above B2, but practice makes perfect. And while it currently sucks, I'm sure its going to be worth it in a few years :)

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Cautious-Bid-8117 OP t1_j29buh4 wrote

By bilingual book I meant a book in two languages which is composed by the original version of the text and its traduction in another language. Parallel text book for exemple :) It allows the texts to be compared by the reader

If you already read one these questions are for you !

Good luck in your learning of German ;)

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rysworld t1_j2btbty wrote

I believe you are looking for the word "translation". "Traduction" is not a word in English, even though that works for most French words with the suffix -tion.

No disrespect meant, I just always find myself wishing people would correct me more when I made mistakes in my second languages.

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bibliophile222 t1_j29c1t7 wrote

What do you mean by a bilingual book? Do you mean one that uses multiple languages in the writing, or one that's a side-by-side translation, or just one that's not in your native language? I've read all three, but my answers would change depending on which one you mean.

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Cautious-Bid-8117 OP t1_j29cmwk wrote

>By bilingual book I meant a book in two languages which is composed by the original version of the text and its traduction in another language. Parallel text book for exemple :) It allows the texts to be compared by the reader
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>(but I am interested too if you have some recommandation of books that uses multiple languages in the writing because I only know references for kids)
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>Thank you for your comment, I should precise next time !

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bibliophile222 t1_j2aevh3 wrote

Got it! I've read Beowulf and Canterbury Tales this way. It's helpful for comparing Middle English (Canterbury Tales) and modern English - as a native English speaker, I can understand the gist of Middle English, but it's super helpful to have the side by side version for all the different vocab and grammatical structures so you don't always need to be glancing at footnotes or endnotes. I try to just read the Middle English and glance at the translation as needed. As far as Old English (Beowulf), much, much fewer words are understandable to a native English speaker, so I read the modern translation, but it's still really cool to have access to the Old English to get a sense of the sounds and poetic rhythms.

As far as books where the writer uses multiple languages, the best example I can think of is Finnegans Wake. It's nominally written in English but contains a mishmash of other languages to create multilingual wordplay. I've heard you need to understand 4 or 5 languages to really understand it without copious footnotes. Also, a lot of non-French classic novels have a fair amount of French in them because at the time most educated Americans, British, and other Europeans knew it. For instance, War and Peace has a lot of French dialogue.

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Seleya_IDIC t1_j29h89u wrote

I read a couple children's books both in Korean and English and I've read an edition of Pearl by Anonymous in both Modern and Old English.

  1. I read the Korean books for language learning and read Pearl out of curiosity.

  2. I was a complete beginner in Korean. Basically, I knew a few words and could read the alphabet (Hangul). As for Pearl, I have no education in Old English, I just thought it would be fun.

  3. Being a beginner, I wouldn't get the same immersion if I read an original version. I thought it would help my reading by having English along with it.

  4. I have finished all of them. I remember it being very tedious going through both languages at my beginner level. But I did learn some. I also finished Pearl but gave up scanning the Old English before finishing.

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Cautious-Bid-8117 OP t1_j29jlvz wrote

Oh it's interesting you read a book in an another alphabet than your native's ! Thanks a lot for your contribution :) You said it was a children book, that's interesting too, what was your experience? wasn't it annoying sometimes? (the story)

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Seleya_IDIC t1_j29ld10 wrote

No problem! :D

The experience was okay. I tried both reading internally and speaking out loud and I remember being so upset that my progress was so slow. The story was simple but my brain eventually burned out from trying to take in two alphabets. So, yes, it was annoying. But I feel it was worth it.

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DangerousBill t1_j293h7x wrote

Try Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing. Most of the dialog is in Spanish and McCarthy's style makes it impossible to draw context. If you don't know Spanish, The Crossing will drive you to fury.

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Cautious-Bid-8117 OP t1_j29cstt wrote

I'll check these, thanks :) Did you read a bilingual book ? (I mean a book in two languages which is composed by the original version of the text and its traduction in another language)

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Trick-Two497 t1_j29ptx7 wrote

I read and finished multiple books in Spanish in college as part of upper level language classes. I also wrote papers on them. Spanish is not my native language. The books weren't bilingual - I'm not actually sure what a bilingual book is, so I'm probably not helping your survey.

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Cautious-Bid-8117 OP t1_j2a2p3b wrote

I see, thank you for your comment. :) I meant by bilingual book, a book in two languages (original + traduction) often side-by-side. As a non-native book reader, do you think a bilingual book (as I described) could have been helpful at the beginning of your learning ? and why ?

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Trick-Two497 t1_j2ap2y1 wrote

For me, no. The act of looking things up and making notes on them is useful for how I learn. Having them side by side would have made me lazy.

The only book I've ever seen like this is Bibles.

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scarletseasmoke t1_j2alq2h wrote

Reason: I participated in an academic competition, and the general quality of lyrics translations people submitted annoyed me, so I picked up a huge stack of bilingual poetry collections to study translations.

Level: I think technically just below "Independent user - complex" in English, that's maybe around B1-2. But I had French, Italian, German, Spanish in the mix (some with my native language some with English), and I spoke none of those four languages at that point, I used textbooks to figure out what's going on.

Why bilingual books? To see translations side by side and see what different translators prioritized

Finished? Yes, all

Other: If I had access to them, I'd have picked up novels, too, to learn the language. When my English was way too weak to read whole books I used to sit at the dining table with the original + a translation + dictionaries, it was a nightmare and I'd have preferred a bilingual edition. And in Italian and Spanish I couldn't even find full novels to read, it was sad (I could find them now I guess, at least with English translations, but we didn't have easy internet access back then)

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