I Just Finished My First French Book
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I checked out a few library books about a week ago including two French novels to help me improve my comprehension of French.
The first book I've read is called Prince De La Rue by Dominque Mwankumi
The story is about a black homeless kid and his friend making toys and musical instruments that eventually lead to a business of him becoming a celebrity and rich.
Even though the reading level of this book is elementary there were a few aspects of the grammar construction and vocabulary I didn't understand. However, I had my French dictionary and notes beside me to help glue the story together and by the end of the story I had a grasp of what I read.
The second book will be a little harder. Le Petit Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
This story is about a small boy who travels to seven planets and finally to Earth where he learns the most important secret of life.
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I actually tried to read "Le Petit Prince" a few months ago when my knowledge of the language wasn't at par with the complex grammar and vocabulary of the book and gave up, but now that I'm more comfortable with the vocabulary and grammar of French I'm giving it another shot and see how much I can understand
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I'm halfway through Le Petit Prince, and thus well on my way to making it my first book in French! My dictionary is getting a good workout...
The coolest thing is that I read the book in translation many years ago, and didn't really find it that good (I had high expectations, as a lot of people go on about how good it is), but now I am enjoying it a lot more as I am reading the original. All that looking up words and pondering phrases makes you think more about the content of what you are reading...
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Exactly...I'm reading it now and boy oh boy is this book complex but the thought of getting through such a hard task as reading in another language is exhilarating.
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If you read it on the internet, http://www.microtop.ca/lepetitprince/chapitre01.html (has all the pictures) using the chrome browser, you can use the chrome browsers extensions InstantTranslate, GoogleDictionary, and Transover to get french definitions, english translations, spanish translations, english translations of the spanish, and have portions of the text read aloud to you all at the press of a button/doubleclick of a mouse. Also here you can find the little prince in many languages. http://www.petit-prince.at/links.htm That is my favorite book, so beautiful.
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Congrats! That's awesome! I'm going to start my first book in Portuguese after I finish my tree :)
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Congratulation ! I do not know the first book, but the second is one of my all times favorites ! Being french myself, I can tell you Le Petit Prince is not so easy a book, even when you ARE french. Not so much because of the language, but because the story is so deep. You can read it again and again and again, and still, you will discover something new that you hadn't seen before. That is how the story can be loved no matter how old you are, seven, fourteen, or twenty-six. It is so meaningful that it just appeals to everyone.
I am sure you will enjoy it :-)
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Awww! That's cool that you've read it. So far I've read segments of the book but as of right now I'm not at a level to understand everything without getting a headache LoL. I'm improving though
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That's the best way to do it. That's how I learned English in the first place, by reading. It's hard at first, but then you improve and something just... clicks. It's the greatest feeling :-)
Let me know if you want help !
