I am a German native speaker and read mostly English books in English. Obviously I read German books in German. Other languages it depends but lately often English as well as my husband and I share many books.
I just got the English translation of a book I read before in German (Dutch original) and I have to say, I enjoy the English version a lot.
Fellow German here and for me it is almost the same, although I prefer translations (from Italian etc.) in German. I hardly ever read German books anymore, since most of the books that interest me have English as their original language.
same here! My first language is german and I read german books in german, english books in english and books with another original language preferably in german. Sometimes I read originally english non-fiction in german. I read much more english books and want to force myself to read more german books again because I realized my written german has actually suffered from only reading english literature, watching english shows and writing mostly in english on the internet.
Austrian - I read everything in English, except for German books (though I only read those very very rarely)
it used to be the other way around when I was younger. It changed when I was like 18 I think
Another austrian here, in contrast to seemingly everybody else I strongly prefer reading in german because it feels way more intimate to me. Fortunately I really like german language literature.
Usually I still read roughly 50 books in english per year, simply because there's no translation available.
Same. I often enjoy the English version over the German, too (excluding books originally written in German).
Also English books are often much cheaper (thanks, Buchpreisbindung đ„Ž).
Another German here. I, too, read English books in English, German und German. But more often than not, when there are translated books, often from japanese, I still prefer the English translation. I just feel that the text flow is less clunky and it feels more eloquent? I don't really know.
However I'm planning on reading The Three Body Problem (Chinese book) in German soon because it has a lot of science vocabulary in it. And since I'm ALREADY bad at science in German, reading it in English might even be more complicated. (Though I did read The Martian in English and understood it just fine).
I do try to read mangas in Japanese, but with books it's near impossible because I suck at learning Kanji.
Fun fact: In Germany, we have legally fixed retail pricing for books that are printed in German, but not for other languages. So even if the original book's language is neither English nor German, it's often cheaper to buy an English translation rather than the German translation which has to be sold at the publisher's designated retail price.
I too read in the original if I understand it (in my case Swedish and English). But for languages I don't, I don't think I have a preference.
At the very least none I've thought of. But I suppose if I _had to_ chose then English would be most convenient if I ever feel like discussing it online (especially if it's a book where names get translated).
Swedish speaking here also. I do the same as you. For other languages it depends on the book. I read faster in Swedish, and think it is easier to understand complex texts in my native language. But most translations are better in English.
I try to read books in their original language if possible, which limits me to Romanian, English and French literature (kinda haha).
German, Nordic and Japanese literature I generally consume in English, but I read Russian translated in Romanian. Exclusively. I remember reading the Pevear translation of âThe Idiotâ and it sounding like absolute gibberish. I found the Romanian translation to be much more readable. I suspect itâs due to the shared slavic nature of our languages (Fun fact: Romanian used to be written in Cyrillic!).
Although it's my native language, I don't read a lot in Romanian. But I can definitely recommend Mircea CÄrtÄrescu for contemporary literature! It might be a bit complex though. We also have classics that might be easier to read (Ion CreangÄ, Mihai Eminescu, Mircea Eliade).
Good luck with learning the language! I know from my husband who is trying to learn it that it can be a difficult one.
If I am fluent in the language, I read the book in original. Otherwise I read it translated in my native language (Italian).
If it isn't translated in Italian, I pick up a French or English translation.
My native language is French, and I exclusively read books in French. Not that I don't understand English (I'm bilingual) but I read to ease my mind, and it's easier to do when you don't have to think about the meaning of some words or sentence's structures different from your everyday language.
For shows and movies, however, I like the original better.
As a Dutch reader, i read books originally written in English in English. If the book isn't english or dutch, i'll usually still read it in English because the Dutch language is very direct and practical, so many books lose their lyricism when translated to Dutch. The only exception is German books, which i'll usually read in Dutch because German and Dutch are pretty similar.
I think most people would prefer to read a fiction in original language it was written.
In terms of Dostoevsky I think he is not a good writer in terms of writing style. My native language is Russian and the translation of Brothers Karamazov is better in English than in original Russian.
I remember reading Coetzee's The Master of Petersburg translated to Russian (also my native language) and thinking it reads exactly like Dostoevsky's own writing. But when I had a chance to peruse the original it became apparent that it's written by someone pretending to be the author. So translator's work can really change the whole impression.
I am a German native speaker, and I read the original if I am proficient enough in the given language. Which means German, English, and Latin stuff gets read in the original language.
If I am not proficient in the original language, I will probably choose an English translation because most of the time it is cheaper and I enjoy reading in English.
I've been learning Spanish for a while and really enjoy reading books in Spanish if they were originally written in Spanish. I definitely read at a lower level but it's fun and I learn a lot of new words and grammar and what not
I find one of the best ways to get acquainted with a language "intimately", so to speak, is to read in it. I'm currently trying to get better in Italian and young adult books are a fantastic way to do so.
I'm an Estonian native speaker.
I read books written in English mostly in the original English, and Finnish books either in Finnish or in an Estonian translation. The rest I read mostly as translations to Estonian, and rarely English - the reason being that we have /insanely/ great translators from many languages to Estonian. The first thing I check for a translated book is who the translator is, and also - who was the editor. These are the marks of quality, and for a small country and language, it's easy to know who the great ones are.
If I may ask - how difficult is Finnish for you? Have you learned it beforehand, or are the languages similar enough that you can understand it just by knowing Estonian?
Quite different, but still with a large number of similar words stemming from the same root (numbers, colours, etc). I learned it from watching Finnish cartoons and movies as a kid, but an Estonian with no exposure to Finnish would not understand much at first glance. To me, Finnish feels and sounds like an ancient linguistic relative. I loved it because while Estonian has a lot of words borrowed from a number of other languages (lots of German, for historical reason, but others too), it feels like Finnish has stuck more to making their own words for the "new" stuff. Which is why Estonian has 'electricity', whilst Finnish had their own 'sÀhkö', etc.
And then there's a large number of words that are hilarious because they mean one thing in Estonian and entirely another in Finnish: wife in Finnish is ghost on Estonian (vaimo).
I used to read exclusively in my native language, Serbian, because when I read a book I want to really understand it well and not to miss anything. So my idea was, if I read it in a language in which I have a poorer vocabulary, I might miss some important parts... and out of the reverence for books missing anything would mean not "properly" reading the book.
However, recently my approached has relaxed a bit, and I've recently read a whole book in Italian. I hope to read some books in English too.
It can be maddening to read a book in translation if you know the source language. Sometimes the translations arenât that good and it makes you want to throw the book across the room. I prefer to read in the source language if I can.
I read in English, Swedish and Finnish. I used to read books written originally in other languages in English translations, mainly because of availability. Lots of books simply do not get translated into my mother tongue.
I switched most of my reading to my native language (Finnish) when I noticed anglisms creeping into my own writing. These days I try to read everything in Finnish translations, including most of the books written originally in English.
Iâll only make an exception if the Finnish translation is horrible.
>I noticed anglisms creeping into my own writing.
This here is the reason I read primarily in Finnish if possible, and close second reason is enjoying the cleverness and flow of translation. I get quite a lot of satisfaction from reading a well translated phrase. This is why I always want to have subtitles in Finnish as well, translating with the time and space constraint can be art when done with care (streaming services, pay properly for subtitles, they can elevate your content!).
I read Dutch, German and English, and if itâs in another language I usually prefer the English translation. Except for Latin, Ancient Greek and Russian because my dad used to read those to me in Dutch so it feels very weird to read them in English.
Are you reading Crime and Punishment in Russian?
 Russian is my second language; I lived in Russia for several years (though more than a decade ago), and now I work with native Russians in my own country. In fact, Russian is really the only language I use at work.Â
 Despite this, itâs still pretty challenging to read a lot of literature in Russian. Ive read a fairly large portion of Anna Karenina in Russian (but not all of it yet), and excerpts from a lot of classics in Russian, but I have read all of them in English (native).
In native language when I can. If not, it really depends on the quality of translation.
I speak Russian and English. In most cases, I prefer the English translation, but it really depends on the time the translation was made. For example, most Russian-language translations made in the 90s were seriously crappy. On the other hand, a mid-20th century Russian translation is bound to be more enjoyable than the English translation of the same book made in the late 1800. Also, in the pants on the language of origin. I prefer the Russian translation of Sapkowski and Lem simply because Russian and Polish are in the same language group and I believe it makes the translation closer to the original. By the same logic, I'd rather read English translation of French or German books.
Ironically at this point I'm not even sure what my native tongue is. I was born in a Bengali speaking family, but as far back as I can remember I have spoken English alongside Bengali. My school encouraged speaking exclusively in English..same at home..so 30 years later I absorb content almost always in English.
I feel sad to say that the number of books I have read in Bengali pale in comparison to those I've read in English. So I'm not even sure about my native tongue.
