I am a very happy bunny right now as I have finally finished the beast that is Harry Potter und der Orden des Phönix! It only took me 8 months...
I've been slowly making my way through the German Harry Potter's for the best part of two years to try and help improve my German. While I'm reading I don't look up any words, I just rely on my knowledge of the series to fill in any of the gaps that I miss and I have to say I feel like I'm relying on my previous knowledge much less as I make my way through so it's nice to know it's working, at least somewhat. It's also a good thing I'm understanding more as I'd forgotten half the stuff that happens in the 5th book. I hadn't read it since it first came out (I know, I'm a terrible Harry Potter fan. But, it's just so darn long!) so most of the scenes that weren't in the film I couldn't really remember at all.
Reading the Harry Potter books in another language almost feels like I'm reading them for the first time again because they feel so different yet they're still the story you know and love. It's a strange feeling but a pretty cool one too. I'm reading the book much slower than I would in English so, ignoring the bits that I just straight out don't understand, I feel like I actually took the whole thing in much more than I had before, even with the earlier ones which I've read so may times I practically know them backwards.
Funnily enough, despite the monumental task that was OotP, once I'd finished all I wanted to do was move onto the Half Blood Prince. I didn't because I wanted to make a bit of a dent into my English to-read list plus I needed to give the old brain cells a bit of a rest. It'll probably take me the good part of a year to finish the last two books but it'll be pretty awesome to be able to say that I've read the entire series in German. Now I just need to buy some more books so all that hard work doesn't go to waste. Maybe The Hunger Games. Maybe even one day a book I've never read before!
Have any of you guys ever read any books in a foreign language?
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