# What's the first foreign-language book you managed to finish? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2001, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113 "2001-10-28T16:41:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/1 "2001-10-28T16:41:26Z")
Sometime within the next few days I’ll finish “Sansibar oder der letzte Grund” by Alfred Andersch as an assignment for a German class, a well-praised work of post-war literature, about five people trying to escape from a small Baltic Sea village in 1937. It’s been excellent so far, and more importantly, it’ll be the first German novel I’ve gotten all the way through! I’ve read long poems and maazines in German, but this is a big step for me and my \Deutsch\. What foreign-language books were your “first time”? Were they for class or for pleasure reading? ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/2 "2001-10-28T16:44:34Z")
Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu – for a college French lit. class. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/3 "2001-10-28T17:41:17Z")
**Violet** , I’m impressed! The first French book I read all the way through was _Le Petit Prince._ And the longest one I’ve read was _Les Liaisons Dangereuses._ (I’ve been trying to read _Les Misérables_ in French for years, but have never managed to get very far…) First major work in Latin was the _Aeneid._ Oh, and all of these were for classes, except _Les Misérables._ ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/4 "2001-10-28T17:53:05Z")
_Ou est le homme Waldo?_ And well worth the struggle, let me tell you! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/5 "2001-10-28T19:22:30Z")
Carlos Fuentes’ _Gringo Viejo_ (The Old Gringo), about the disappearance of Ambrose Bierce in Mexico. I had taken Spanish before, but hadn’t had to read anything long, so I read it for practice. My dictionary was well worn by the time I finished! ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/6 "2001-10-28T19:22:41Z")
_Buenas Noches Luna_ There have been others since, naturally. But I still like reading that one in Spanish, just because. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/7 "2001-10-28T19:32:15Z")
I think it was “arms and the man” by George Bernard Shaw. I really liked it. The first one I finished in portuguese was “O cartomante e otros cuntos” by Machado de Assis. ---
**Author:** ![daffodil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@daffodil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffodil)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/8 "2001-10-28T21:20:25Z")
I can’t remember my first English book [foreign to me] It must have been one by John Dickson Carr. Maybe “The Blind Barber”. My first German book was “Das Parfum” by Süsskind and I’m trying Gabriël Garcia Marques at the moment, but my Spanish isn’t up to it. Need more lessons. Anyone? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![daffodil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@daffodil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffodil)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/9 "2001-10-28T21:21:34Z")
p/s German is foreign for me too. My native tongue is Dutch. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/10 "2001-10-28T21:30:26Z")
For me, it was _Apollonius, Prince of Tyre_, though I can’t recall the Latin title. I’ve got a copy of _Winnie ille Pu_ lying around somewhere, too, but I’ve never finished it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/11 "2001-10-28T21:35:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu – for a college French lit. class. All 14 volumes? I don’t recall mine – either “Cyarno de Bergerac” (play) or “L’homme qui dort cent ans.” (novel) There was also Alfred Bester’s “Les clowns d’eden,\*” my first outside of class. \*“The Computer Connection” or “Extro!” I can’t for the life of me understand why the French chose that title. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/12 "2001-10-28T22:07:49Z")
I think everyone who takes French starts with _Le Petit Prince_; my first “grown-up” French book was _L’Etranger_. Sadly, it was followed up by the stultifying _Eugenie Grandet_, and I have loathed Balzac ever since - mainly for ever having existed, but I didn’t like his writing, either :). He did, however, make a wonderful subject for Rodin: monumental and inanimate. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2001, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/13 "2001-10-28T23:19:43Z")
Ricardo y Juanita “vea ricardo corra corra ricardo corra! ricardo corra bien.” ---
**Author:** ![beegirl13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@beegirl13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beegirl13)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/14 "2001-10-29T00:20:57Z")
I just read _Clifford Visita el Hospital_ to the Spanish-speaking kids at the Tompkins County Public Library. I did read a version of _Don Quixote_ but I don’t count it because it was very condensed and “dumbed down” for high school Spanish classes. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/15 "2001-10-29T00:25:32Z")
My first French book was Huis Clos by Sartre. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/16 "2001-10-29T00:34:38Z")
The Story of A-Qu by Lu Xun It was a short novel for third year Chinese at University by arguably China’s greatest author. It is a piece of art in the original, but the English translation really is not very good. ---
**Author:** ![alondra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@alondra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alondra)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/17 "2001-10-29T01:20:49Z")
I believe my first complete novel was Mario Vargas Llosa’s _¿Quién mató a Palomino Molero?_ for a university class surveying important Latin American novelists. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by daffodil: \* > **My first German book was “Das Parfum” by Süsskind and I’m trying Gabriël Garcia Marques at the moment, but my Spanish isn’t up to it.** Which novel are you attempting, daffodil? Both _Cien años de soledad_ and _El amor en los tiempos del colera_ would be serious undertakings. 🙂 If you want to ease into Garcia Marquez with something short and simple, you might try _Crónica de una muerte anunciada._ ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/18 "2001-10-29T02:58:17Z")
Lark you think that book is easy? I am argentinian and I found it extremely difficult. Garcia Marquez is always tough, you should start with his articles or with another author ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/19 "2001-10-29T03:19:29Z")
Way back when I took Spanish in high school we read El Sombrero de Tres Picos Can’t remember the author, but the edition was a cheap one, mass produced for high schools, and the intro said three short passages had be cut out to make it more appropriate for our age group… Maybe they did that with an ulterior motive, because first chance I got I went to the public library and got the unexpurgated version, just to see if I was really missing anything. ---
**Author:** ![Peregrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Peregrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peregrine)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113/20 "2001-10-29T03:32:26Z")
_Les Fourberies de Scapin_ by Molière. I had been doing some background reading on _Cyrano de Bergerac_ and wanted to know more about the real Cyrano and the scene that Molière had stolen from him (Rostand alludes to it in Act V scene vi). I went shopping and found a copy of Molière’s play, in French, with the scene stolen from Cyrano’s _Le Pédant joué_ as an appendix. I was going to try to read a few pages, get hopelessly lost, and quit. Instead I found that I got only a little lost, and with the aid of a dictionary and much reliance on context made it through to the end. Then I got cocky and tried to read _L’Autre Monde_ by Cyrano de Bergerac. I don’t think I finished that one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-foreign-language-book-you-managed-to-finish/90113.md?page=2)