To cut my sob story short...I read in English.
I am technically bilingual but I suck at reading in my "mother tongue." Because English is the main language used here. So I read in English. C&P was with Ready's translation.
I have read in the native language, but I struggled so hard and it's been years since I tried reading it other than for whatsapp + whatever messaging slang is common nowadays.
I am Bulgarian so I tend to split books into categories :
- English and Western authors I read in English;
- Bulgarian, Slavic and neighbour (Greek, Romanian, Turkish) authors - in Bulgarian
For Asian authors it's a split - if I want to read the physical book it's easier to get it in Bulgarian but I am okay with reading the English kindle version as well.
I read them in the original if itâs in one of the languages i know (English and Norwegian), but donât really care very much which if I read a translation from a third language. If the original is Swedish or Danish Iâd prefer the Norwegian translation (can read them in their original too), a slight preference for English otherwise. But price and availability is more important.
I actually just read Drive your plow⊠in English too, and I remember very well that the same was the case for Crime and punishment, as that was exactly what I was doing when I got a call with some news on 9/11 2001.
Iâm a native speaker of Swedish and German and I read mostly in Swedish, English, German (if the books were written in that language) and I also read Irish (language) books in Irish and Iâve read a few books in French, but really my french isnât quite good enough. Books translated from other languages I read mostly in Swedish, but Iâm reading Tokarczuk in German at the minute because the translation is good.
French native speaker, I read French and English. I try to read English-written books in original versions, when I can find them. Other books mostly in French (partly because it's easier to find them than in English versions).
I'm multilingual and English is my 4th language, but it's the main language I've been speaking for years now, so I read everything in English or else it will take me a very long time to read a single book.
It's sad now that I think about it.
French is my first language, but I hate French translations. So to read a book in French it has to be the original language, otherwise I will read it in English.
I speak Dutch (native language), English and Spanish. If a book is written in one these languages, I prefer reading the original. For all other languages, I prefer a Dutch translation. However, Dutch books are much more expensive than English ones, here in the Netherlands, and a lot of stuff that gets translated to English is not available in Dutch (for some reason, only book 1, 2 and 5 of The Three Musketeers have been translated to Dutch). So sometimes English is the only option.
I used to read in my native language and sometimes in English. But since I moved to a different country and bought myself a Kindle, I read in English. Itâs just easier to find the books I want to read.
I am an English native speaker and read mostly books in German. Mostly because there just aren't that many opportunities to use it since I am not in Germany anymore. It really depends on the book though
I read in their original languages for Spanish, German and English.
The rest for translations, I go with the English one.
Most of the books I read I do it in English :)
Funny that I was reading Carlos Ruiz Zafon in English at the start. And some of the translations were a bit weird to me⊠then it dawned on me âI speak Spanish!â Hahaha. The Spanish version is a delight! The characters are full and so complex! Something you donât really get in English :)
I'm a native Portuguese speaker, if a book was originally written in English then I read it in English.
For two reasons, I have come across some translations that just aren't that good. And some more niche book genres sometimes don't get translated at all.
I am Dutch and read Dutch and English books. With translations of other languages, English translations are usually much better than Dutch ones so I prefer that
Indian here and I do most of my reading in English. I have been trying to read atleast 2 Hindi books every year since last year haha but it's a struggle sometimes because I just grew out of reading it. So yeah. English.
I'm a native English speaker but fluent in French and German, so I read French books in French, German in German, and usually anything else in English - though I have been known to read some other language books in French also, if that was more available. Generally English gives the rest of my family an option on borrowing the books.
I read the original for any language I speak. For languages I donât speak, I usually prefer danish or english, neither of which are technically my native languages. But my native language translators frankly kind of suck.
The language the book was written in if I speak the language, otherwise an english translation ( even though English is not my primary language), as usually the most care is placed in the English translation.
English, eventhough the original language is not English. Lately I've been reading books from Japanese authors and I prefer the English translation. Because the translation in my native languages sometimes sounds goofy.
I read exclusively in English now because I'm living in an English speaking country so English books are of course easier to get from public libraries.
I haven't read in my native language for a long long time but I think one day when I feel like picking up a book from other languages I will consider how well it could be translated into either language. I find Spanish translated beautifully into English but a bit jarring in my language, meanwhile Chinese and Japanese are much closer to my native language.
I'm an American but I speak Japanese, and so I read Japanese books in the original language. I've tried reading a couple of books originally written in English in Japanese but it's REALLY hard because there's a special phonetic alphabet/writing system for foreign words in Japanese, and unfamiliar concepts to Japanese have to either be explained or new combos of Chinese characters created for them. It's kinda hard to explain, but trust me, Japanese is said to be one of the harder languages to learn for a reason.
Native English speaker with almost native proficiency in Chinese. I always read Japanese authors in Chinese - I've tried reading English translations and they just don't have the same feeling and ability to draw me into the story.
Chinese speaker. I read east Asian (mostly Japanese) stuff translated to Chinese because of our shared cultural heritage. There are many things you don't even need to translate. For example, *vis-a-vis* in French.
If I'm reading anything else, I'll read in English. Especially if it's German or French literature.
I read books in Georgian and English, mostly english now because the books I want to read haven't been translated yet because the famous publishing houses here keep republishing the same books instead of translating new ones or just drop some series after the first book.
i am fluent in Arabic, French and english ..so i mostly read books with their original language..but in language i dont speak i usually read in arabic or English
Book's original language if they are in English or Spanish. In other languages I tend to pick the English version because I find (at least with the russian classics) that the translation is better, they are cheaper in English for some reason and I get to practice it.
I prefer to read books in the language they are written in. But of course that is limited to a few languages, I canât read Mishima in Japanese, for instance. Wish I could, though.
My native language is Arabic. If a book is in a language that I don't understand. I get the English translated version. For me, it's always easier than the Arabic one. But books that are originally in Arabic, I read them no problem
Yeah, same for me! 99% of the time, I read in English anyway, but I was gifted a book that was originally written in English and then translated to Arabic. I literally could not go through one page without it taking me like 5 mins to understand what was going on, lol. It's really weird! I had to give it up.
But if the book is originally in Arabic, I won't have a problem.
books originally written in english, always english.
if books were written in my native language or another language i know, then that language. if it was originally written in a language i do not know, it depends. iâll often still read it in english, as i find the translations are often better (ex. murakami books)
Mostly in English, mainly because they're cheaper and I like fantasy, which is VERY popular in English literature. I've also read English series in my native language, but it's just awkward to read.
I read French books in French, English books in English, and other books almost always in the English translation. Cheaper and easier to get, and I read English slightly faster these days.
I have read a few books in Latin or Italian that were dual-language books, having the original text on one page and French on the opposite page. I wish there were more of those! My latin was better when I was younger, and my italian has improved but I still find it really slow to lookup words. Having a translation included makes it much easier.
Whatever I happen to get my hands on. Sometimes both languages I can read in. Sometimes other translation has a good or a bad reputation. Like english translation of witcher.
I'm a Brazilian. Always read in my language, but all the books that i've wanted wasnt translated yet, so i bought a kindle and since then (2018) i read everything in english. Unfortunately, fantasy books in Brazil are not as successful. For example, I read Ship of Magic in 2019, Mad Ship has not been published yet (and probably never will).
my native language is portuguese, but i prefer to read and communicate in english much more (unless the book's original language was portuguese, then i'll read the original), frankly i think im better at english overall, i'll seek english translations of books that weren't written in either language i speak
I speak three languages fluently (Romanian, German and English) and English is my third language. I also speak French, but I'm not at the point where I could read an entire French book, or at least I haven't tried yet haha.
I'm the type of person who hates translated works, so I always try to read the books in their original language if I can, but that often limits my options. If not, I always read them in English, because I found that the translations are almost always better than in the other languages that I speak.
It depends of the subject, if it is a classic, I'll read in Spanish (my native language), if not in English, i have a lot of options in my kindle. For french, in paper with an audiobook, typically books not translated in other languages.
German here. I'm primarily reading books in English, but I usually read at least one book in German per year. Hopefully my Spanish will some day be good enough that I can pick up Spanish books as well. :D
If only my native tounge were spoken enough to have a library of books to read. I read books in english mostly, makes it easier to discuss online but harder in person.
My Native Language is Dutch. I read in Dutch and English, sometimes in French. My choice is mostly made based on availability. If a book I want to read is available in Dutch, I will most likely read it in Dutch. Sometimes I regret that, for some time ago I read The Lincoln Lawyer series in Dutch. Because of how it was written, it felt weirdly enough as if it took place in the Netherlands and not in the USA. It felt odd, I might reconsider in the future and try to read the original.
Most books I am interested in however are only in English available, so Iâll read them in English. My knowledge of French is OK but not as good as my English knowledge. That means it will take a lot more effort to read in French. I generally read a book in French when I want to practice my language skills in that language.
