[Egwene]

Charlie Nom, on 20 August 2015 - 08:57 PM, said:

lol, that flatters me, but google translator helps me (and google images)(I didnt know how to say "flatter"), and as you prob know its different to read/write here on the internet and then read something like Malazan. Ive read a sample of MoI in English and though Ive read it before, I still had to read some sentences few times before I understood it. And still too many words and phrases I dont understand. My English is not that good anyway, Im just heading to 2nd year of high school.

Go for a Malazan re-read in English - you'll be amazed how quickly it all makes sense when you read a book which you like and know. The Malazan series is even better second time round as everyone who has re-read will tell you!

Enjoy whatever you decide to read next

[Gorefest]

worry, on 21 August 2015 - 01:38 AM, said:

Panda Sword, Panda Mage, and Panda Devastator is a pretty good trilogy set in the Panda World.

My favourite was Panda Mic. Not part of the original trilogy, granted, but it follows one of the bit characters of the main arc (Micodimus) in his quest to avoid mass extinction through deforestation-induced blackspot virus by bamboozling the woodcutter gnomes.

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 21 August 2015 - 11:03 AM

[Itwæs Nom]

Thats a good idea Egwene, that should be good, but I want to read something new now, and anyway I think I dont want to spend all my money for English versions of books I have (if anyone from Europe wanted Czech version I would change it for English).

Sorry worry, but I hate humanoidish interpratations of Pandas. And you.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Charlie Nom, on 21 August 2015 - 11:22 AM, said:

Sorry worry, but I hate humanoidish interpratations of Pandas. And you.

Lol!

[worry]

I never said they were humanoids.

[Itwæs Nom]

Theres still the 2nd problem.

[worry]

I didn't say I was a humanoid interpretation of myself either.

[Itwæs Nom]

I always thought youre a seagull anyway.

[Gorefest]

Bamboozling? No?
I'll get my coat.

[Vaddon Ra]

Really love Joe Abercrombie's First law books, and Scott Lynch; both authors very dark and cynical in their fiction which gives a fun read and a lot of gallows humour. Er, really enjoyed the two Way of Kings books although I feel Sanderson always feel very obviously like I am reading a Sanderson book... Not that that is a problem of course but he releases books like 5 at a time and I kinda wish he would just focus on one truly great story at once. But hey, that's just me.

Used to love David Gemmel's work, in particular his Troy Trilogy.

[Gredfallan Ale]

Well, if you want to learn English, then it might be a good idea to start with English fantasy written for teenagers or young adults. There must be a couple of books out there that are not too long, not too complicated language-wise, but still have a good or enjoyable story. I think that the best way to learn is to just start reading.

Can anyone recommend books that have a decent story but are relatively easy to read?

[Itwæs Nom]

Vaddon Ra, on 24 August 2015 - 12:04 PM, said:

Really love Joe Abercrombie's First law books, and Scott Lynch; both authors very dark and cynical in their fiction which gives a fun read and a lot of gallows humour. Er, really enjoyed the two Way of Kings books although I feel Sanderson always feel very obviously like I am reading a Sanderson book... Not that that is a problem of course but he releases books like 5 at a time and I kinda wish he would just focus on one truly great story at once. But hey, that's just me.

Used to love David Gemmel's work, in particular his Troy Trilogy.

Im already reading Prince of Nothing and I think Im a bit dissapointed. Its just seems flat after Malazan. Still too many names for nations and places, but they dont really mean much to me. Only a few characters and theyre, except Akko, all dicks. I think it should be called Prince of Dicks. Also the lack of humour, I thought I dont need it in books, but I miss it there. But I must admit that the parts of brutal murdering are satisfying. I think I will read it just to see everyone die.
Then I will prob go for First Law.

Gredfallan Ale, on 31 August 2015 - 06:20 PM, said:

Well, if you want to learn English, then it might be a good idea to start with English fantasy written for teenagers or young adults. There must be a couple of books out there that are not too long, not too complicated language-wise, but still have a good or enjoyable story. I think that the best way to learn is to just start reading.

