My approach: I read the book on a Kindle in Spanish and highlighted words I didn't know which gave me a definition in Spanish. This was an unexpected bonus since it stretched my ability to understand the word as a native speaker would. Sometimes the definition of an adjective just gave me the verb form and was not helpful so I had to look it up on Google Translate. I inserted the translation as a "note" (highlighted in yellow). I also looked up some expressions but did not look up every word. Instead, I did so for words that I thought key. I had read a few Spanish novels previously but none so literary and descriptive (or as long) as this one. Generally I look up about 3-5 words/phrases per page. I can often guess whether an adjective is positive or negative and if I want to know the exact meaning, then I look it up but if I don't feel like it or think it's some colloquial-type term, I don't.
For the first 100 pages or so, I thought the book interesting but couldn't see how the various characters connected with the ostensible mystery regarding Carax. (I kept wondering,,"where is this going?") The book then added some critical information and became for me a "page-turner" -- i.e., a book in which I was eager to see what happened next and was reading for longer and longer periods of time. For me, this kind of book is ideal for language learning because I became so focused on the plot, forgetting that I was reading it in Spanish. That is, I was reading more as a native speaker would or as children read when they are captivated by the story. This was/is a delightful and new experience for me: the sweet spot of language learning. A big thank you to Robin for suggesting this book as the first for the multi-language book club and for creating Journaly to go along with it.
The results: As many have noted, an author repeats some vocabulary and Zafron certainly did that: "he shrugged, nodded, shook his head, raised his eyes," and other metaphorical usages (spilling, dragging, rolling, sprinkling, sparkling) were repeated with enough frequency that I learned them without effort, which is exactly how children expand their vocabulary. My knowledge of Spanish was already advanced enough that it was easy for me to assimilate new words and expressions in grammatical patterns that I already knew. I did not choose to read the book in Russian, a language in which my skills are at an intermediate level because I thought (rightly) that the descriptions would be way over my head. I am sharing this in English because it appears that there are many who have beginner or low intermediate skills in their target language who wanted to read the book in their target language. To me, this is would be way too difficult and tedious, particularly for a book of this length. Personally, I think some stretch can be motivating, but if I were struggling to understand only a few pages per day, I would put it aside for the future. In my experience, I learn most and retain most when I understand 85% (preferably 90%) of the text precisely because what I already understand carries me forward. It also means that I can engage with the material for longer periods of time precisely because it is not a chore but a pleasure. Thus, no one should feel bad that this was too hard for them.
I also found on Youtube a chapter by chapter audio of the Spanish book which I then listened to after I had read it on Kindle, deliberately not reading the subtitles as listening comprehension. I was amazed at how much new vocabulary I recognized with zero additional practice, merely because of the repetition in the book and the exciting content.
In sum, reading this book in Spanish was a huge boost to my Spanish -- I learned loads and am eager to read another exciting book in Spanish. I should add that the book was especially interesting for me because I had been in Barcelona last January, just before Covid and so the description of the city resonated with me. Reading the book in Spanish has also caused me to reflect about my Russian. I would love to have a similar experience in that language but feel that Zafrón's book would be too difficult for me in Russian, even knowing the plot. I need to find a shorter, less descriptive story and one with audio since Russian pronunciation is not as regular as that of Spanish. Yet the fact that I am enthused about reading novels in both languages, is a new step for me, thanks again to Robin! For those of you who have finished the book, how do you feel that reading it has affected your language learning journey?
Hi TraceyG! Thanks for sharing your experience! My approach was a little bit different. I read the book in European Portuguese. Unfortunately, there are almost none audiobooks available in that language at all. I tried to get some hearing training by reading out loud to myself. In order to follow the plot better it chose to listen to the audiobook chapter by chapter. That way, I didn't have to look up too many words. My level of Portuguese is at about B1 or so and I felt like it was doable with the help of the German translation. All in all, I think that reading the book really boosted my language learning. I feel much more comfortable to read books now in Portuguese!