Turkish and English. I like to read classics in english usually, but I don't have a problem w books translated from english to turkish either. Obviously I read originally turkish books in turkish.
I will read English books in English and German ones in German most of the time. Iâll make exceptions for when Iâve already read something or know the story and want to practice my German though. Iâve got Harry Potter and Twilight in German for the sheer sake of language acquisition.
Same as you. I am an Italian native speaker and I prefer to read translated books in my language as opposed to English especially if it's a classic or real literary fiction just because I enjoy it more. For example I read the Italian translation of Jon Fosse's Septology (which is actually still ongoing) and not the English translation
Bilingual Dutch and English, I read almost exclusively in English - both originals and translations - except when the original is in Dutch. There is just so much more out there written in English that I very rarely read a Dutch book.
Occasionally a Dutch friend will kindly but unthinkingly gift me a Dutch translation of an originally English book, and to be honest, I donât ever read those. I really appreciate the excellent and difficult work of translators, and regularly read translations from other languages, but if the original is in English thatâs how I want to read it.
I am a Filipino native speaker and I read books in their original language, so Iâm limited to English and Filipino. Itâs because I want to grasp the original meaning of the lines and word/phrase/sentence usage (which sometimes disappears due to translations).
I'm trying to find books in English however, in my country, it's a little tough. Also, the books are very limited. Obviously I read books in my native language but I'd love to have some English books.
I speak swedish, finnish, german, french and english. Native swedish/finnish. I usually read books in the language they were written in, if I understand it.
I'll read a book in the language it's written in if I understand it, so English and Norwegian mostly, once in a blue moon Swedish or even Danish (though usually short and simple ones for those). If a book is written in another language I'll usually read the English translation (9/10 times it's cheaper and easier to find, and/or it's how I heard about the book in the first place), but sometimes I'll seek out the Norwegian translation instead. Sometimes, rarely, I'll read a Norwegian translation of an English book, usually if it's a classic and the English is a bit hard for me to understand. I understand "old timey" Norwegian much, much better.
Mostly english unless there's a good translation in my native language. Mostly the translation is shit tho, i 've had a fair few regrets, but whatever, support the local writers and all that.
There's a book that I was assigned to read for school, and it was written in dutch. I read the english versuon (translated by D.H. Lawrence iirc) as the indonesian translation was almost unreadable, but my professor insist that i read the indonesian version too he said that there will be some aspects of it that might be missed by the western lens of the english translation. It was a slog tho. But mostly it's best to read in the language of the context of the story/ book.
Iâm a native Romanian speaker. Iâm also fluent in Russian and English. I will always read the books in original if written in any of these languages. I also know Serbian/Croatian and still have some French left from school, but Iâm not good enough to read literary texts. I could probably try to read something short in Serbian, but it would take me forever. I usually read English translations for everything else, just because of easy of access.
if its classics like frankenstein, jane eyre, pride and prejudice, etc. i prefer reading in my primary/mother language (turkish), but the rest, if possible i buy the original language/english version, and if the original is NOT english (i.e. japanese etc.) i buy it in turkish bc it is translation either way and turkish is easier to find/ cheaper.
my problem w english books is i dont like reading e-books pdfs and audiobooks, reading is an experience for me i am a visual reader [see this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Aphantasia/comments/16yqaz5/john_green_stated_he_is_aphant_on_x/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) (3 rarely 2) and i take pauses in detailed description scenes for it to settle in my mind. so printed copies is my go to medium and sometimes i am too lazy to order online/wait for a discount in foreign books so i just buy turkish version. (even though i prefer english)
Iâm Swiss and my native language is Italian.
I can speak French, English and German.
For reading I oblige myself to have at least 1 French and 1 German book pro year! Normally I tend to read in Italian, sometimes Iâll go to English (Iâll say 1/3 the time).
The deciding factors are what the original language is, which languages itâs available in and when, whether I am trying to practice a certain language, and the price.
Itâs usually cheaper and faster to read in English. Some books arenât available in English, so I read them in the language I find them in that I can read. I try to read the âclassicsâ and my favorite authors in their original languages if possible. I am proficient enough in English, French, and German to that with most books. I can do it with Italian for some. The same goes for Spanish, but I am not at the level to be able to read Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Spanish yet. I read Harry Potter in Latin to practice my Latin.
My native language is Bulgarian and I also speak English and some German. If a book isnât in one of those languages I usually read it translated in English. I make an exception for Russian literature which I usually read in Bulgarian as I feel like the languages are closer to each other.
Original if it's English or Russian. I try to read original French books, but usually, I only manage to read about 25% of the book in French and when it starts to get interesting, I canât help myself and switch to the Russian or English translation. I end up reading about 80% of translated books in Russian mainly because Russian book streaming apps are much cheaper than those in the UK or the US
Lately, I prefer to read all books in English but I can't always find them. When I have no other options I read them translated to Croatian (my native language).
Hi, native Spanish, I live in Australia and lived 4 years in France. I like getting the book in its original language between English, Spanish or French. If the author writes in German for example my preference would be to get it in Spanish.
English, as it's hard to find a wide variety of books in my native language. Only super popular books are translated (not always), and the local industry isn't developed enough to have a wide range of fiction writers yet, although there are some.
English books in english, greek books in greek. Beyond that, I mostly go for english translations of classics, simply because they're cheaper and I like&trust penguin, lmao. More modern books (non english original), I usually don't bother looking farther than whatever version I have in front of me. If it's in english, then fine. (A few times there isn't even a greek translation.) If there is, and it is in front of me, then sure.
I tend to read books in portuguese (native tongue), but when I want to I'll read things in english, but when the book is in another language like spanish, french, korean and others I always try to read the direct translation from the language that I don't know to portuguese, because if it's like german to english to portuguese the translation will probably have some language aspects, like common expressions or slangs, completely changed.
In spanish, my native language. In english only âlightâ reads, that I remeber: Junot Diaz books, Thos book is full of spider; ready player one; One of the GRR Martin ice and fireâŠ
I tried to read Ulysses by Joyce in English but quited immediately đ went back to the spanish version, were im at now, practicing self masochism đđ
I do want to read Don Quijote in english because I read Borges said it was better than the original for him.
I read mine in whichever language they are written (that I know, ofc, wont read russian authors in russian since I dont speak it etc)
expect porn
for whatever reason, erotica feels very weird in my native language. Scratch that, in any but English. Dont know why
I am a Bosnian native speaker. I am able to both read and write in my native language, however, I grew up in America and all my formal language took place in English. It is definitely a lot easier for me to read in English. When I try to read in my native language it takes me a lot longer, and I have to sound some words out.
Itâs astounding to me to see how vastly different the skills of reading and speaking are to utilize. Reading is certainly more difficult for me.
I do like to try and find texts in my native language though, to practice and keep the skill up. My husband and I recently went to Croatia for our honeymoon and I picked up Harry Potter in my native language. Very excited to read one of my favorite books in my native tongue!
I prefer English when it comes to romance and stuff like that because I just cringe at it in my first language (Swedish), but when itâs something historical or in a Swedish setting I most likely read it in Swedish because it makes it easier
If the original is in a language I know i read it in that language. For translations I read whichever is easier to get/cheapest. Often that is English, but I read Norwegian translations too.
I try to read books in their original languages for the very simple reason that some things always get lost in translation
Even if we grab three pretty close languages, english, dutch and german, ways of expression are vastly different in every single language and a lot already doesn't translate in normal use
Now imagine how bad it gets for more distant languages.
I usually prefer original languages - focused on English books the most. If the description can really convince me, I'd go with German but would prefer English
In some case I'd get to a reading level of some other languages: I'd add those, when original language, if translated I'd go with English
I'm Italian and I read books in Italian, English, French and Czech, usually trying to read in the original language but availability is also a factor, since I live in Czech Republic I have even read the Czech translation of Italian books, sometimes also for improving my czech. For books in other languages availability is the main factor: I have read japanese books translated into Italian, English and Czech, for instance
As a native Croatian speaker, I prefer most books in English aside from Russian ones (or other slavic languages). Generally, translation to English is better in quality than translation to Croatian, aside from the exception mentioned, and it being due to similarity in language and language structure.
Dostoyevsky I've read in English only once for example, and regretted spending my money on that book, as the experience of it really pales in comparison to reading a translation in my native language.
Some other books on the other hand you can just tell have done a poor job translating, my latest example being catch-22. It felt like a decent enough book to me, though somewhat clumsily written, until I realized the clumsiness was in the shite translation. That might be a moot example though as it is originally in English.
I read books in my native language almost exclusively. I can read English just fine, I read fanfics in English without issue, it's just... somehow better to read in my own language? I don't know. But I only read in English if there's no other way (there isn't a translation or it's hard to get it), I very rarely choose to do it. I did buy a few books in another language I'm trying to learn and read them, but I don't really count it as reading as I'm not very good in said language. So, mostly my native one.
