Berengaria’s Comments (group member since Nov 11, 2021)

Berengaria’s comments from the Language Learners and Polyglots group.

Lenka wrote: "I started my first non-English book of the year, Patria by Fernando Aramburu.."

Good thing it has short chapters! :-) It took me two months to read a almost 500 page novel in Italian last year, so I know what you're up against.

Paul wrote: "Sportyrod wrote: "Ok thanks. I have posted a review of it on it. It’s too long and self-indulgent to post here but the main points are

For Spanish, yes he has a few others, but not for Swedish / Icelandic...or at least they aren't listed on Amazon or here. So, we couldn't go on to another one.

But for you...

Spanish Short Stories For Beginners Volume 2: 8 More Unconventional Short Stories to Grow Your Vocabulary and Learn Spanish the Fun Way!

and then he's got one in Intermediate (B1- B2) that's very similar.

Then he's also got a "Topics that Matter" series which is for non-fic and at the intermediate level. The ones available in Spanish are about WW2 and climate change. Then he's got a Social Media conversations in Spanish.

Nothing there for Swedish or Icelandic, though. Not enough call for them, I'd imagine.

Calla wrote: "Please send the google doc, when you get a chance. Thanks"

Hi Calla,
Here's the link.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l...

Since we're not following each other I can't send it to you PM. :-)

Sportyrod wrote: "I just finished the short stories in Swedish"

Go ahead and post your review, Rod. I'm almost finished with the 2nd to last story, but I've hit that wall of knowledge and the level is over my head now and I'm going very slowly. As Paul says, spoilers won't matter at this point. :-)

Calla wrote: "One of my GR friends added my free-to-read bronzepunk novella to GR. This means you can read s..."

I think you have to create a free account, but I can send you a google doc with the story if you'd rather not do that.

Lenka wrote: "Hello everyone, "

Ahoj Lenka! Welcome to the group! I've put you on the members list so feel free to jump in and let us know where you are with your goal reading and how you're enjoying your books as you read them.

This is an pretty active chat thread, so if you set it to "notify" you'll be able to keep up with posts.

Peter is really the only one doing Russian in the group. He'd be the one to ask if you are interested in Russian writers.

Nothing to do with our language challenge, but I just wanted to let you all know:

One of my GR friends added my free-to-read bronzepunk novella to GR. This means you can read something of mine (short) and get GR reading credit! (And leave a rating/review if you feel like it)

Bronzepunk is a genre of historical light sci-fi set during the Bronze Age, normally in Egypt.

The title is: Distantly Falling Stars

Blurb: "Seti, a humble civil servant at the Office of Information, is selected for an important mission to retrieve a cluster of 'fallen stars' with very special, and very secret, properties.

But why has he -- ambitionless and without influence as he is -- been chosen? And just who wants these particular stars at all costs?

As Seti becomes more and more involved in the machinations of shadowy figures, he realises he has his own personal mission to fulfil, and it has nothing to do with the one he was selected for. "

Here's the link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/1734484...

If it doesn't work for you, I can send you a google doc.

Dave wrote: "Rod and Berengaria, The story was good. It was about a guy (painter) living in a haunted house on the beach. He wants to buy the house. A neighbor tells him about how it became haunted when a large..."

That sounds like an actual story and not a learner text. Esp with the end like that. Cool!

Dave wrote: "Well, I've finished my first Foreign Language goal book, "

YAY!!! Congratulations! 👏 Wooooooooo!!! Knew you could do it.
Good questions from Rod: what was the story about and are you going to learn new words before going on?

Sportyrod wrote: "Re Olly. The stories are far-fetched. Some words are obscure but most are common enough. Sometimes I miss a word and it changes the context but I usually get it next read. I am happy with the stori..."

That's probably the key. Are you forgiving of the plot and flaws if it helps you learn?

Paul wrote:
It's probably easier to read target language translations of books that were originally written..."

That's what I always recommend, too. Read a novel from your own culture in that language until you've got a fairly good vocab.

I do pretty well with the modern mysteries in Swedish that I've been able to get my hands on. I ADORE the Martin Beck series from Sjöwall/Wahlöö. Absolute magic in the original Swedish.

