VS
VS
I’ve been
thinking of writing a post about reading in a foreign language for a while.
I’ve been asked often why I read mostly (if not only) in English. For those of
you who don’t know, I grew up in a French environment, and I only learned English
in my teens. People don’t always understand why I chose to read in English,
when I could easily read the French translation.
To me, reading
in English comes mostly from the way I was raised. My parents watch mostly
movies and TV series in English, so do my sister. Since I started understanding
English, I’ve always chosen the original version over the dubbed version. Maybe
it was because the original version always is out earlier than the translation
(for TV). Mostly, it’s because the translation always sounds wrong to my ears.
I got used to listen to the voices of the actors, their real voices. I can’t
stand to hear their French equivalent, since it sounds so wrong.
Now, when it
comes to books, I can think of many reasons why I pick English over French.
First, the books usually come out earlier. It was the main reason why I bought
the first book in English (that I’ve read for pleasure, of course. I had to
read a few in English classes before that…), which was Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows. With that book, I think I realized I could read in English as
easily as I can read in French (I read Deathly Hallows in one day… even though
I was working half of the day…) The second reason is that I read mostly Young
Adult, and I’m always disappointed in the selection we have. There are not as
many books in French, or so it seems. Many of my favorite books aren’t
available in French. It sucks right?
Yet, I don’t
think it’s why I keep reading mostly in English. I want to read the real voice
of the author. I don’t want to read the interpretation of the translator. I get
that they are usually pretty accurate, but some expressions aren’t easily
translated. I just don’t want to miss those choices. I want the author’s words,
not someone else’s. I read in
French when the authors wrote it in French first (Amelie Nothomb, Patrick
Senecal…) and I would read in German if I could get my hands on the German
versions of some books (like Ruby Red. I tried to find it in German, but I
couldn’t find it anywhere in Montreal).
Reading in
English made me fall in love with the language in a strange way. I now study in
English. I don’t think I could go back to reading translation. Reading in
English now feels more natural to me.
Any of you read
in any other languages? Why? Do you think you could read in any other languages?
