Read in a foreign language?

[LSWS07]

My first language was Spanish, but because I do almost all my reading in English, I find it a little hard to read in Spanish. I can do it well, but it takes longer and I feel like I don't "get" it as much. Also, like others mentioned, I read in French and German as a way of becoming more proficient in the language.

[wolfx]

Yes, in English.

[rida]

English is a foreign language to me too. But It doesn't seem foreign to me. Don't know why

[ALynnPowers]

Jealous of all of you who speak English as a second language!!! English as a first language just makes it impossible to learn a second language!

[MaragothThorn]

I've read in Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek and French, but so far my favorites are Latin and French, because I can get more into the story. Well...other than English, of course. And even when Spanish is my first language, I don't really like some of the pessimistic style that Spanish writings are written in.

[Revital]

I can read in Hebrew (my first language) and in English.

[mallardmishaps]

I read chinese too, though I don't recall ever having picked up a chinese book out of anything but necessity. Now that I'm no longer obliged to actually study the cursed thing though, I'm actually looking forward to trying a real, unassigned novel. (My chinese has gotten a little rusty after a whole year of unuse though haha i hope it's sufficiently functional to see me through a whole book )

Oh I loved doing this! For anyone with an interest in reading great Chinese novels, I highly recommend Jin Yong's wuxia stories. I learned how to read traditional Chinese (the characters, not the grammar) in the vertical right-to-left style through his novels, which are fantastically plotty, full of adventure and great characters and romance. I always thought it was a pity that his books aren't translated into English - I'd love to see more people enjoying them!

Ooh, will definitely check those out. Thanks for the recommendation!

[dhaines429]

I learned Spanish by taking university correspondence courses and to help me with my studies I read many books written in Spanish. When it comes to reading I think that a lot of books are probably better read in their original language if possible then nothing is lost in translation.

[knighthkm]

I try to read books in Chinese for practice with the language.

[jmeza10]

I read in both Spanish and english. I grew up with both so i don't have trouble understanding, but with the occasional Spanish word that i don't understand i pull out the spanish-english translating dictionary.

[Himmelslicht]

I'm Portuguese so Portuguese is my mother tongue when it comes to reading. But I read in English and also Spanish if I have to. Been trying to learn German but it's quite a complex language.

[Lilapo9]

My daughters did that with Spanish when they were in Spanish class in High School. They also made it a point of only talking in Spanish when they were chatting around home. When I was in German class in High School I did the same thing.

[SammieWonder]

I loved reading books while studying French! It was far more enjoyable than having to listen to my teachers horrible accent. She was very southern and didn't lose the southern drawl when speaking French. It was quite annoying.

[Aivlys]

English is my only native language BUT I occasionally pick up a kids book (I'm talking Dr. Seuss level or learn to read types) in Spanish or German. I took Spanish in high school and German in college so it amuses me to see whether I can pick my way through the kids books and how much looking up I have to do. I only know a very little bit of both languages but there's no reason to lose what little bit I do know by not using it at all.

[jcheiser]

I am working on acquiring some classics that are written in French. I would like to improve my French (which has gotten pretty rusty, unfortunately), and I think reading stories I already know will help. I would also love to read books that originally written in French, but I've had a hard time finding any. Does anyone have any good sources for original French novels?