Best writer to learn English

Eulalia   Wednesday, June 25, 2003, 19:07 GMT
I like Tom Clancy's books.
Tremmert   Wednesday, June 25, 2003, 19:20 GMT
From your name I guess you also like Brian Jacques books? (Eulalia being the battle cry they used)

I would also suggest the Lord of the Rings for English learners who like fantasy - the language isn't too difficult and if you enjoy a book you'll find it much easier to read and you'll learn from it more.
Kabam   Wednesday, June 25, 2003, 19:32 GMT
Are you sure Tremmert? The French version if full of complicated, descriptive words, so I'm hesitating to buy the O.V...
Clark   Wednesday, June 25, 2003, 19:34 GMT
Is the Lord of the Rings called "Le Bon Dieu des Bagues" or "Le Seigneur des Bagues" or is it something else in French?
Kabam   Wednesday, June 25, 2003, 19:36 GMT
Actually it's called "Le Seigneur des anneaux". "Le bon dieu" refers to God while "les bagues" is more casual than "les anneaux".
Clark   Wednesday, June 25, 2003, 23:53 GMT
So what is a more literal meaning of "anneaux" ?
Kabam   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 00:54 GMT
In my dictionary, "Anneaux" and "Bagues" are both translated by ring. I'm not too sure there is a more literal word in English. So it's hard to see a difference between the two.
However, "anneaux" is rarer than "bague", and I think that is one of the reason I find that "anneaux" sounds better if the ring is important and mystical/magical. Another reason may be that you often read "anneaux" in French books while you'd hear "bague" rather in real life.
Qu'en pensez-vous, les autres français sur ce forum?
Clark   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 01:22 GMT
Merci.

Je les aime beaucoup. Ils sont très sympas et intelligents. Que penses-tu ?
Kabam   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 01:48 GMT
Clark, en fait je demandais aux autres français s'ils étaient d'accord avec moi sur le fait que "les anneaux" sonnent mieux que "bagues".

Si j'avais voulu demander ce que tu as compris que j'ai demandé (I hope I'm not to hard to understand here), j'aurais dit : Qu'est-ce que tu penses des autres français de ce forum"? Ou dans un style oral : "Tu penses quoi des autres Français de ce forum"?

En ce qui me concerne, j'aime beaucoup Chantal et Tabisora (elles et toi, vous êtes les personnes avec qui j'aime le plus parler). Je ne connais pas bien les autres français par contre mais Rock à l'air sympa.
Jim (qui est australien) à l'air sympa, j'aime beaucoup de ses idées mais il n'est pas souvent là.

(If something is hard to understand, let me know ;) )
Clark   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 05:14 GMT
J'en comprends beaucoup.

Comment dit-on en anglais:

a l'air sympa
sur le fait que
par contre

Aussi, comment dit-on "barely" en français ?

He barely made it to the match.
Jack Doolan   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 05:38 GMT
"The Left Hand of Darkness" is a very good science fiction novel by an American writer, Ursula Le Guin. Other good ones by Le Guin are "The Dispossessed" and "Malafrena", which last ios about the Austro-Hungarian Empire in about 1825.

Nevil Shute was a popular author in the 1940s and 1950s and the locations in his novels are absolutely authentic. He did not do science fiction but his novel "No Highway" was incredibly prophetic of the Comet airliner crashes which happened a few years after the book came out. The attitudes in the novels are characteristic of his times - or slightly in advance of them. Shute was actually an aeronautical engineer and businessman until he started to make more money from writing. Shute's best known novel is "A Town Like Alice"

You can't go past Jane Austen who was one of the first "modern" novelists. "Pride and Prejudice" is probably the best of her works.
-
Kabam to Clark   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 09:17 GMT

* a l'air sympa
Kabam to Clark   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 09:21 GMT
Arrrgh! My message has been posted incompleted! Have to rewrite it all!!!!!

So, as I was saying:

* a l'air sympa = looks nice (when someone or something, looks, sounds, tastes or smells nice or great or anything, you would translate it by "avoir l'air sympa or bon or any suitable adjective)


* sur le fait que = on the fact that


* par contre = though


* barely = à peine, tout juste
There are several translations depending on the context.

- He BARELY made it to the match.
=> Il est arrivé au match DE JUSTESSE.
=> Il est arrivé TOUT JUSTE au match.
(these are the two possible translation assuming that you used "make it" as "arrive").
Kabam to Clark   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 09:24 GMT
Incompleted again!!! How it is a part of the text I wrote isn't posted?

Anyway,

other translation of barely:

- He can BARELY move his arm.
=> Il peut A PEINE bouger le bras.
chantal   Thursday, June 26, 2003, 10:48 GMT
Yes as Jack said, Jane Austen is good. I read "Pride and Prejudice" several times. you'll be charmed by the witty and independent spirit of Elizabeth Bennet. She is the central character of the novel. The BBC, TV dramatization of this classic romance is stunning.
I recommend you Charles Dickens too. The one I like is 'Hard times'; Dickens's black vision of mid-Victorian England.