The Sword and Laser discussion

Is anyone else having a tough time with the language? I find it quite jarring with the way people speak, I keep wanting to put those missing words back in, "I" "the" "us" etc. Or rearrange the sentence to make it sound better in my head.

I'm getting through the book (chapter six so far) but this is probably the #1 thing I keep noticing.

I noticed that too. Try reading the book in your head with a Russian accent. That should make it easier.

Russian! That's the language. Now I need to re-read all those "Da's" correctly.

I started the book before it was decided that this is what we would read. I put it down after 50 pages because i couldn't stand the missing words. It was very jarring to read. Once it was decided to read it this month and picked it back up. Glad I did. Once I got used to it I really enjoyed it.

Yeah, I'm enjoying it, but it did take a bit to get into it.

Cameron wrote: "I noticed that too. Try reading the book in your head with a Russian accent. That should make it easier."

Or, as fans of TV Tropes know, a Lzherusskie accent.

If you guys have a chance check out the audio book reading by Lloyd James. He reads the text with a Russian accent and everything falls into place. Awesome stuff.

There are a couple of other readings of Heinlein's books (e.g. Double Star) by the same narrator which in my opinion are equally good.

I have read the first chapter of the book. It's annoying me to no end. As in, it's to a point that after a long day at work, I have no desire to put the effort into reading it. I'm hoping I get used to it; I'm giving the book 60 pages, and if I'm not hooked, I'm giving up.

Jorg wrote: "If you guys have a chance check out the audio book reading by Lloyd James. He reads the text with a Russian accent and everything falls into place. Awesome stuff."

I'm thinking that's what I'm gonna do. My introduction to Heinlein was Lloyd James' reading of Starship Troopers. Now I can't imagine reading Heinlein with my own voice. I'll probably check out the audio version from my library after I finish listening to The Martian Chronicles.

I am currently listening to the Lloyd James audio book. I would whole heartedly agree that it is one of the best readings of a book I have had the pleasure to enjoy so far.

The slang that isn't Russian is mostly Australian, which is a nice touch.

terpkristin wrote: "I have read the first chapter of the book. It's annoying me to no end. As in, it's to a point that after a long day at work, I have no desire to put the effort into reading it. I'm hoping I get u..."

I can't remember how long the language/grammar took to settle in for me, but the suggested 'reading in a different accent' thing really works. Figure out the rhythm and the book totally works.

Hmm I should've come back to this thread and updated it...funnily enough, I got used to it, eventually, and then found myself talking with co-workers, "missing words," to some extent talking in the written dialect from the book. ;) It was kind of funny.

I've got a free ebook version - at first I was thinking it must have been a bad conversion, but I'm guessing from this thread that sentences like 'I see also is to be a mass meeting tonight to organize....' is the way it's supposed to be written?

its annoying but I guess I will have to put up with it, usually books that are still being recommended and read after 50+ years are worth the read

so glad i opened this thread!! My libraries copy of the book is very old and has yellowing pages. When I started reading it I just figured that this particular edition was a horrible misprint....now i feel kind of dumb.... :) Sounds like everybody is getting the feel for it eventually so I will keep on plowing thorough.

I'm listening to the Lloyd James narration after previously listening to the narration by George Wilson(on cassette). Lloyd James' heavy Russian accent makes me feel like I'm listening to Pavel Chekhov read me The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. It was very maddening at first, but I'm getting used to it. Wilson was much more enjoyable to me. I had then assumed that the left out words were some kind of future-speak, which I find preferable to a guy named Manuel Garcia O'Kelly-Davis speaking in such a strong Russian accent.

This was also the first thing I noticed... and as a non-native English speaker, the invented words make reading a little tad more difficult.
On the other hand, I experienced a wierd new 'habit' - after having owned a kindle since christmas, this is the first paper book I read since then. And I actually had the impulse to highlight words aiming to get to the kindle dictionary.

As I got used to it, I found it jarring when there suddenly were articles or pronouns. It comes across as someone taking notes to flesh out later.

"I noticed that too. Try reading the book in your head with a Russian accent. That should make it easier. "

Yes, that's exactly how I did it. I even read aloud to myself for a while for it to click into place!

I just replayed the audiobook from top to bottom when I heard it was the new selection.

The audiobook is reasonably good, but if you go that way, know there are more than a few mispronounced words and names, and several misread lines. Nothing too important, but it will make a couple of good jokes drop through the cracks.

Once or twice it can throw you off the rails of what's being talked about. (Every time you hear "shay" replace it with "chai"--that'll fix a half-dozen.)

I read the dialect in the voice of Mordin Solus from Mass Effect 2. He follows *exactly* the same speech pattern, to the point I have to assume they based it on this book. It wouldn't be surprising, that's definitely the sort of thing Bioware does.

Some examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxrO5-...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gwNcY...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAP92r...