My library of books, though small, is one of my most treasured possessions. My even smaller collection of books in foreign languages is the crown jewel within that treasure. Literature is something I have felt a strong connection to, and it has been one of the main vehicles in my life for cultural interests and sensibilities. To say that literature has played a big part in my life would be a gross understatement.
Because of this, when I began my language learning journey I wanted very much to be able to consume the literature of the languages I learn. This turned out to be much more challenging than I thought it would be... I still have not read Les Miserables or Les Trois Mousquetaires in French, though I have read Le Petit Prince which is a great book, and easy to read. Nevertheless, I still feel that using literature in language learning can be a great way to learn. Not only are you connecting with the culture of the language, and (Generally) interacting with high-quality examples of the language. Reading stories is also (for me) really enjoyable.
I outline some books in another post I made a while back. Find that here.
Right now I am reading the first Harry Potter book in Norwegian, "Harry Potter og De Vises Stein". Harry Potter is a great series for language-lovers to pick up. I have the first two books in French and the first in Norwegian. It's a series that starts off at a relatively easy level, both in terms of language and dramatic content; the books age with the reader. In other words, the first few books are more targeted at a younger audience while the later books grow dark and aim at an older audience (As a writer of fiction I think this is brilliant!)
The series has also been translated into just about every language you can think of, so you can use them no matter what language you are learning. Additionally, most people know the story, so there are a lot of landmarks you can use to guide your way through the story even if you don't understand much of what you read.
I have been using the book in conjunction with my new language journal. I have also used the audio-book version, so It's an opportunity for me to try two new learning strategies. So here is what I do.
Usually, I read the book without the audiobook. I noticed when I was reading the book in French that if I just read the book I comprehend more of the story but less of the individual words. If I read along with the audiobook I could catch every single word in the story but I comprehended less of the story.
With Norwegian that does not seem to be the case. My guess is that this happens because my Norwegian level is not nearly as high as my French.
So today I read along on my kindle while the audiobook played on my phone. I wasn't too worried that I couldn't understand much of the text, though I was hearing every word. When I heard or saw a word or phrase that was interesting to me, I would pause and write it in my journal. Here are some examples of what that looked like.
Slengkapper - Cape - Folk i slengkapper
People in capes
Dette var sikkert - This was probably - Dette var sikkert bare ends en tåpelig motegrille. This was probably just a silly fashion trend.
So here, with the sentence "This was probably just a silly fashion trend" I had a lot of trouble finding a definition for the word "Motegrille". I even heard when I asked about it on Twitter that it isn't a real Norwegian word but the translators struggled with some of the potter-specific words. So initially my translation of "Motegrille = Fashion trend" was based on context clues. I thought the word might also mean a "fad". After a bit more research I found "Motegrille" defined on Linq as "fashion trend", and given the word "Mote" can mean fashion, I think "Fashion trend" is a good guess despite the fact I cannot find it in any online dictionaries. When you are reading a book in your target language context clues are huge, pay attention to the context of the sentence if there is a word you are trying to figure out. Also, if you are reading genre fiction, Fantasy especially, realize that there are likely to be words that the author made up for the story so those may be hard to find in dictionaries.
Forbi - Past - Han så ikke uglene som seilte forbi midt på lise dagen.
Han så ikke uglene som seilte forbi midt på lyse
-He- -saw- -not- -the owls- -which- -sailed- -past- -middle- -on- -bright-
dagen.
-day-
He didn't see the owls which sailed past in the middle of the bright day.
This sentence seemed interesting to me because I forgot what "uglene" meant, and then I noticed the word "Forbi" which I remembered seeing in Duolingo lessons but could not remember what it meant. I thought it might have been a conjunction, (but, and, which, or, for, etc.) and I try to learn and remember those because they help a lot. But it turned out to be a Preposition, which is also important. So I broke the sentence down and translated it both literally and by meaning. At this point, I want to say that doing this as I am listening and reading takes a lot of time. I only read a few pages today, but the amount I learned both in terms of grammar and vocabulary make up for it I think. Writing it down in my journal and again here will solidify these phrases in my mind. However, sometimes I don't have the patience or the time to do all this. In these cases I will just push through, highlighting words or phrases in my kindle to look at later when I have more time.
The next sentence I put down in my journal stood out to me at first because of an interesting word I had never seen, and then because of the word order.
Forbifarten - Passing - I forbifarten glante han sint på dem.
I forbifarten glante han sint på dem.
-in- -passing- -glared- -he- -angry- -at- -them-
In Passing he glared angrily at them.
After a while I stumbled on a phrase which I have thought about for the rest of the night. This sentence is interesting for several reasons, not only because of the phrase I will talk about afterwards but because it has a verb tense (Pluperfect) which gives me headaches in French, but here it works about like it does in English.
Fra Dumling hadde hatt en hyggelig og helt normal dag.
Fra Dumling hadde hatt en hyggelig og helt normal dag.
-Mrs. Dudley- -had- -had- -a- -nice- -and- -completely- -normal- -day-
(Hero)
Mrs, Dudley had had a nice and perfectly normal day.
Notice "Hadde Hatt". That is the Pluperfect tense, "Had had". I
n French this phrase would be something like "Mme Dudley a eu une journeé parfaitment normale."
This isn't a tense you typically use in every day speech, in fact I have been told more than once for French that it's the kind of thing you learn and then muddle your way through it when you need to because you never really use it. And think about how you muddle through it in English... It's not a particularly common phrase "She had had a completely normal day". Usually you'd just say "She had a normal day." When we use this verb tense in English it's to contrast what is about to happen, and this is the case in Harry Potter too. When you say this in English you typically have to emphisize one had over the other to make it sound like you meant to use the word "had" twice in a row. "She HAD had a good day, but then her dog decided to be a ninja." It's s similar thing to when you realize you have to say "I DO do that." and before you even finish the sentence you can hear your friends snorting with laughter.
Well in Norwegian this phrase seems to work a bit better than in English. There is no need to emphisize one "had" over the other because they are different.
Let's look at the word "Helt".
This word was a bit tricky because every time I put it into a dictionary I got the word "Hero". So, what... Mrs. Dudley had had a heroically normal day? That is a pretty amusing visual, and those are the kinds of images humorists like to contrast something normal with something abnormal. Use an adjective in association with something that doesn't normally get connected with it. Douglas Adams uses this masterfully in the Hitchiker's Guide to the Universe.
"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that briks don't. "
However with more research I found that the word "helt" can be used either as a noun or an adjective. When an adjective "helt" means: completely, perfectly. So "completely", or "perfectly" I think is a better translation for "helt" in this case, though I still like the idea of having a heroically normal day.
I highly recomend the use of fiction in your language studies. It can be quite effective for both learning grammar and vocabulary, and it is much more fun than a textbook. My only caution here is that if you pick literature that is too advanced too early it can be pretty discouraging. My advice is to do your research. Find out what young readers who ar enative speakers are reading. Google "YA fiction in ___________" fill in your target language and go. The Young adult genre has grown huge in the past few decades, and YA novels are great for learners because they typically keep the language simple, many of them are in 1st person point of view, and they tend to keep the themes and lessons relevent to young people; so you won't get too much advanced political theories or philosophy. I believe that adding Fiction to your toolbox can greatly enhance your language acquisition and your connection to the language and culture you are studying. So go for it! Get yourself some novels in your target language! Look at your local library, they might surprise you. If they don't have any books in your target language they are often willing to purchase some to help out an interested person, so don't be afraid to ask!