Q: Have you ever read a book written in a foreign language you might be fluent in, and then read the same book in English? (submitted by Maria @ A Night’s Dream of Books)
A: Unfortunately, I can only read and speak English, so there’s no way that I would be able to do this. Sometimes I wonder what it might be like to read a book in its original language. I bet there are nuances to the story that are lost in translation.
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Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower. The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
The Literary Counsellor 
I’ve wondered that too–if I am missing something when I read a translated book. Or how is it different. I get annoyed when I find out names or certain aspects are changed just to fit American preferences when a book is translated into English.
I wish I was fluent in other languages and I admire those who are.
Thanks for sharing! I hope you have a great weekend!
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Changing names and places would definitely annoy me. I remember hearing that the American version of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” was called “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and I was so confused. It’s all English! I don’t think that change was necessary at all.
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I only read English books even though I am bilingual in Spanish, but there is a reason why I don’t read Spanish books which I explain on my blog hop post. Thank you so much for the awesome post have a great weekend and here is my blog hop link.
http://katisbookaholicramblingreviews.blogspot.com/2017/08/book-blogger-hop-55.html
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That’s really interesting! I wish I could read another language, but I guess there are reasons for only reading books in one language too. 🙂
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That is what I wonder about too – if anything is lost in translation.
That question has been posed a few times today, and I am hoping our bilingual friends can answer that for us.
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Thanks for sharing, and Happy Hopping!!
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Book Blogger Hop
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Thanks! It seems like the biggest difference people have noticed is certain phrasing that is common in one language, but sounds totally crazy in another.
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Thank you for explaining.
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Yes, sometimes small things are different–phrasing, humour, idioms etc. That’s because some idioms and ideas don’t have exact translations, so the translator has to find a local equivalent.
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That makes sense. I’m sure there are phrases in English that make no sense to people who are native speakers of other languages. 🙂
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I’m like you and only read and speak Englis but I read a lot of books that are translated. I would love to learn another language but I struggle every time I’ve tried 😟
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Learning a new language is super hard. I know people who it comes to very easily, but I am not one of them. 🙂
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Me neither!
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I can pretty much only read in English as well. I’ve tried to learn other languages, but for the most part they just don’t stick.
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My brain just can’t seem to wrap itself around a new language.
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I always worry about the translations as well. I was listening to a podcast a while ago that called out a few really poor translations. I wish I had written the titles down…
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I have my mom to thank for my fluency in Spanish, plus, my first books were in that language, and I’ve always read a lot, ever since I was a kid. if not, I would have lost the language for sure, as we came to the U.S. when I was 9, and I grew up in Miami.
I studied French in high school, but am no longer fluent in it, because I don’t know any French-speaking people, so I’ve gradually lost most of what I learned.
I do think that some nuances are lost in translation, things like the cultural mindset of the author. Languages are irrevocably tied to the cultures they are used in. This is very evident, for instance, in jokes. Humor is very specific to culture. Also, certain words and phrases just don’t have the same impact when translated into other languages. Other than that, though, I have so far encountered excellent translations from English to Spanish, and vice versa.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting on my BBH post!! ❤ 🙂
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I’ve thought about trying to reach picture books in Spanish, but it bet it’s not the same if it’s a book that’s been translated from English into Spanish. Oh well. Thanks for hopping by my page.
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I think that is what I am most curious about, what it is that is lost in translation! From experience I know that there are jokes which are hilarious in one language but fall completely flat in English or don’t make any sense – I wonder what the translator does in such scenarios?
Thank you for stopping by earlier 🙂
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