Can anyone recommend books that have a decent story but are relatively easy to read?

I would recommend Rangers Apprentice. Wait, Its recommendation for me.
So, thanks, but as you can notice I find PoN not enough epic after reading Malazan so I dont think books you are talking about would satisfy me.

And yes worry, I want to avoid bad literature cause I think Im better than you!

[Puck]

Just go for reading in English, at least in part. I started reading in English when I was in high school, and jumped straight into a malazan book I'd never read before - there's no kill like overkill. But you'd be surprised how soon you'll be able to get things from context, and how fast you'll pick up on things.

[Itwæs Nom]

Puckstein, on 31 August 2015 - 07:03 PM, said:

Just go for reading in English, at least in part. I started reading in English when I was in high school, and jumped straight into a malazan book I'd never read before - there's no kill like overkill. But you'd be surprised how soon you'll be able to get things from context, and how fast you'll pick up on things.

Well, I tried reading few pages of Lies of Locke Lamorra in English and I didnt enjoy it much though the text didnt seem much complicated It still was too difficult and I had to think about everything and it took me a while to realise whats actually happening.

[LinearPhilosopher]

There's a french fantasy series called la quete d'ewilan which i enjoyed thoroughly as a teenager.

[Gredfallan Ale]

Charlie Nom, on 31 August 2015 - 06:54 PM, said:

So, thanks, but as you can notice I find PoN not enough epic after reading Malazan so I dont think books you are talking about would satisfy me.

I don't think the correlation between story quality and language complexity is absolute. I think there are probably books out there that have great, surprising, and original stories, but are not so complex from a ]i]language[/i] point of view (the story itself might still be complex). So, if you want to start reading books in English (if not, then you shouldn't bother), you might benefit from starting with books that demand less of your English language skills. If not for the great story, then for their pedagogical value in learning to read the English language.

As you've probably deducted from my posts, my expressive English skills are not that good, just look at the inflexibility with which I compose my sentences. However, I think my receptive skills are pretty good. I have no difficulties with reading English texts or understanding speech, both in real life or recorded for television. The reason for that is that almost everything I read is in English, as are all the films, documentaries or TV series I watch. I don't think my high school education had anything to do with it, I just started to read English novels (mostly Stephen King at first), watch films without subtitles and converse with my US relatives.

However, if you have no desire to read books in English, then there might be no gain in suffering through books you think are below you.

[amphibian]

I am amazed that Puckstein went from learning English to reading Malazan nearly straight off. That is a jump into the deep end and you've made it so well that i honestly can only tell you are a non native speaker once in a long while.

You have put in much work and it has worked very well.

[Andorion]

Charlie Nom, on 31 August 2015 - 06:54 PM, said:

Vaddon Ra, on 24 August 2015 - 12:04 PM, said:

Really love Joe Abercrombie's First law books, and Scott Lynch; both authors very dark and cynical in their fiction which gives a fun read and a lot of gallows humour. Er, really enjoyed the two Way of Kings books although I feel Sanderson always feel very obviously like I am reading a Sanderson book... Not that that is a problem of course but he releases books like 5 at a time and I kinda wish he would just focus on one truly great story at once. But hey, that's just me.

Used to love David Gemmel's work, in particular his Troy Trilogy.

Im already reading Prince of Nothing and I think Im a bit dissapointed. Its just seems flat after Malazan. Still too many names for nations and places, but they dont really mean much to me. Only a few characters and theyre, except Akko, all dicks. I think it should be called Prince of Dicks. Also the lack of humour, I thought I dont need it in books, but I miss it there. But I must admit that the parts of brutal murdering are satisfying. I think I will read it just to see everyone die.
Then I will prob go for First Law.