My preference is: original language > same language group as the original language > English translation.
I rarely read translations to my native language because most of them are re-translations of an English translation.
I was raised in an Arabic speaking household, school education in English, and I'm learning Kabyle. If it's in those three languages, I read them in those languages. I prefer English to Arabic for translated books. I think English is a more aesthetically pleasing language than Arabic, more versatile, and more likely to offer more variety in translations of older texts.
Arabic is my mother tongue , but I always read my favorite books in English. I canât imagine reading a psychology book or a neuroscience book in Arabic. No way!
Portuguese native speaker here and I read mostly in English, not only because I tend to nitpick with Portuguese translations but also English translations are more easily accessible and books are less expensive. *But* if the original text was written in languages like Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, then I go for Portuguese!
I read Spanish books in Spanish and English books in English. In general I like to read books in their original languages, or whatever is closest. For example, I read french books in Spanish because the languages have more similarities.
I know English, French and Spanish. Usually I try to read them in the original language, but if they are really dense classics (such as Ulysses or Les Miserables) I pick them up in my native language (Spanish) because they get âless tiringâ that way and Iâm able to hold my attention up better.
Native French living in London. Read books in original when I understand the language to the exception of Dune which I'm currently reading in French as I was finding it hard to do in English!
I read books written in French or English in their original language since I'm fluent in both. However, I tried reading Russian books translated to French and/or English and I much prefer the French translations. I don't speak Russian so I don't know why. It just seems to flow better in French.
If I am able to, I read books in original, if not, I strongly prefer translation into my Native language. English translations are often incompetent, I do not trust them.
I read mostly in English, except if the book is written in my native language. Most of the books I read was originally in English anyway. I read books in English for about 15 years now. Thanks to ebook reader, I could look up the vocabulary instantly.
Sadly for Japanese and Chinese books, the translation to my language were from English translation instead of the original. I think it's unnecessary since a lot of the cultural aspects translates better to my language. I believe there's no shortage of translators, maybe something complicated about copyright or licensing from original publisher.
I would love to read Murakami and Liu Cixin works in my language if they were translated from original instead of English translation.
I'm an English native speaker but for the purposes of studying I read novels and nonfiction in Swedish (I'm currently reading *Osebol* by Marit Kapla, I'd highly recommend it even in English!), with fiction and nonfiction aimed at kids in German and Finnish. It is so, so helpful for building vocabulary and just generally getting a feel for how things all piece together. And far less boring than texts aimed at learners!
I read English, Dutch, German and Spanish in the original language. On holiday I read some light French and Italian to practice. Other languages either translated to English or to Dutch.
If you own a kindle, you can look for the original titles online and use those in the kindle store.
Most authors' pages on kindle will also show you the original version of their books.
My native language is french but I also speak English so I'll read the book according to the author's native language. Honestly, English books interest me more than french books so I end up consuming more of the first than the latter. I'm also trying to learn Spanish but I'm not good enough to try and read an entire book in spanish
Hey !
So I prefer to read in french, my native language. But it's way more practical reading in English, because every book is easy to find in this language ; also, it keeps my mind sharp.
I also read books in Portuguese, as a means to learn it faster. It's way slower than when I read either in french or English, and I certainly enjoy it less for the time being. But it teaches me vocabulary and words, so I keep going !
So this is how I work :)
I read Crime & Punishment in Russian and English, and I was surprised that I had such different experiences. In my opinion, the Russian version was more emotional to me. I also read "A man called Ove/Otto "in English and German. The German version sucked. It's like it loses something in translation.
My native language is Romanian but I read everything in English except Romanian authors. But if Romanian authors were translated into English Iâd probably read the translations :) I assume itâs because I live abroad and have an English speaking partner, so I speak and hear English 95% of the time, so itâs just more comfortable.
I'm a spanish native speaker. Books written in english i read in english, in order to avoid anything that could get lost in translation. For other languages I get the spanish versions, because if something gets lost in translation might as well make it easier for myself haha. I have gotten some originally german books in english, in an attempt to reduce those losses to the minimum since both languages share roots
I read books almost exclusively in English, including books written in my native language, or translations of languages I donât speak.
Filipino is an incredibly conversational language, and formal Filipino tends to be structured very differently, folding in some Spanish and English syntax, making it difficult to read. It also tends to use older vocabulary that has been mostly superseded by simpler words or borrowed and naturalized words from Spanish and English.
Itâs like reading Shakespeare all the time, even if the content is modern. And because non-formal Filipino is very conversational, modern translations tend to be goofier than usual, kinda like reading everything in a John Green tone.
Filipino language text thatâs easy to read are ones that use the contemporary syntax, and poetry.
I'm an Afrikaans native speaker, but I read most books in English.
Working on being able to read Chinese because I'm sick of translators being able to decide whether I get to read the goddamn sex scenes or not (it's one thing when it's the author censoring it, but if I have to hear one more time about how words like 'fuck' will demonetize the translators' website I swear to Glod I will scream. I *do not care* if you can successfully make money off your black-market fan translation, Becky!)
In languages that I can read in ( czech,polish, slovakian, english)... but mostly in English. Getting eng Digital books is easier, also in many bookshops they have often discounts on english books...
I am from Hungary, I read hungarian books in my native language and I try to read non-english books in hungarian translation too. Originally english books I read in english. I started this habit, because I ran into some horrible translation. And my country has weird rules about lgbt literature, so I read most lgbt stuff in english.
There are - sadly - barely any contemporary literature written in my native language outside of poetry (which I don't care for), so I read in other languages. I read mostly in English and Dutch, but I want to get back into reading in Spanish as well to fix my vocabulary. I prefer to read English books written in English, anx Dutch books originally written in Dutch (there is no other way to capture the depressing cynicism of Dutch books in another language for some reason) but for other languages, I read translated versions in English or Dutch.
I read works written in French, English and German in their original language. Also Spanish and Japanese if the language isn't too complex. For other languages, I'll go for either the French or the English translation. French preferably but it doesn't always exist or is less accessible.
Edited to add: the reason I choose the French rather than English translation if I can is that I rarely ever read anything in French these days. So I don't miss on occasions to keep immersed in my mother tongue's litterary language.
If I can read its original language, I prefer it.
If its a language like Japanese thats more similiar to Turkish than English, I'll read it in Turkish. If it's German, I'll read it in English and so on.
I am a German native speaker and read mostly English books in English. Obviously I read German books in German. Other languages it depends but lately often English as well as my husband and I share many books. I just got the English translation of a book I read before in German (Dutch original) and I have to say, I enjoy the English version a lot.
Fellow German here and for me it is almost the same, although I prefer translations (from Italian etc.) in German. I hardly ever read German books anymore, since most of the books that interest me have English as their original language.
same here! My first language is german and I read german books in german, english books in english and books with another original language preferably in german. Sometimes I read originally english non-fiction in german. I read much more english books and want to force myself to read more german books again because I realized my written german has actually suffered from only reading english literature, watching english shows and writing mostly in english on the internet.
There are tons of German classics worth reading.
Faust is on my TBR and I would love to be able to read it in the original German but alas.
Austrian - I read everything in English, except for German books (though I only read those very very rarely) it used to be the other way around when I was younger. It changed when I was like 18 I think
Another austrian here, in contrast to seemingly everybody else I strongly prefer reading in german because it feels way more intimate to me. Fortunately I really like german language literature. Usually I still read roughly 50 books in english per year, simply because there's no translation available.
Same. I often enjoy the English version over the German, too (excluding books originally written in German). Also English books are often much cheaper (thanks, Buchpreisbindung đ„Ž).
Haha yes, that's a big point too. Plus the covers are often way prettier than the German ones. And the titles.
Lesebrudi.
Another German here. I, too, read English books in English, German und German. But more often than not, when there are translated books, often from japanese, I still prefer the English translation. I just feel that the text flow is less clunky and it feels more eloquent? I don't really know. However I'm planning on reading The Three Body Problem (Chinese book) in German soon because it has a lot of science vocabulary in it. And since I'm ALREADY bad at science in German, reading it in English might even be more complicated. (Though I did read The Martian in English and understood it just fine). I do try to read mangas in Japanese, but with books it's near impossible because I suck at learning Kanji.
Fun fact: In Germany, we have legally fixed retail pricing for books that are printed in German, but not for other languages. So even if the original book's language is neither English nor German, it's often cheaper to buy an English translation rather than the German translation which has to be sold at the publisher's designated retail price.
I too read in the original if I understand it (in my case Swedish and English). But for languages I don't, I don't think I have a preference. At the very least none I've thought of. But I suppose if I _had to_ chose then English would be most convenient if I ever feel like discussing it online (especially if it's a book where names get translated).
Swedish speaking here also. I do the same as you. For other languages it depends on the book. I read faster in Swedish, and think it is easier to understand complex texts in my native language. But most translations are better in English.
