Don Quixote

[Perikles]

OK - I've got my DQ in my desk, and I see from the edges of the pages how I didn't get very far (you know, when the bit you have read is darker than the virgin pages). I shall try again, I think for the 5th time.....

[JPablo]

Ok, ask if any questions! (I may or may not be able to answer... but I'll try!)

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by JPablo

Ok, ask if any questions! (I may or may not be able to answer... but I'll try!)

Thanks - but you might regret the offer.

[JPablo]

I understand... I take it as a challenge then ... (and God help us!)
Never regret yesterday, life is in you today and you make your tomorrow!

[poli]

I haven't read Don Quixote, but I understand that the metaphor of fighting windmills or bucking the tide is no necessarily a proclamation craziness. It is an act of fierce individualism and for taking a strong stance against popular thought which may or may not be crazy.

Cervantes' Moses-like image of the crazy/sane man is so strong that it
is internationally known and has survived centuries. I have to struggle reading modern Spanish, so I wouldn't dare venture into the old stuff.

[Perikles]

Yesterday and today I read 3 chapters, 1.XVIII - 1.XX, and have lost the will to live. I'm reading the original, using the Smollett translation of 1755 for vocabulary, and I actually think the original is easier to read than the stilted English version. No doubt it is full of allusions which go over my head, but my reaction is always that there must be better ways of spending my time. I shall however persevere a little longer.

[Fazor]

In the past I had searched for a side-by-side Spanish - English version. I've seen such books in the past, but never did find one for Don Quixote.

The English translation I have isn't too bad, but I'm not sure which version it is.

[HomoVulgaris]

Originally Posted by Fazor

In the past I had searched for a side-by-side Spanish - English version. I've seen such books in the past, but never did find one for Don Quixote.

This can be inconvenient to read, but you can find the first part of the book as a bilingual side by side text here:

http://www.fusion-ebook.com/EBLandin...2CLN10-9_.aspx

I don't know if this translation is the best one ...

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by HomoVulgaris

This can be inconvenient to read, but you can find the first part of the book as a bilingual side by side text here:

http://www.fusion-ebook.com/EBLandin...2CLN10-9_.aspx

I don't know if this translation is the best one ...

Thanks very much for the link - it will be very useful for me. On first inspection the English does not look too good, but adequate to use as an instant dictionary.

[JPablo]

@Poli. Interesting viewpoint. (I agree with it.) I was checking a contemporary English translation last night, which seems to me very readable. Yes, with a 'dated' tinge, of course, but readable for a native Spanish like me. (I'll get the name of the translator and edition, as I left it at home.)
@Fazor. I take that reading the English to begin with, may be plenty... I recognize that trying to read the Spanish (even with the English) is even hard for a Spanish native, given tha amount of old vocabulary... but still. If one likes the subject and enjoys it, go ahead... otherwise, it seems a better idea to take short books (even just short fairy tales... read them in English and then the Spanish translation... reading about know subjects and subjects you like it makes easier to acquire more vocabulary and be more at ease with the language...) (I believe some Catholic Cardinal had the Guiness record of languages spoken fluently and ability to write these correctly. I forgot what it was, in the order of hundreds... 150 or something outrageous like that. But I bet he learned a lot of prayers, (which repeat words and concepts) and learned in different languages... Either that, or he remembered all his past lifes without the amnesia majority of people have on those...
@Perikles. Well, if you don't enjoy it, I would not carry on. It is like if you don't like shrimps you don't like them. (I have a friend who hates them... which I can understand... although I don't share his liking on that... I love shrimps!) (Well, I am now comparing Cervantes to shrimps... but there is no need to suffer. When I read "Crónica de una muerte anunciada" by García Márquez, I enjoyed the writing, but when I read the part about the murder... oh my God! I was getting dizzy, and having body reactions... Márquez tends to be a bit too vivid with some things... yet, I can say "wow!". (That book is not my 'favourite' either, but I can appreciate its value too.)
@Homo Vulgaris. Thank you for the link. As I say to above to the other 'foreros'. Don Quixote in Spanish original may not be the best reading to 'start' learning Spanish... it is rather advanced (and archaic) Spanish...