Gredfallan Ale, on 31 August 2015 - 06:20 PM, said:

Well, if you want to learn English, then it might be a good idea to start with English fantasy written for teenagers or young adults. There must be a couple of books out there that are not too long, not too complicated language-wise, but still have a good or enjoyable story. I think that the best way to learn is to just start reading.

Can anyone recommend books that have a decent story but are relatively easy to read?

I would recommend Rangers Apprentice. Wait, Its recommendation for me.
So, thanks, but as you can notice I find PoN not enough epic after reading Malazan so I dont think books you are talking about would satisfy me.

And yes worry, I want to avoid bad literature cause I think Im better than you!

I would just like to point out that Ranger's Apprentice is ultra-YA. Its very different in tone from the Bakker and Malazan books

[Puck]

amphibian, on 31 August 2015 - 10:56 PM, said:

I am amazed that Puckstein went from learning English to reading Malazan nearly straight off. That is a jump into the deep end and you've made it so well that i honestly can only tell you are a non native speaker once in a long while.

You have put in much work and it has worked very well.

Thanks

I should probably elaborate though, which might even be half-way on topic. 1. I have a knack for languages, and 2. I spent my first English malazan read with tBH in one hand and a dictionary in the other - after a while you notice how each author leans towards re-using certain phrases, and it becomes easier to remember them/understand from context, and then you can try using the same sentence structures/vocabulary when trying to use the language yourself. But I'd already learned German by pretty much the same method (except using comics instead of full novels, as I was 8 or 9, and I'd grown up bilingual even before that), and knew that this works best for me. And there was the decision between potentially waiting for a few years until tBH would get translated into German, or reading it right away.

So, to get back to the topic, @Charlie Nom:
What you should consider is whether you want to get better at English, want to be able to read books which have not been translated (yet), and/or also if it's all worth the work you'd have to put in initially. Because at first it's always going to be work, so if you want to try it, you should find which way is both work but also fun for you. For me, it's reading books/comics in the language I'm trying to learn, even if I have to use a dictionary at first, or take notes. For some, watching movies/series with subtitles works best. An having to reread/rewatch parts is natural. It's pretty much impossible to get all the benefits without putting in some work, and you're probably going to get frustrated from time to time (to put it mildly) when you use English to, say, keep updated on what's new and good in fantasy literature, but then find out there's no translation available. Also, as Egwene has pointed out, books are best in the language they were written in.

This post has been edited by Puckstein: 01 September 2015 - 01:28 PM

[Itwæs Nom]

Gredfallan Ale, on 31 August 2015 - 09:12 PM, said:

However, if you have no desire to read books in English, then there might be no gain in suffering through books you think are below you.

Puckstein, on 01 September 2015 - 01:20 PM, said:

So, to get back to the topic, @Charlie Nom:
What you should consider is whether you want to get better at English, want to be able to read books which have not been translated (yet), and/or also if it's all worth the work you'd have to put in initially. Because at first it's always going to be work, so if you want to try it, you should find which way is both work but also fun for you. For me, it's reading books/comics in the language I'm trying to learn, even if I have to use a dictionary at first, or take notes. For some, watching movies/series with subtitles works best. An having to reread/rewatch parts is natural. It's pretty much impossible to get all the benefits without putting in some work, and you're probably going to get frustrated from time to time (to put it mildly) when you use English to, say, keep updated on what's new and good in fantasy literature, but then find out there's no translation available. Also, as Egwene has pointed out, books are best in the language they were written in.

The main problem is Im lazy. After high school I want to go from Czech anywhere where people speak English, so I will learn the language then, because I will just have to, and it wont be so painful.
But unless I will read WoT there is not enough books translated to cover the 3 years, so I will just have to read in English and I think its better to start now than later just because the books are better in English.
So thank you all for convincing and inspiration. Maybe I will start with some of Kings's novels, I ve read beginning of Cujo and it seemed simplier than Malazan or Lies of Locke.