I want to tell you all about bilingual reading today. because the change of language has expanded my sight on books, on life, on people. i have met amazing people through it, i have been able to speak to my favorite writers and my dearest followers. i became girlwithabookshelf instead of just me, all because of my craving for more. more of the world outside my own, more knowledge, more insight, more love for the things around me. reading in english plays a big part in my lives these days, and i want to share it with everyone.
When the after series by Anna Todd were turned into real life books is when i started reading in english. i was 12 back then and had read on wattpad already but had never read an actual book in a language that wasn't my own. i can tell it's a whole different experience to get the words straight from the writer into your hand, it touches and reaches you, like no one else could have made it. that is what makes english reading more interesting for me. translation could easily make a phrase lose it's emotional touch. People don't understand how i know my english language so well, how i've come so far that i read books like one breathes air, like one eats food. but this is the truth: those people have never wanted it as bad as i do. i used to be a directioner as a kid (still am) and this gave me the drive to learn english, to understand my idol which later grew into understanding their lyrics and expanding my vocabulary to read fanfiction. i believe reading teaches you a language more than a teacher or a schoolbook ever can. you read the text, you google every single word you don't understand and you read further. that's how i started, that's how you learn. it takes time, and maybe one can learn faster than another but this way you will be able to read full books quick enough. start with the easy ones and grow into the rest that will be a very good start.
I, myself am reading 'To the lighthouse'' by Virgina Woolf at the moment. and i will be honest with you. i find this book SO hard to read! there are words i don't understand (yet cause i will know them soon enough) and thought i can't keep track of. there are characters i don't remember and POV's that change all of the time. but because this book might be to hard for me, it takes me to another level. to a literary level of reading, and i know that when i finish this book i will be a little bit better and won't have those issues the next time. it is no shame to not understand something, it is human. and when you don't understand it, read it again and again till you do. at least that is what i will do with Woolf's work, cause i have always dreamed of reading literature like others might have dreamed of other things.
There is another project waiting for me too at the moment. this year i need to start reading in german, this is exciting, but as i think it is for everyone, really scary. questions go flying through your head, am i going to make the deadline? am i going to understand? will i even like it? push them aside. just let it all happen and see what doors open when it has ended. maybe i will love it, maybe i won't, but at least i will know myself a little better when i'm done. i'll keep you guys updated :)
But not only language is something you learn through books, i've learned to know life, to know love, to know faith, to know who you are. books teach you to have compassion, they make you live someone else's life for a period of time. this way they show you that you might not always know exactly what is going on or how to help or what your acting can do to someone else. maybe this is the importance of books, why we read them. i know i do.
books can be an escape but also an insight, and i feel like people forget that sometimes.
maybe you won't always get a character or a line or the intention of the book, but books don't have to be the same for everyone. stories can be told in different ways, but also read in different ways. do what you love, follow your dreams and work for them, they won't just come to you without a battle.
All the love,
-E