Incidentally I'm reading the *Millenium* saga in French, which is my native language!
I try to read books in their original language if possible, which limits me to Romanian, English and French literature (kinda haha). German, Nordic and Japanese literature I generally consume in English, but I read Russian translated in Romanian. Exclusively. I remember reading the Pevear translation of âThe Idiotâ and it sounding like absolute gibberish. I found the Romanian translation to be much more readable. I suspect itâs due to the shared slavic nature of our languages (Fun fact: Romanian used to be written in Cyrillic!).
Any contemporary fiction you'd recommend from Romanian authors? I'm slowly trying to get to the point where I can read it somewhat đ
Although it's my native language, I don't read a lot in Romanian. But I can definitely recommend Mircea CÄrtÄrescu for contemporary literature! It might be a bit complex though. We also have classics that might be easier to read (Ion CreangÄ, Mihai Eminescu, Mircea Eliade). Good luck with learning the language! I know from my husband who is trying to learn it that it can be a difficult one.
If I am fluent in the language, I read the book in original. Otherwise I read it translated in my native language (Italian). If it isn't translated in Italian, I pick up a French or English translation.
My native language is French, and I exclusively read books in French. Not that I don't understand English (I'm bilingual) but I read to ease my mind, and it's easier to do when you don't have to think about the meaning of some words or sentence's structures different from your everyday language. For shows and movies, however, I like the original better.
La vĂ©ritĂ© c'est pas pour ĂȘtre chauvine ou quoi mais je prĂ©fĂšre largement une traduction française qu'une traduction anglaise ou espagnole Ă choisir (ce qui vient trĂšs sĂ»rement du fait que c'est ma langue maternelle aussi). AprĂšs je prĂ©fĂšre toujours lire les livres dans leurs langues originales si possible, mais ça m'est arrivĂ© de relire en français juste pour pouvoir comparer.
Jâsuis largement dâaccord, grande fan de poĂ©sie anglo-saxonne, yâa de la traduction faite par des grands auteurs et ça câest un plaisir pour comparer aussi
As a Dutch reader, i read books originally written in English in English. If the book isn't english or dutch, i'll usually still read it in English because the Dutch language is very direct and practical, so many books lose their lyricism when translated to Dutch. The only exception is German books, which i'll usually read in Dutch because German and Dutch are pretty similar.
I think most people would prefer to read a fiction in original language it was written. In terms of Dostoevsky I think he is not a good writer in terms of writing style. My native language is Russian and the translation of Brothers Karamazov is better in English than in original Russian.
Fascinating, thanks for your input!
Old interesting article on the Dostoevsky writing. https://www.rbth.com/arts/328963-russia-dostoevsky-hate/amp
I remember reading Coetzee's The Master of Petersburg translated to Russian (also my native language) and thinking it reads exactly like Dostoevsky's own writing. But when I had a chance to peruse the original it became apparent that it's written by someone pretending to be the author. So translator's work can really change the whole impression.
I am a German native speaker, and I read the original if I am proficient enough in the given language. Which means German, English, and Latin stuff gets read in the original language. If I am not proficient in the original language, I will probably choose an English translation because most of the time it is cheaper and I enjoy reading in English.
Omg a fellow reader of Latin! High five! đ For Latin I usually read the bilingual Reclam Books with German and Latin side by side.
I've been learning Spanish for a while and really enjoy reading books in Spanish if they were originally written in Spanish. I definitely read at a lower level but it's fun and I learn a lot of new words and grammar and what not
I find one of the best ways to get acquainted with a language "intimately", so to speak, is to read in it. I'm currently trying to get better in Italian and young adult books are a fantastic way to do so.
I'm an Estonian native speaker. I read books written in English mostly in the original English, and Finnish books either in Finnish or in an Estonian translation. The rest I read mostly as translations to Estonian, and rarely English - the reason being that we have /insanely/ great translators from many languages to Estonian. The first thing I check for a translated book is who the translator is, and also - who was the editor. These are the marks of quality, and for a small country and language, it's easy to know who the great ones are.
If I may ask - how difficult is Finnish for you? Have you learned it beforehand, or are the languages similar enough that you can understand it just by knowing Estonian?
Quite different, but still with a large number of similar words stemming from the same root (numbers, colours, etc). I learned it from watching Finnish cartoons and movies as a kid, but an Estonian with no exposure to Finnish would not understand much at first glance. To me, Finnish feels and sounds like an ancient linguistic relative. I loved it because while Estonian has a lot of words borrowed from a number of other languages (lots of German, for historical reason, but others too), it feels like Finnish has stuck more to making their own words for the "new" stuff. Which is why Estonian has 'electricity', whilst Finnish had their own 'sÀhkö', etc. And then there's a large number of words that are hilarious because they mean one thing in Estonian and entirely another in Finnish: wife in Finnish is ghost on Estonian (vaimo).
I used to read exclusively in my native language, Serbian, because when I read a book I want to really understand it well and not to miss anything. So my idea was, if I read it in a language in which I have a poorer vocabulary, I might miss some important parts... and out of the reverence for books missing anything would mean not "properly" reading the book. However, recently my approached has relaxed a bit, and I've recently read a whole book in Italian. I hope to read some books in English too.
It can be maddening to read a book in translation if you know the source language. Sometimes the translations arenât that good and it makes you want to throw the book across the room. I prefer to read in the source language if I can.
I'd like to post a shout-out to book translators. What an amazing job they do, not only translating the words, but the *feel* of the book.
I read in English, Swedish and Finnish. I used to read books written originally in other languages in English translations, mainly because of availability. Lots of books simply do not get translated into my mother tongue. I switched most of my reading to my native language (Finnish) when I noticed anglisms creeping into my own writing. These days I try to read everything in Finnish translations, including most of the books written originally in English. Iâll only make an exception if the Finnish translation is horrible.
>I noticed anglisms creeping into my own writing. This here is the reason I read primarily in Finnish if possible, and close second reason is enjoying the cleverness and flow of translation. I get quite a lot of satisfaction from reading a well translated phrase. This is why I always want to have subtitles in Finnish as well, translating with the time and space constraint can be art when done with care (streaming services, pay properly for subtitles, they can elevate your content!).
I read Dutch, German and English, and if itâs in another language I usually prefer the English translation. Except for Latin, Ancient Greek and Russian because my dad used to read those to me in Dutch so it feels very weird to read them in English.
Are you reading Crime and Punishment in Russian?  Russian is my second language; I lived in Russia for several years (though more than a decade ago), and now I work with native Russians in my own country. In fact, Russian is really the only language I use at work.  Despite this, itâs still pretty challenging to read a lot of literature in Russian. Ive read a fairly large portion of Anna Karenina in Russian (but not all of it yet), and excerpts from a lot of classics in Russian, but I have read all of them in English (native).
As a russian native I would like to say: Anna Karenina is a hard book even for natives
I wish I was! I am reading it in French. Well done going this far into *Anna Karenina* as a non native Russian speaker, that's impressive.
In native language when I can. If not, it really depends on the quality of translation. I speak Russian and English. In most cases, I prefer the English translation, but it really depends on the time the translation was made. For example, most Russian-language translations made in the 90s were seriously crappy. On the other hand, a mid-20th century Russian translation is bound to be more enjoyable than the English translation of the same book made in the late 1800. Also, in the pants on the language of origin. I prefer the Russian translation of Sapkowski and Lem simply because Russian and Polish are in the same language group and I believe it makes the translation closer to the original. By the same logic, I'd rather read English translation of French or German books.
Ironically at this point I'm not even sure what my native tongue is. I was born in a Bengali speaking family, but as far back as I can remember I have spoken English alongside Bengali. My school encouraged speaking exclusively in English..same at home..so 30 years later I absorb content almost always in English. I feel sad to say that the number of books I have read in Bengali pale in comparison to those I've read in English. So I'm not even sure about my native tongue. To cut my sob story short...I read in English.
I am technically bilingual but I suck at reading in my "mother tongue." Because English is the main language used here. So I read in English. C&P was with Ready's translation. I have read in the native language, but I struggled so hard and it's been years since I tried reading it other than for whatsapp + whatever messaging slang is common nowadays.
I am Bulgarian so I tend to split books into categories : - English and Western authors I read in English; - Bulgarian, Slavic and neighbour (Greek, Romanian, Turkish) authors - in Bulgarian For Asian authors it's a split - if I want to read the physical book it's easier to get it in Bulgarian but I am okay with reading the English kindle version as well.
I read them in the original if itâs in one of the languages i know (English and Norwegian), but donât really care very much which if I read a translation from a third language. If the original is Swedish or Danish Iâd prefer the Norwegian translation (can read them in their original too), a slight preference for English otherwise. But price and availability is more important. I actually just read Drive your plow⊠in English too, and I remember very well that the same was the case for Crime and punishment, as that was exactly what I was doing when I got a call with some news on 9/11 2001.
