Do you read books in your first language?

[Misaela]

I live in Puerto Rico, and my first language is Spanish. I can read some things in Spanish, but the bulk of my reading is in English. I also dislike highly to read books that were written in another language, but translated to spanish. So much is lost in translation...

[Zannie]

I have read this post a number of times before. I think I haven't posted before is that I only read and speak English. If I could read in another language I would. Because they say if you don't use it you loose it. I agree with you that something either gets lost or added in translation

[AnaF]

I'm Portuguese and I used to read almost exclusively in that language but in these past three/four years I've been reading a lot more in English, French and Spanish. Right now, the bulk of my reading focuses in one of these three languages but there are books that I still prefer to read in Portuguese

[Misaela]

I actually have a hard time reading in my language. The writing style is so different, and I have to look hard to find something I find enjoyable.

[iridescentpearl]

I have to agree with you. I'm polish, but I mostly read in english. I tried reading a few books in polish, but they just seemed really dead to me.

[Misaela]

Books in Spanish are not dead, but many have politics deep set in. I can almost never enjoy a good book without any comment on politic parties.

[iridescentpearl]

I haven't read any polish books, but the english translations. Sorry for not being clear. I've read the hunger games and a few others and it looked like all the books were written by the same person.

[Misaela]

Oh, okay! Yeah, I try to read books written in English in English, because you lose a lot, and you don't really know whoever translated it.

[n1m]

My first language is Urdu but I rarely ever read any Urdu books; only english books. I used to read them when I was young as part of school work but haven't read any since over 3 years ago. It's just that I shifted to a different country and couldn't find much books in my first language and none of the people close to me recommended any, either.

[Misaela]

I understand. Besides, English books are easier to access.

[DATo]

The only language I am fluent in is English as I am from the U.S.A. but if I could read in any other language I would choose Greek so I could read The Iliad in its original language. I was surprised to learn recently that the poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, actually DID learn Greek for precisely the same reason.

[Misaela]

That is an excellent idea! And not just for the classics, but for those stories you would like to have in its original form.

[Anandi Iyer Ghosh]

The only language I am fluent in is English as I am from the U.S.A. but if I could read in any other language I would choose Greek so I could read The Iliad in its original language. I was surprised to learn recently that the poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, actually DID learn Greek for precisely the same reason.

My first language is Tamil but I don't read any tamil books. I read only English books (Habit?). But I agree. I want to learn Greek, so that I read Odyssey and Illiad in the original language. And, I want to go to Greece just once.

[Kariema]

I never liked translations into Arabic (my mother tongue). So, I read English and Arabic books. However, I might read a book translated into English. I love Paulo Coehlo and I only know Arabic and English.

[EnjoiSkyler]

English is my first language, so I have copious amounts of novels to read in my native language. However, I love it when the titles I am reading have characters speaking foreign languages in them. It helps me learn a bit, and I really find it exciting. WEB Griffin uses a lot of Spanish, French, and German in his novels. It's really enjoyable.

Skyler