I Wish I Could Read Polish
I always lament the lack of emphasis in American schools on foreign language skills. I enjoyed a very good public education, and it has allowed me to go far (and others even farther), but there were still many things lacking, like computer education and foreign languages. Language classes weren’t even an option for students until 7th grade, and even then the choices were few, and the enthusiasm for them low. Foreign language wasn’t a REQUIREMENT until high school, and even then It was made clear to students that so long as they passed the New York State Regents Exam for foreign language, nothing more was needed.
Some people still managed to excel and learn to speak other languages very well in that time, but I wasn’t really one of them. I acheived a bare proficiency in French, and, having no opportunities to continue using it, promptly lost what little skill I had.
Of course, I live in America, so being monolingual is no problem, and even when I travel, English speakers are seldom hard to find.
Why? Because other countries, especially those sharing a common border with people who speak another language, put much greater emphasis on language skills at an early age when, by all accounts, the language center of the brain is still forming and can better grasp and hold the information.
So I often lament not speaking other languages, especially now that my work is being translated into so many tongues (11 and counting!). I wish I could speak and read them all, to interact with my readers, read my reviews, and understand how my work has been adapted.
This has never been more true than today, when I saw this Polish review by Marcin Mortka, which purports to be a feminist perspective on my work. I REALLY wanted to read this review, but when I ran it through google translate, the results were disappointing to the point where it’s unreadable. This is a great example of how far translation software, which will NEVER, in my opinion, replace human translators, has to go. A good 30% of the text doesn’t translate at all, and what does is frequently unintelligible.
I’m really intrigued by the topic, and would love to know what the article says. Can any of my bilingual Polish readers out there hook an author up?
translate this article for Peter V. Brett and you’ve given him supper for a day. Give him Polish lessons, and you’ve given him supper for a lifetime. Or something like that.
Public school has come a long way since we were kids. There are computers in every classroom and you can take Spanish or Italian starting in Kindergarten.
hmm I don’t think that i know english enough to translate this. I’ll talk with my English teacher.
By the way “Malowany cz?owiek” is on my Top10 list of favourite books.
I have a friend who’s living in Poland right now, and I sent her an email to see if she can hook you up.
My grandmother was Polish, but I don’t even know any decent swear words. I must remedy that.
Awesome. I can’t even tell if the reviewer liked it or not.
I don’t know anyone who don’t like this book. Every reviever says that you’re the biggest ‘discovery’ of 2008.
oh i can scan other pictures from second book. i saw links of only three.
[…] V Brett wishes he could read Polish (and BTW, he clocked over 12500 words last week, so The Desert Spear is […]
Hello 😉 First of all , the author of this review is Marcin Krzeszowiec (if the link’s right) . Secondly, I’m Polish and (maybe I’m not so modest) frequent at English. I don’t know if translating the text is legal, but if you, Peter, wish I may write you an e-mail what it is about. Personally, I think it would be best to contact the author, but couldn’t find any, only some kind of whole-website team e-mail. You may also try that.
I apologize for the error; Marcin Mortka, I have just learned, is the translator for the book in Poland (and a very good one, from what I have heard from Polish readers). I think I was confused by them having the same first name, and the awful google translation.
Maria, I would love it if you could send me an e-mail about the content of the article. I wouldn’t ask you to put in all the work needed to translate the whole article, but just an idea of what it was about and whether the author was praising or attacking would be wonderful.
Thank you!
Ok, promise to do it till 12 march and send. I’ll need that time to do it. Await my e-mail.
Maria
Well, first of all this is not a review, but more like an explanation of how do you portray women in your book. You don’t find much about what is author thinking about it because most of what’s written there is a piece of crap filled with semi-intelectual wording used mostly by people who want to appear smarter than they are. Computer translators can hardly work with even simple polish so no wonder that article made them overheat 🙂 But to be honest, I don’t think it’s worth to trouble anyone with translation.
Second, what made me a really good laugh, it’s a gay site. Not that I assumed it has any impact on the article, but at first glance it was hard to imagine Marcin Mortka writing anything there. Though Maria already explained your error 😉
Don’t bother with this text. I’m polish and in fact even I don’t understand it xD.
First of all it’s a text on a gay portal. It’s not review but summary of your book. The author of this text is telling something about the role of man and woman in the world You created in Your book and compare in with some others books. In my opinion it is nonsense.
If I could help You with sth please mail me.
PS
What is the most important the author of the text really recommend Your book. Recommendation is only in the first and the last paragraph. I think that he may want to say sth what maybe important in gay/lesbian society because he compare “The Painted Man” with some lesbian writer and he search similarity.
PS2
If I will find real and good review of “The Painted Man” I will send a link.
PS3
Sorry for my English I hope it isn’t in very bad condition.
Hi.
I read “Malowany czlowiek” through 1 day and searched for other parts of trilogy, this time in original. I found only 1st in english. When 2nd will be published ? In polish translation there are both parts – 1st and 2nd.
Hi Jarek,
I don’t know when the second book will be published. I will be editing it for several more months, and then my Polish publisher will need time to translate it. As soon as I have an idea of the date, I will post it here on the blog.
I’ll do my best to make it worth the wait!
Hello.
As PeterC said, this article is a piece of crap. I’ve just read it and… I just don’t know what to say. Did You wanted to make Leesha’s and Brunna’s story as a tribute to the lesbians? Or make push’ting’s as a persecuted homosexuals? Well… Author of this article is trying to make something like this. Forget about it, it’s not worth reading. The worst thing is that he quotes the book and make the sentences look as written by activist for gay and lesbians rights (well, when I was reading the book I wasn’t thinkin about it even for the second. where from this man took his concept???)
Anyway… book was great. I finished it today and… WHY CAN’T I READ NEXT PART RIGHT NOW! 🙂 Very good stuff.
Best regards
Michael.
Oh… If I could help in any way – just say. And… Forgive me my english.
Hi.
Thanks for reply.
I asked because i found this
Looks like it’s second part of first book 😉
As for reviews, some good is here
Positives are not ideal world, great story and idea of signs.
For minus – it’s only 1 idea 😉
Anyway i can’t wait for next parts, so wish U writing in peace 😉
Jarek
PS
Sorry for my english, hope U undestand sth