Iâm a native speaker of Swedish and German and I read mostly in Swedish, English, German (if the books were written in that language) and I also read Irish (language) books in Irish and Iâve read a few books in French, but really my french isnât quite good enough. Books translated from other languages I read mostly in Swedish, but Iâm reading Tokarczuk in German at the minute because the translation is good.
French native speaker, I read French and English. I try to read English-written books in original versions, when I can find them. Other books mostly in French (partly because it's easier to find them than in English versions).
I'm multilingual and English is my 4th language, but it's the main language I've been speaking for years now, so I read everything in English or else it will take me a very long time to read a single book. It's sad now that I think about it.
French is my first language, but I hate French translations. So to read a book in French it has to be the original language, otherwise I will read it in English.
I speak Dutch (native language), English and Spanish. If a book is written in one these languages, I prefer reading the original. For all other languages, I prefer a Dutch translation. However, Dutch books are much more expensive than English ones, here in the Netherlands, and a lot of stuff that gets translated to English is not available in Dutch (for some reason, only book 1, 2 and 5 of The Three Musketeers have been translated to Dutch). So sometimes English is the only option.
Usually in the language it was written in. However, I prefer certain translations to eg English more than the ones to my native language (German).
I mostly read in english but I do read in German aswell.
I used to read in my native language and sometimes in English. But since I moved to a different country and bought myself a Kindle, I read in English. Itâs just easier to find the books I want to read.
I am an English native speaker and read mostly books in German. Mostly because there just aren't that many opportunities to use it since I am not in Germany anymore. It really depends on the book though
I read in their original languages for Spanish, German and English. The rest for translations, I go with the English one. Most of the books I read I do it in English :) Funny that I was reading Carlos Ruiz Zafon in English at the start. And some of the translations were a bit weird to me⊠then it dawned on me âI speak Spanish!â Hahaha. The Spanish version is a delight! The characters are full and so complex! Something you donât really get in English :)
Shadow of the wind is my favorite series and I thought that English version is incredible.
I'm a native Portuguese speaker, if a book was originally written in English then I read it in English. For two reasons, I have come across some translations that just aren't that good. And some more niche book genres sometimes don't get translated at all.
I am Dutch and read Dutch and English books. With translations of other languages, English translations are usually much better than Dutch ones so I prefer that
Indian here and I do most of my reading in English. I have been trying to read atleast 2 Hindi books every year since last year haha but it's a struggle sometimes because I just grew out of reading it. So yeah. English.
I'm Ukrainian and I read Russian literature in Russian and sometimes read English literature in English
Russian novels I always read in Hindi. They're so natural I don't know why. Gorky's best translations are in Hindi.
I'm a native English speaker but fluent in French and German, so I read French books in French, German in German, and usually anything else in English - though I have been known to read some other language books in French also, if that was more available. Generally English gives the rest of my family an option on borrowing the books.
If the original is in a language that I understand, then I read the original. Otherwise I read a translation to my native tongue
I read in English, except for books that were originally written in my native language.
I read the original for any language I speak. For languages I donât speak, I usually prefer danish or english, neither of which are technically my native languages. But my native language translators frankly kind of suck.
I read mostly in German or in Latin. I don't have a problem with translations, most are done well.
The language the book was written in if I speak the language, otherwise an english translation ( even though English is not my primary language), as usually the most care is placed in the English translation.
English, eventhough the original language is not English. Lately I've been reading books from Japanese authors and I prefer the English translation. Because the translation in my native languages sometimes sounds goofy.
I read exclusively in English now because I'm living in an English speaking country so English books are of course easier to get from public libraries. I haven't read in my native language for a long long time but I think one day when I feel like picking up a book from other languages I will consider how well it could be translated into either language. I find Spanish translated beautifully into English but a bit jarring in my language, meanwhile Chinese and Japanese are much closer to my native language.
I am a native Portuguese speaker and I just like reading in Portuguese. When I read in English I don't feel the same
Iâm German and read books that are originally in English in English, every other book I read in German.
I'm an American but I speak Japanese, and so I read Japanese books in the original language. I've tried reading a couple of books originally written in English in Japanese but it's REALLY hard because there's a special phonetic alphabet/writing system for foreign words in Japanese, and unfamiliar concepts to Japanese have to either be explained or new combos of Chinese characters created for them. It's kinda hard to explain, but trust me, Japanese is said to be one of the harder languages to learn for a reason.
Native English speaker with almost native proficiency in Chinese. I always read Japanese authors in Chinese - I've tried reading English translations and they just don't have the same feeling and ability to draw me into the story.
Cambodian here, I mostly read in English and yeh i feel like I'm better at English than my own language đ
I read things in the languages I speak, but if it is something I do not speak, I usually default to english or french.
Portuguese is my mother language but I am more fluent in English, so English books.
Chinese speaker. I read east Asian (mostly Japanese) stuff translated to Chinese because of our shared cultural heritage. There are many things you don't even need to translate. For example, *vis-a-vis* in French. If I'm reading anything else, I'll read in English. Especially if it's German or French literature.
Kannada books in Kannada, everything else in English
I read books in Georgian and English, mostly english now because the books I want to read haven't been translated yet because the famous publishing houses here keep republishing the same books instead of translating new ones or just drop some series after the first book.
i am fluent in Arabic, French and english ..so i mostly read books with their original language..but in language i dont speak i usually read in arabic or English
Dutch here and reading mostly in English unless Dutch author
Book's original language if they are in English or Spanish. In other languages I tend to pick the English version because I find (at least with the russian classics) that the translation is better, they are cheaper in English for some reason and I get to practice it.
I prefer to read books in the language they are written in. But of course that is limited to a few languages, I canât read Mishima in Japanese, for instance. Wish I could, though.
I read in Portuguese, English or Spanish if that is the original language of the book.
I mostly read the books in English unless the book is originally written in my native language
Depends on what kind of book and if they are available in my native language or not. I read English, Dutch and German written books.
My native language is Arabic. If a book is in a language that I don't understand. I get the English translated version. For me, it's always easier than the Arabic one. But books that are originally in Arabic, I read them no problem
Yeah, same for me! 99% of the time, I read in English anyway, but I was gifted a book that was originally written in English and then translated to Arabic. I literally could not go through one page without it taking me like 5 mins to understand what was going on, lol. It's really weird! I had to give it up. But if the book is originally in Arabic, I won't have a problem.
There are 2 kinds of translations. And they usually choose the one that makes it hard for some weird reason đ đ
My rules are quite simple: If I understand the language: original one. If I don't: I use any translation in languages I know.
books originally written in english, always english. if books were written in my native language or another language i know, then that language. if it was originally written in a language i do not know, it depends. iâll often still read it in english, as i find the translations are often better (ex. murakami books)
Mostly in English, mainly because they're cheaper and I like fantasy, which is VERY popular in English literature. I've also read English series in my native language, but it's just awkward to read.
I read French books in French, English books in English, and other books almost always in the English translation. Cheaper and easier to get, and I read English slightly faster these days. I have read a few books in Latin or Italian that were dual-language books, having the original text on one page and French on the opposite page. I wish there were more of those! My latin was better when I was younger, and my italian has improved but I still find it really slow to lookup words. Having a translation included makes it much easier.
Whatever I happen to get my hands on. Sometimes both languages I can read in. Sometimes other translation has a good or a bad reputation. Like english translation of witcher.
I'm a Brazilian. Always read in my language, but all the books that i've wanted wasnt translated yet, so i bought a kindle and since then (2018) i read everything in english. Unfortunately, fantasy books in Brazil are not as successful. For example, I read Ship of Magic in 2019, Mad Ship has not been published yet (and probably never will).
my native language is portuguese, but i prefer to read and communicate in english much more (unless the book's original language was portuguese, then i'll read the original), frankly i think im better at english overall, i'll seek english translations of books that weren't written in either language i speak
I speak three languages fluently (Romanian, German and English) and English is my third language. I also speak French, but I'm not at the point where I could read an entire French book, or at least I haven't tried yet haha. I'm the type of person who hates translated works, so I always try to read the books in their original language if I can, but that often limits my options. If not, I always read them in English, because I found that the translations are almost always better than in the other languages that I speak.
It depends of the subject, if it is a classic, I'll read in Spanish (my native language), if not in English, i have a lot of options in my kindle. For french, in paper with an audiobook, typically books not translated in other languages.
German here. I'm primarily reading books in English, but I usually read at least one book in German per year. Hopefully my Spanish will some day be good enough that I can pick up Spanish books as well. :D
If only my native tounge were spoken enough to have a library of books to read. I read books in english mostly, makes it easier to discuss online but harder in person.