With French, in my experience, it's not the standard vocab you need to worry about, but the slang! French is a word-poor* language (in comparison to other langs) but they make up for it in the different types of slang, esp "criminal" slang or Parisian "street" slang that can render entire chapters unintelligible.

* don't take offence at that, it's what linguists say. Word-poor here means that many French words are made up of word combinations instead of a single word. Like "le X de Y". That significantly cuts down the actual words and ups the "circumlocations" or descriptive phrases for things.

Paul wrote: A little bit of a mental stretch to think that the three young people would j..."

Great that you liked it and the end didn't disappoint too much. :-)

I was annoyed right out of the gate with the guy and his silly treasure hunt and had no interest in whatever protracted game he was playing . Esp when it turned out to be "So, I'm your uncle who gave you all away when you were small ...but now that I'm old and you all have stable lives, why don't we become a family again and sing Kumbaya together, whadda ya say?" Pfffttttt..... take a long walk off a short pier?

Olly is good with the repetition and slow climb in difficulty, I'll give him that. But he's a pitiful storyteller, IMHO. (Admittedly, telling a good story with only basic vocab is tough. I've seen it done much better than this, however.)

Side note:
A fair bit of the vocab in the Icelandic stories is listed as "rare" by the online dictionary I use. There are far more common words/phrases that whoever translated these decided not to use. I'd like to have had a note from the translator on why they made the decisions they did. Would help understand why certain sentences are rendered as they are.

Kalliope wrote:
Reading Agatha Christie in another language is a good way to go"

I agree. It was recommended to me to read Christie in Swedish when I was looking around for something not too difficult but still interesting to practice the lang with. It was a good choice. Came from another Swedish learner.

Man, don't ask booksellers though! I've found they are the WORST for rec'ing books for learners to read in their native language. They'll hand you 200-year old classics or recent literary prize winners that are so culturally based you don't understand a word. (As if you, at B1 Spanish can handle Don Quixote or Javier Marías. )

Iamthesword wrote: "2/11 in French: François Mauriac: Thérèse Desqueyroux. 1920s literary French was a challenge, but I liked the book. The rhythm was quite special (in a good way)."

Yay! 👏 Glad to hear you liked it and it was not tooooooo complicated for you. 2 down, 9 more to go!

Kalliope wrote: "Hello everyone. I have started my February book in Italian.

Alessandro Baricco’s Omero."

Excellent! Let us know periodically how it's going for you as you read. :-)

Paul wrote:
Merci! Shall we set a date to be finished with the next story, the Viking one called something like "Discovered Land" ?"

Okay, no spoilers. How's Roger Ackroyd coming? Is the French at your level?

Sportyrod wrote: "I finished the Viking one, so ready anytime."

Jackrabbit!! 🐰⚡️😄

Sportyrod wrote: "toutes nos félicitations!! 🎉📕"

Merci! Shall we set a date to be finished with the next story, the Viking one called something like "Discovered Land" ?

How about next Sunday?

Paul wrote: "For those of us reading Olly's Short Stories, I'd say that the fourth entry The Watch is beginning to enter the realm of genuine story. But the FIFTH story The Chest definitely starts with a rather..."

I've finished that one...let's see what you think of it when you get to the reveal at the end! :-)

Just finished my 2nd goal novel and 1st for French . Woo hoo!

La mélancolie des sirènes par trente mètres de fond is an extremely well-written dystopia sci-fi novel that takes place in a fantasy land I think it based on Luxembourg because it uses what I think is meant to approximate (or is) the Germanic language of Lëtzebuergesch.

The story:
An accident 3 years previously flooded out the subway/Underground of the city of Alzenberg killing thousands. The city government -- led by the mayor -- has set up a police unit of scuba divers to document the dead. That is, dive into the flooded tunnels and search the bodies for ID or identifying items, but not to bring the bodies to the surface.

What the divers discover down there is...really not what you'd expect! (No, not monsters or aliens)

The novel was written in the 80s and so has traits of early and mid-century sci-fi ideas which are somewhat old-fashioned today. The writing, though!!! The writing is so vivid -- you can imagine yourself right down there in the flooded tunnels. The level, I'd say is at a solid B2.

I'd deffo read more Serge Brussolo!