cee
Full Member
Posts: 105
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Post by cee on Aug 7, 2018 17:03:13 GMT -5
- For me, successfully, 3.
- With approximative results, 4 more, including two related to one of the 3 firsts.
- With terrible disappointing results, 2 more (I still by a ton of south american comics for the art, though, which still is frustrating).
I've been learning a new language these past 3-4 years, but I dont think I'll find any comics in that one, as it is a central african one...
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 7, 2018 19:38:28 GMT -5
Comics are a great way to practice a new language, I found, since unlike what happens with a novel you can figure out what’s going on even if you understand only half the words, and so don’t lose interest. At the same time, since you can see the words and stop to try and figure out what they mean (or even reach out for the dictionary), you have far more flexibility than if watching a movie.
Did you count Esperanto among the languages you can read? Thanks to SAGA, I realized that if one speaks a few different European languages, it becomes pretty easy. The grammar is extremely simple and the vocabulary is based on familiar roots.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2018 20:42:39 GMT -5
I have some ability to read French and German in Comic Books and I have seen Sign Language printed in Comic Books and being deaf and I can read Letters quite good and all that. I just felt that Comic Books does a good job promoting languages and they do get some readers started in foreign language studies and that's a good thing.
In my own understanding ... I'm a elementary level in French and basic to 3rd grade in German -- why because my oldest brothers had training in German and I often listen to it when they were in high school
My sign language (letters only) is at 10th Grade Level and I do follow some comic books that uses this language and you don't see that that often in comic books these days.
Nevertheless, this topic is a wonderful way to promote languages and I've do support this wholeheartedly and that's my stand on this subject alone.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 8, 2018 2:24:46 GMT -5
I have French and Spanish material. I studied Spanish in school and can follow a good portion of the text, with the illustrations helping me work out the rest. French is a bit harder, as my vocabulary is lower; but, there are enough similarities that I can get the gist. I also have a few things in Italian and can dope things out.
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Søren
Full Member
I trademarked my name two years ago. Swore I'd kill any turniphead that tried to use it
Posts: 321
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Post by Søren on Aug 8, 2018 10:43:27 GMT -5
Other then English, two I think. Norwegian and Danish. My younger Aspie type self was intent on learning Finnish but has now forgotten most of it but eight years ago would have added that to the list  |
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Post by Mormel on Aug 8, 2018 14:02:38 GMT -5
I have read comics in my native Dutch, as well as English and German. I noticed on this one public domain comics site, that there were comics available in a couple of other languages.
I would be able to read comics in Indonesian without any problems, and in French I would get the basic gist of the story. That also goes for Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, and Swedish. That's the cool thing about language families; when you learn one, it's easy to understand at least a little bit of another.
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Post by berkley on Aug 17, 2018 23:52:11 GMT -5
My French reading level has progressed pretty well over the last several years, in large part from reading more comics in that language, along with other things (newspapers, books, etc). I only wish my aural comprehension, if that's the right expression, was keeping pace - I still need sub-titles to watch a French movie or tv show, though I could probably now do it with French sub-titles, if only they made them.
So to echo what RR said, comics is a great medium for language learning and improving, although of course you need some kind of base in vocabulary and basic grammar before you start.
I find there are a couple other unexpected benefits as well:
1. because it takes me longer to process the words, I find myself paying more attention to the artwork as well, and thus generally getting more out of the experience in every way;
2. because my reading level is still at a younger, in some ways even childish level, I find it brings back some of the enthusiasm I felt as a young reader discovering things for the first time. Part of that will have been due to the difference between French/Belgian BD and the American comics I grew up reading, but I think the language plays a part as well.
I'd love to learn some other languages and that reminds me of a related question: as far as reading comics goes, what would be the best languages to learn in terms of quality, quantity, and availability? I imagine Japanese would be near the top for comics, but to be honest, I'd probably be looking at other European languages first. How would you rank Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, etc, etc, comics? There are more Spanish than Italian speakers worldwide and Germany is a much bigger country than the Netherlands, but I have the impression that there are disproportionate amounts of Dutch and Italian comics compared to their more populous linguistic neighbours. Or is it that in the English-speaking world we just don't know or hear as much about Spanish- or German-language comics ?
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