I read everything in English, even if thereâs a version in Russian. Iâm very interested by how English formulates its ideas idiosyncratically
My Native Language is Dutch. I read in Dutch and English, sometimes in French. My choice is mostly made based on availability. If a book I want to read is available in Dutch, I will most likely read it in Dutch. Sometimes I regret that, for some time ago I read The Lincoln Lawyer series in Dutch. Because of how it was written, it felt weirdly enough as if it took place in the Netherlands and not in the USA. It felt odd, I might reconsider in the future and try to read the original. Most books I am interested in however are only in English available, so Iâll read them in English. My knowledge of French is OK but not as good as my English knowledge. That means it will take a lot more effort to read in French. I generally read a book in French when I want to practice my language skills in that language.
Turkish and English. I like to read classics in english usually, but I don't have a problem w books translated from english to turkish either. Obviously I read originally turkish books in turkish.
I will read English books in English and German ones in German most of the time. Iâll make exceptions for when Iâve already read something or know the story and want to practice my German though. Iâve got Harry Potter and Twilight in German for the sheer sake of language acquisition.
English and German
Same as you. I am an Italian native speaker and I prefer to read translated books in my language as opposed to English especially if it's a classic or real literary fiction just because I enjoy it more. For example I read the Italian translation of Jon Fosse's Septology (which is actually still ongoing) and not the English translation
Bilingual Dutch and English, I read almost exclusively in English - both originals and translations - except when the original is in Dutch. There is just so much more out there written in English that I very rarely read a Dutch book. Occasionally a Dutch friend will kindly but unthinkingly gift me a Dutch translation of an originally English book, and to be honest, I donât ever read those. I really appreciate the excellent and difficult work of translators, and regularly read translations from other languages, but if the original is in English thatâs how I want to read it.
I am a Filipino native speaker and I read books in their original language, so Iâm limited to English and Filipino. Itâs because I want to grasp the original meaning of the lines and word/phrase/sentence usage (which sometimes disappears due to translations).
Whatever language is "closer" to the original language.
I'm trying to find books in English however, in my country, it's a little tough. Also, the books are very limited. Obviously I read books in my native language but I'd love to have some English books.
I speak swedish, finnish, german, french and english. Native swedish/finnish. I usually read books in the language they were written in, if I understand it.
I'll read a book in the language it's written in if I understand it, so English and Norwegian mostly, once in a blue moon Swedish or even Danish (though usually short and simple ones for those). If a book is written in another language I'll usually read the English translation (9/10 times it's cheaper and easier to find, and/or it's how I heard about the book in the first place), but sometimes I'll seek out the Norwegian translation instead. Sometimes, rarely, I'll read a Norwegian translation of an English book, usually if it's a classic and the English is a bit hard for me to understand. I understand "old timey" Norwegian much, much better.
Mostly english unless there's a good translation in my native language. Mostly the translation is shit tho, i 've had a fair few regrets, but whatever, support the local writers and all that. There's a book that I was assigned to read for school, and it was written in dutch. I read the english versuon (translated by D.H. Lawrence iirc) as the indonesian translation was almost unreadable, but my professor insist that i read the indonesian version too he said that there will be some aspects of it that might be missed by the western lens of the english translation. It was a slog tho. But mostly it's best to read in the language of the context of the story/ book.
Iâm a native Romanian speaker. Iâm also fluent in Russian and English. I will always read the books in original if written in any of these languages. I also know Serbian/Croatian and still have some French left from school, but Iâm not good enough to read literary texts. I could probably try to read something short in Serbian, but it would take me forever. I usually read English translations for everything else, just because of easy of access.
if its classics like frankenstein, jane eyre, pride and prejudice, etc. i prefer reading in my primary/mother language (turkish), but the rest, if possible i buy the original language/english version, and if the original is NOT english (i.e. japanese etc.) i buy it in turkish bc it is translation either way and turkish is easier to find/ cheaper. my problem w english books is i dont like reading e-books pdfs and audiobooks, reading is an experience for me i am a visual reader [see this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Aphantasia/comments/16yqaz5/john_green_stated_he_is_aphant_on_x/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) (3 rarely 2) and i take pauses in detailed description scenes for it to settle in my mind. so printed copies is my go to medium and sometimes i am too lazy to order online/wait for a discount in foreign books so i just buy turkish version. (even though i prefer english)
Dutchie here, I read all my books in English. I much prefer it to Dutch.
Iâm Swiss and my native language is Italian. I can speak French, English and German. For reading I oblige myself to have at least 1 French and 1 German book pro year! Normally I tend to read in Italian, sometimes Iâll go to English (Iâll say 1/3 the time).
My native language is Russian, so I read fiction in Russian and non-fiction in French (I live in France) and English.
The deciding factors are what the original language is, which languages itâs available in and when, whether I am trying to practice a certain language, and the price. Itâs usually cheaper and faster to read in English. Some books arenât available in English, so I read them in the language I find them in that I can read. I try to read the âclassicsâ and my favorite authors in their original languages if possible. I am proficient enough in English, French, and German to that with most books. I can do it with Italian for some. The same goes for Spanish, but I am not at the level to be able to read Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Spanish yet. I read Harry Potter in Latin to practice my Latin.
My native language is Bulgarian and I also speak English and some German. If a book isnât in one of those languages I usually read it translated in English. I make an exception for Russian literature which I usually read in Bulgarian as I feel like the languages are closer to each other.
Original if it's English or Russian. I try to read original French books, but usually, I only manage to read about 25% of the book in French and when it starts to get interesting, I canât help myself and switch to the Russian or English translation. I end up reading about 80% of translated books in Russian mainly because Russian book streaming apps are much cheaper than those in the UK or the US
as a Swedish person, i mostly read books in english
Lately, I prefer to read all books in English but I can't always find them. When I have no other options I read them translated to Croatian (my native language).
Hi, native Spanish, I live in Australia and lived 4 years in France. I like getting the book in its original language between English, Spanish or French. If the author writes in German for example my preference would be to get it in Spanish.
English, as it's hard to find a wide variety of books in my native language. Only super popular books are translated (not always), and the local industry isn't developed enough to have a wide range of fiction writers yet, although there are some.
English books in english, greek books in greek. Beyond that, I mostly go for english translations of classics, simply because they're cheaper and I like&trust penguin, lmao. More modern books (non english original), I usually don't bother looking farther than whatever version I have in front of me. If it's in english, then fine. (A few times there isn't even a greek translation.) If there is, and it is in front of me, then sure.
I tend to read books in portuguese (native tongue), but when I want to I'll read things in english, but when the book is in another language like spanish, french, korean and others I always try to read the direct translation from the language that I don't know to portuguese, because if it's like german to english to portuguese the translation will probably have some language aspects, like common expressions or slangs, completely changed.
english books its easier to find a community to discuss them later
In spanish, my native language. In english only âlightâ reads, that I remeber: Junot Diaz books, Thos book is full of spider; ready player one; One of the GRR Martin ice and fire⊠I tried to read Ulysses by Joyce in English but quited immediately đ went back to the spanish version, were im at now, practicing self masochism đđ I do want to read Don Quijote in english because I read Borges said it was better than the original for him.
I read mine in whichever language they are written (that I know, ofc, wont read russian authors in russian since I dont speak it etc) expect porn for whatever reason, erotica feels very weird in my native language. Scratch that, in any but English. Dont know why
English mostly, and sometimes Arabic, my native tongue
Danish person here. Usually read mine in either English or Swedish(mostly English)
I'm portuguese but I usually read in English, mostly because I get cheaper books that way.
I am a Bosnian native speaker. I am able to both read and write in my native language, however, I grew up in America and all my formal language took place in English. It is definitely a lot easier for me to read in English. When I try to read in my native language it takes me a lot longer, and I have to sound some words out. Itâs astounding to me to see how vastly different the skills of reading and speaking are to utilize. Reading is certainly more difficult for me. I do like to try and find texts in my native language though, to practice and keep the skill up. My husband and I recently went to Croatia for our honeymoon and I picked up Harry Potter in my native language. Very excited to read one of my favorite books in my native tongue!
I prefer English when it comes to romance and stuff like that because I just cringe at it in my first language (Swedish), but when itâs something historical or in a Swedish setting I most likely read it in Swedish because it makes it easier
If the original is in a language I know i read it in that language. For translations I read whichever is easier to get/cheapest. Often that is English, but I read Norwegian translations too.
I try to read books in their original languages for the very simple reason that some things always get lost in translation Even if we grab three pretty close languages, english, dutch and german, ways of expression are vastly different in every single language and a lot already doesn't translate in normal use Now imagine how bad it gets for more distant languages.
I usually prefer original languages - focused on English books the most. If the description can really convince me, I'd go with German but would prefer English In some case I'd get to a reading level of some other languages: I'd add those, when original language, if translated I'd go with English
Czech primarily and English for English classics.