Hi TraceyG, I am currently reading this book in French. I was so impressed with the first pages that I insisted my wife (a retired librarian) get a copy in English. The descriptions were wonderfully vivid. When she read it in English, it seemed the descriptions were not as detailed. Things seemed to be “lost in translation” to me. I agree this is a wonderful book, and I’m very thankful to Robin for suggesting it. I’m still plugging through when I have time, and can’t wait to see how everything turns out. I also agree my French language reading has definitely improved!
I am in the middle of reading it right now, and I am also reading it in Spanish. I am highlighting the words in each chapter I don't know, then looking them up and writing them out with pg number reference and the definition. This isn't the first Spanish novel I've read, but for me there is a lot of new vocabulary. And I agree, that for me, it kind-of started out slow but then became very interesting and I wanted to see what was happening next. Thanks for your post!
Hi TraceyG! Thanks for sharing your experience. I fully agree with you and that's why I am postponing reading Japanese version of this book, when I bought this book two months ago, I found there were more than 5 new words per page for me and way too hard for me to read, and there's no ebook in Japanese so very unconvinient to look up new words. Thus I chose another Japanese ebook(novel) and finished it last week, I'm now reading another novel and plan to read this book at Jul when I believe is right time for me. Thanks.
JimK198, that's interesting what you said about the English version of the book. I had recommended that my adult daughter read the book which she did in an English paperback edition. She was visiting for the weekend (all of us having been vaccinated). There was a part of the book where the plot became more complicated and I thought I would flip through her book to quickly check on something that had occurred in previous chapters . I found the relevant pages but when I read them, I was struck that they didn't have the same feeling or mood that I was experiencing in the Spanish version. This was a surprise. I then deliberately compared a few pages since I now knew what page number to search on Kindle for the same passages. I don't know whether the descriptions were less detailed in English but the narrative did strike me as written for an American audience and didn't quite convey the cultural flavor of the original Spanish. I can't quite put my finger on why I felt this way. Was it because when I read the slang in English it was jarring? Often when I read the same terms in Spanish, I could figure out from the context that they were disparaging colloquialisms but the difference between the Spanish terms for "cad, deadbeat, thug, jerk, etc." would have been lost on me. That is, I understood the character of the person from how he/she acted and what they said, rather it being denoted by a specific new term. In English, however, colloquialisms have their own baggage based upon my previous encounters with them. Maybe that's why the English translations in effect snap me back into American culture, rather than allowing the smoky mood of Zafrón's descriptions to envelope me. Anyway, that experience with the Spanish and English texts and another post here on Journaly regarding how "untranslatable" phrases are handled in other languages, underscore the rewards of reading a book in its original language. Of course, most of us don't have the ability to comfortably read fiction in foreign languages since it takes a lot of effort to get to that point even in one. I'm definitely not disparaging translations. Rather, for me I have gained insight into Robin's comments about the intense satisfaction that comes with reading a novel in a foreign language. This makes me eager to improve my Russian and to read more contemporary novels in Spanish.
Jason, that's interesting that you found reading the e-book version of a book convenient to read. I had never read any book on a Kindle before Zafrón's and did so only because I originally thought I could download it into LingQ (a language learning platform that I use for Spanish and Russian ) which I find super convenient precisely because I can click on a word or phrase and on the same screen a window opens in which there is a translation or I can insert one. LingQ saves and keeps track of all words and phrases that I have clicked on and offers me several ways to review them if I want. Unfortunately, because of copyright issues, I couldn't download the book into LingQ. Yet, as I mentioned above, I discovered that I could highlight a word on the Kindle version and got a definition in Spanish which was helpful for language learning a lot of the time but not always. (If one were at a more basic level, one would probably need the translation rather than an explanation.) Anyway, I've read a few Spanish novels in paperback previously and was writing in definitions on the page which was not convenient. Thus, for now, what this experience has revealed is that reading an e-book in a foreign language is better for me because of the ability to get a definition on the same screen (much less cumbersome than looking up words for a paper version). The only down side is that I am trying not to look at a screen before I go to bed and so would prefer a paper version for health reasons. Guess one can't have everything....