This is a strangely specific post.
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I struggle so much with buying books.
On one hand, reading in German makes sense for me; it’s my native language. It’s easier to read. I can lend the book away to other people, and I can resell it if needed.
On the other hand, translations lose a lot of what the original author envisioned. Sayings, proverbs, and jokes simply do not translate. Reading books in English would also greatly help to prevent me from becoming rusty and could potentially even better my vocabulary.
Now, the obvious choice is to mix and match.
Get books written in languages I speak in the corresponding language.
Get books written in languages I don’t speak in German. But here’s the thing: Germany prints the spine of the book the wrong way around, so putting English and German books next to one another just looks silly.
by Hex_Frost
4 Comments
> But here’s the thing: Germany prints the spine of the book the wrong way around,
That’s a *Europe* thing in general and from my perspective it’s the US that’s doing it the wrong way around.
Also, as someone who was once in the same position you are now: make sure to keep a steady pace of German works in your reading rotation, because if all your media consumption happens in English for a long time, then suddenly reading German again will feel weird and unwieldy.
Shelve them separately? I think this is an opportunity for embellishment and style!
German books on the top shelf, English books on the bottom.
Place english and German books on the opposite ends of a book shelf with some pictures and trinkets in the middle.
It happens the same to me with Spanish
I’m not a big reader but it comes to me more naturally in Spanish, but what marked the difference was Lord of the Rings.
I tried reading it in Spanish and the translation sucked out the whole magic of middle earth, so I bought it again in English and read it and completely enjoyed it after hearing time and time again that Tolkien’s English was intimidating.
While I had to google a few things it made the whole experience better…
Is rebinding a thing where you live? Or customizing dust covers, maybe?
As for choosing a language to read, I can somewhat relate. I teach literature, but English is not my native tongue. The bulk of what I read is obviously in English for work, but I have “cravings” of something in a different language. Right now, I’m excited to finish what I’m reading to pick something that’s not in English.