Recommend a non-English language book or film

Buffy Summers

Buffy Summers

Yataro
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So, I like to read current books and watch current movies in languages other than English to help improve my foreign (to me) language skills. But sometimes it's hard to find things that aren't "the classics". Let's face it, I sort of learn more about modern French by reading Harry Potter than Voltaire. lol

As I know we have a lot of members from non-English speaking (as their first language) countries, I thought maybe you folks could recommend some popular novels or films, especially sci fi stuff since I think most of us are fans of that genre, in your native tongues that the rest of us might want to check out? Maybe stuff that would be relatively easy for people just learning to understand? (Like I wouldn't recommend a Shakespeare film to someone just learning English lol)

For example, some day I want to be able to understand Nightwatch in the original Russian lol

🙂
 
Well in Swedish there's the Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larsson, though many might be familiar with the translated versions/American re-make of the film. The books are great though and in modern Swedish there's:

1. "Män som hatar kvinnor" (/Men who hates women, strangely titled "The girl with the dragon tattoo" in English.)
2. "Flickan som lekte med elden"
3. "Luftslottet som sprängdes"

The first movie is the best, the second two are all right but they were made for TV so I dare say they didn't enjoy the same budget at the first one and suffered a little bit for it. They're still watchable though.


Another great Swedish movie I woud recommend is "Bröderna Lejonhjärta", okay, it's an old movie and a children's movie at that but it's a moving story and a great movie (as long as you ignore the "special effects" i.e the crappy paper dragon that'll have you laughing out loud)
 
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
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Red Cliff for Mandarin. I don't think it'll be easy for beginners to understand, though... Still a great film, and worth watching with the subtitles. If you've been learning Mandarin for a while, then I totally rec it for you.
 
Ah man. I was going to suggest Nightwatch but of course, you've blazed the trail ahead of me once again. You own.
 
Its not sci fi and is a decade old but advertising rules is a great german film it is hillarious
 
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
Doesn't have to be sci fi, it was just a suggestion :)
Try the movie Das Boot (The Boat) from 1981. It's a really great movie. It was nominated for 6 Oscars I think. The original language is German.

Der Untergang (Downfall) is also pretty good I think, but I haven't seen it yet.
 
Goby
Goby
Das Boot and Der Untergang are so epically awesome!!!!
C
Cast No Shadow
Downfall is a brilliant film, you need to watch it :)
It's not sci fi but Heima is a wonderful Icelandic film. It's kind of a documentary about Sigur Ros with some of their music in it. It's perfect to have on during the winter.
 
From my country "Ong Bak" and "Shutter" are really famous outside of the country. I haven't watched them, though. But I only heard only good things about them. 🙂
 
NY State of Mind
NY State of Mind
Ong Bak is cool
I was just going to recommend a lovely Irish novel but then I saw you wanted something modern.

Oh well.
 
So you just pick up a book in any language and understand it?

Darla, you are so freakin' awesome!!! 😀
 
In French class in high school... we watched this 80's movie called La Boum (The Party). It's a funny, hysterical high school drama 80's movie... it's the best. I haven't seen it in 3 years, but I have seen it about 20 times... and I love it. I learned a lot from it too.
 
It doesn't HAVE to be modern, but for language learners the advanced stuff could get pretty difficult, and it's harder to get current book recommendations in non-English languages (if you don't live there, obviously) I think.

Goby said:
So you just pick up a book in any language and understand it?
Click to expand...

No, but if I said "French, Spanish, Italian, Irish, Russian" that's kind of limiting, and not so useful for people who are learning other languages.


And guys, don't recommend things you haven't seen/read!!
 
Okay so its not my language but I watched this one French film and it was just captivating, well to me anyway, I don't know if it is that popular or not but it's called Jeux d'enfants (Love Me If You Dare).
 
Oh, I get it @Darla. 🙂

For those who are beginners, these are great books. They have English on one side, and Spanish on the other side. I just saw them at Barnes and Noble and thought they were amazing. I'm sure they have them in other languages.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Historias-Bilingual-English-Spanish/dp/0844204994"]Amazon.com: Stories from Spain / Historias de España (Side by Side Bilingual Books) (English and Spanish Edition) (9780844204994): Genevieve Barlow, William Stivers: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RGWP8v1LL.@@AMEPARAM@@51RGWP8v1LL[/ame]
 
Buffy Summers
Buffy Summers
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The American version of Shutter was nice and creepy so I would love to see the original. Isnt it Japenese?
 
I love the Korean film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, it's actually part of a trilogy but I've only seen this one.
 
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