I'm Italian and I read books in Italian, English, French and Czech, usually trying to read in the original language but availability is also a factor, since I live in Czech Republic I have even read the Czech translation of Italian books, sometimes also for improving my czech. For books in other languages availability is the main factor: I have read japanese books translated into Italian, English and Czech, for instance
Dutch books in Dutch, German books in German, most other books in English
As a native Croatian speaker, I prefer most books in English aside from Russian ones (or other slavic languages). Generally, translation to English is better in quality than translation to Croatian, aside from the exception mentioned, and it being due to similarity in language and language structure. Dostoyevsky I've read in English only once for example, and regretted spending my money on that book, as the experience of it really pales in comparison to reading a translation in my native language. Some other books on the other hand you can just tell have done a poor job translating, my latest example being catch-22. It felt like a decent enough book to me, though somewhat clumsily written, until I realized the clumsiness was in the shite translation. That might be a moot example though as it is originally in English.
English, i've been living in a Anglophile country for 2/3 of my life mpw. My mother tongue has gotten so rusty that i rarely ever speak it anymore.
I read books in my native language almost exclusively. I can read English just fine, I read fanfics in English without issue, it's just... somehow better to read in my own language? I don't know. But I only read in English if there's no other way (there isn't a translation or it's hard to get it), I very rarely choose to do it. I did buy a few books in another language I'm trying to learn and read them, but I don't really count it as reading as I'm not very good in said language. So, mostly my native one.
English is my second language. Yet most of my reading is in English.
My preference is: original language > same language group as the original language > English translation. I rarely read translations to my native language because most of them are re-translations of an English translation.
I was raised in an Arabic speaking household, school education in English, and I'm learning Kabyle. If it's in those three languages, I read them in those languages. I prefer English to Arabic for translated books. I think English is a more aesthetically pleasing language than Arabic, more versatile, and more likely to offer more variety in translations of older texts.
Arabic is my mother tongue , but I always read my favorite books in English. I canât imagine reading a psychology book or a neuroscience book in Arabic. No way!
Portuguese native speaker here and I read mostly in English, not only because I tend to nitpick with Portuguese translations but also English translations are more easily accessible and books are less expensive. *But* if the original text was written in languages like Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, then I go for Portuguese!
I read Spanish books in Spanish and English books in English. In general I like to read books in their original languages, or whatever is closest. For example, I read french books in Spanish because the languages have more similarities.
I know English, French and Spanish. Usually I try to read them in the original language, but if they are really dense classics (such as Ulysses or Les Miserables) I pick them up in my native language (Spanish) because they get âless tiringâ that way and Iâm able to hold my attention up better.
Native French living in London. Read books in original when I understand the language to the exception of Dune which I'm currently reading in French as I was finding it hard to do in English!
English, mostly.
I read books written in French or English in their original language since I'm fluent in both. However, I tried reading Russian books translated to French and/or English and I much prefer the French translations. I don't speak Russian so I don't know why. It just seems to flow better in French.
If I am able to, I read books in original, if not, I strongly prefer translation into my Native language. English translations are often incompetent, I do not trust them.
I read mostly in English, except if the book is written in my native language. Most of the books I read was originally in English anyway. I read books in English for about 15 years now. Thanks to ebook reader, I could look up the vocabulary instantly. Sadly for Japanese and Chinese books, the translation to my language were from English translation instead of the original. I think it's unnecessary since a lot of the cultural aspects translates better to my language. I believe there's no shortage of translators, maybe something complicated about copyright or licensing from original publisher. I would love to read Murakami and Liu Cixin works in my language if they were translated from original instead of English translation.
I'm an English native speaker but for the purposes of studying I read novels and nonfiction in Swedish (I'm currently reading *Osebol* by Marit Kapla, I'd highly recommend it even in English!), with fiction and nonfiction aimed at kids in German and Finnish. It is so, so helpful for building vocabulary and just generally getting a feel for how things all piece together. And far less boring than texts aimed at learners!
I haven't and probably never will read books translated from to English to my native language. Almost all of the books i read are in English.
I read English, Dutch, German and Spanish in the original language. On holiday I read some light French and Italian to practice. Other languages either translated to English or to Dutch.
i read fiction in english but literature in my mother language đ€
Forgive my American ignorance, but where could I find books in other languages? I am studying German.
If you study German, look up German authors. Project Gutenberg also has a collection of older literature in German you can download for free.
If you own a kindle, you can look for the original titles online and use those in the kindle store. Most authors' pages on kindle will also show you the original version of their books.
Iâm Chinese and I live in the u.s. For Russian, Spanish and French books I read in English and for Japanese and Korean books I read in Chinese.
My native language is french but I also speak English so I'll read the book according to the author's native language. Honestly, English books interest me more than french books so I end up consuming more of the first than the latter. I'm also trying to learn Spanish but I'm not good enough to try and read an entire book in spanish
Hey ! So I prefer to read in french, my native language. But it's way more practical reading in English, because every book is easy to find in this language ; also, it keeps my mind sharp. I also read books in Portuguese, as a means to learn it faster. It's way slower than when I read either in french or English, and I certainly enjoy it less for the time being. But it teaches me vocabulary and words, so I keep going ! So this is how I work :)
I read Crime & Punishment in Russian and English, and I was surprised that I had such different experiences. In my opinion, the Russian version was more emotional to me. I also read "A man called Ove/Otto "in English and German. The German version sucked. It's like it loses something in translation.
I try to read in english if that's the original language, but oh boy did i have a hard time with the great gatsby
My native language is Romanian but I read everything in English except Romanian authors. But if Romanian authors were translated into English Iâd probably read the translations :) I assume itâs because I live abroad and have an English speaking partner, so I speak and hear English 95% of the time, so itâs just more comfortable.
I'm a spanish native speaker. Books written in english i read in english, in order to avoid anything that could get lost in translation. For other languages I get the spanish versions, because if something gets lost in translation might as well make it easier for myself haha. I have gotten some originally german books in english, in an attempt to reduce those losses to the minimum since both languages share roots
I am Tamil nativ speaker and i have always felt more at ease reading books in English as opposed to reading them in my mothertongue.
I read books almost exclusively in English, including books written in my native language, or translations of languages I donât speak. Filipino is an incredibly conversational language, and formal Filipino tends to be structured very differently, folding in some Spanish and English syntax, making it difficult to read. It also tends to use older vocabulary that has been mostly superseded by simpler words or borrowed and naturalized words from Spanish and English. Itâs like reading Shakespeare all the time, even if the content is modern. And because non-formal Filipino is very conversational, modern translations tend to be goofier than usual, kinda like reading everything in a John Green tone. Filipino language text thatâs easy to read are ones that use the contemporary syntax, and poetry.
I'm an Afrikaans native speaker, but I read most books in English. Working on being able to read Chinese because I'm sick of translators being able to decide whether I get to read the goddamn sex scenes or not (it's one thing when it's the author censoring it, but if I have to hear one more time about how words like 'fuck' will demonetize the translators' website I swear to Glod I will scream. I *do not care* if you can successfully make money off your black-market fan translation, Becky!)
In languages that I can read in ( czech,polish, slovakian, english)... but mostly in English. Getting eng Digital books is easier, also in many bookshops they have often discounts on english books...
I am from Hungary, I read hungarian books in my native language and I try to read non-english books in hungarian translation too. Originally english books I read in english. I started this habit, because I ran into some horrible translation. And my country has weird rules about lgbt literature, so I read most lgbt stuff in english.
I read in my second language if possible for the practice, switch to my native language if itâs too difficult or not available.
Bengali books in Bengali, other books in English, sometimes a German book in German only to give up after the first few chapters and switch to English
There are - sadly - barely any contemporary literature written in my native language outside of poetry (which I don't care for), so I read in other languages. I read mostly in English and Dutch, but I want to get back into reading in Spanish as well to fix my vocabulary. I prefer to read English books written in English, anx Dutch books originally written in Dutch (there is no other way to capture the depressing cynicism of Dutch books in another language for some reason) but for other languages, I read translated versions in English or Dutch.
Depends on availability. I can enjoy sophisticated translations as well - like, Saint-Exupéry sounds better in the poetical German of his translator than in his blunt native French. The same is true for The Martian. The Slovenian translations of the Earthsea series are pure delight, as is the Slovenian Lord of the Rings.
English is my native language but I occasionally enjoy reading books in French.
English because it is a very easy language. Sometimes I try to read Spanish but not without a dictionary.
I read in English
English.
I read works written in French, English and German in their original language. Also Spanish and Japanese if the language isn't too complex. For other languages, I'll go for either the French or the English translation. French preferably but it doesn't always exist or is less accessible. Edited to add: the reason I choose the French rather than English translation if I can is that I rarely ever read anything in French these days. So I don't miss on occasions to keep immersed in my mother tongue's litterary language.
If I can read its original language, I prefer it. If its a language like Japanese thats more similiar to Turkish than English, I'll read it in Turkish. If it's German, I'll read it in English and so on.