Athena Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 This topic is specifically for those who read books in more than one language (though if you read only in English you're still welcome to post your thoughts of course !). Personally I read books in English and in Dutch (on rare occasion one in Flemish, which is similar to Dutch). My preferred language is English but if the book is originally Dutch I read it in Dutch. For non-fiction I don't mind it as much if it's translated from English to Dutch so if I see a really cheap Dutch copy that I'm interested in I'll usually buy it, but if the English copy is cheaper or the same price I'll go for that. I've been reading quite a few English books lately and not Dutch, and am now in the mood to read something Dutch. This sparked my thought as to making this topic. I generally find that I miss one language if I'm only reading the other for a while. While I mainly read English (maybe 75% of the time) it's nice to read something Dutch every once in a while. I should point out (but I'm sure most of you know) that Dutch is my first language and English my second. I was wondering, for anyone else who reads books in two (or more) languages, do you have this too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadya Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Yes, I'm Dutch too and read in various languages. I read French (with a dictionary!) sometimes and easy Urdu (Pakistani) every now and then. I think I read as much Dutch as English. If I can, I want to read in the language of the author to read the actual words the author used, but I don't mind translations and in some cases, it doesn't really matter. It also depends on availabilty. When I read Proust some years ago, our library didn't have all the volumes. So I ended up reading some in Dutch and the rest in English, both online and from the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emelee Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 I'm a Swede, so I can read in 4 languages. Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and English. I prefer Swedish. If a book is much cheaper in English or not available in Swedish, then I choose English. It's not difficult to read in English, but I read faster in Swedish. I seldom read Norwegian or Danish, but I can. Danish is easier to read than Norwegian, but Norwegian is easier to listen to than Danish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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