饥饿游戏 The Hunger Games

[Geiko]

So I've been reading the Chinese translation of The Hunger Games for a week now, and I was asked to start a topic about it (hi roddy!). 

 

First of all, I'd like to roughly describe my current level of Chinese, in case somebody here doesn't know how hard The Hunger Games is, if they can read it or should wait a little longer. Of course, the best way to know it would be to pick up the book, read the first couple of pages and decide by yourselves. Going to amazon.cn and skimming through the 在线试读 is very useful. But in any case, I've been studying Chinese for four years (never been to China, so my progress may have been slower than average), last year I passed HSK 4 and I plan to take HSK 5 next May 10th. Before starting The Hunger Games, I read many graded readers, The boy in the Striped Pyjamas and six novels of the Goosebumps series.

 

So how hard is 饥饿游戏? Compared to my previous readings, it's harder, and yet manageable. I could finish each Goosebumps novel in seven days (270 pages, 170 千字 each), whereas during the first week reading 饥饿游戏 I've only read a quarter of the book (which has 324 pages in total, 210 千字). I think the main difference lies in the amount of 成语, they are more frequent in The Hunger Games. And yet, I think it's an easy book. Even if I didn't check new words in a dictionary, I think I could still follow the main story, only a couple of paragraphs would be too confusing.

 

So far I'm enjoying it, it's far more interesting than the R. L. Stine novels, so I don't mind spending more time on it. I intend to copy some hard passages I struggle with, and will use this post to commit to my goal in public and encourage myself to continue reading it. If anybody wants to, feel free to join! Those of you who have already read the books and/or watched the films are welcome too, of course! I would only ask you to be careful with spoilers, maybe a (huge and clear) warning before writing would be enough. 

[ChTTay]

The tea looks great. How does it taste?

I passed HSK 4 and I'm working towards HSK 5 now. At the moment I have just been reading graded readers produced for foreigners. I also watch 家有儿女 on TV as part of my study routine.

Anyway, how easy/hard was it to start reading the Goosebumps novels? Did you find you had massive lists of vocab? Do you think it would be worth starting with that kind of thing or you think I could just jump into THG?

[Geiko]

Hi ChTTay! The Goosebumps novels were easy. For the first two, I used what Olle Linge calls "the rule of three" (only look up words or characters if they appear three times in different situations), and it worked very well, I could understand what was going on without too much trouble, and it encouraged me to continue reading. However, after a while I changed my mind and started searching most of the words I didn't understand and adding them to my Pleco flashcards. I ended with 553 cards, which isn't too much, because I had previously read the Penguin Parallel texts, and I could end up with 400 new words per story, and each story was about ten pages long. 
 
In my opinion, I think it wouldn't hurt you to read one or two Goosebumps novels, unless you strongly dislike them. I found them easy enough to concentrate not so much on word searching but rather on acquiring a reading habit. If you go from graded readers and jump into THG, you might feel slightly overwhelmed  by the amount of new words, and it might be hard for you to read for longer periods (an hour or more) without getting tired.
 
That being said, why don't you just read chapter 1 from THG and come here to discuss it with me?  You can read it for free in amazon.cn

[Geiko]

Quick update: I've finally finished reading volume one of THG. It took me 23 days, and although I didn't find it particularly difficult, my reading speed was painfully slow. I guess it was partly due to the fact that, while I was reading the paperback, I constantly checked unknown words in pleco. I ended up with roughly one thousand flashcards, which is very disappointing. My intention is to gradually study the new words while I read the second and third volumes. I hope the vocabulary of the following books is more or less the same, so I will force myself not to check pleco unless an unknown word appears more than three times... Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome!

[Vivi MENG]

Hi!

 

Honestly, I'm very selective when reading translated novels in Chinese. Many of them are boringly translated and have the 翻译腔调。  Why don't you try something written by Chinese authors. I personally recommend 明朝那些事儿 （ an interesting history book) and 平凡的世界。But I don't know if you will find it a little bit hard. 

 

 

This is my personal opinion. FYI

[skylee]

Geiko, I am glad for you. I like the Hunger Games. I hope you will find the next books easier. I think it is important that you read books that you like and enjoy, so that reading doesn't become a chore.

I have a low opinion about 明朝的那些事兒 mentioned above. I just don't think it is well written. But of course there are people who enjoy it.

[gato]

万历十五年 is much better than 明朝的那些事儿.

[skylee]

Of course.

[Guest realmayo]

Hello Geiko, casting around for something to read I saw this thread and have now downloaded the book -- will make a start on it over the weekend. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Nathan Mao]

@Vivi Meng,

I'm reading Chinese novels now, but reading books written in English and translated into Chinese is actually a very useful and important step in learning Chinese.

 

I had several Cultural Revolution-era novels set in the 抗日 war period, and set out to read them, and just couldn't get very far.  I had decent general language skills at the time.

Then I sat down and read John Grisham's The Partner translated into Chinese.  I had just finished the English version, and it was extremely helpful to know the story line. That helped so much in trying to understand new words, old words used in new ways, and grammar patterns. I continued with a few science fiction books translated into Chinese, like Haldeman's Forever War, Heinlein's Door Into Summer, and a few Miles Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold.

 

Then in 2011 I picked up 杜拉拉升职记.　Then 金庸's 《连城诀》 and now ，《士兵突击》.  I'm picking up speed and will probably transition to reading nothing but Chinese books from now on.

 

But I couldn't have made it through these without reading the translated books first.

[Geiko]

New update! I finished the second part of 饥饿游戏：燃烧的女孩。This time it only took me 15 days despite it being slightly longer than the first part. But as I said, I almost didn't check any new words, only when they appeared several times, or when they were crucial to understand the story. My reading was much more enjoyable, and although my comprehension wasn't at a 100% level, I still understood the gist of the plot. I keep studying the 1000 new words of book one, plus the 30 or so from book two, and I'm ready to begin with book 3! I wanted to challenge myself to read it in two weeks too, but next 10th May I want to take HSK 5, I'd better slow down my reading and practice more with mock exams, but they're much more boring than THG! 

 

@Vivi MENG: Your advice is great, and my long-term goal is to read only books written by Chinese authors. However, I think it still might be too soon for me, I see translated novels as a bridge to reach native materials. In any case, thanks for your suggestions! In fact, 平凡的世界 is on my bookshelf, I'm just waiting for the right moment!

 

@Skylee: you're right, I liked the first book, but the second one was much more fun, it really didn't feel like a chore! I could spend hours reading and never get tired. Did you watch the films? I've tried to find the movies dubbed in Chinese, but the only thing I could find was the original version in English with Chinese subtitles, for example in www.letv.com. Maybe films aren't dubbed in China? Or this one wasn't for some reason? Or maybe I just suck at searching the net?   

 

@Realmayo: welcome to the thread! Did you start reading 饥饿游戏? Are you enjoying it so far?

[Guest realmayo]

Geiko, wow, you're getting through them quickly! Yes I've been reading Book 1 the last week or so, not even half way though yet, but am enjoying it. I saw the film a while ago which in a way is a pity because I kind of remember what's going on. I'll probably try Book 2 as well, for which I haven't seen the film, so that will probably be more fun in that respect.

And then, well maybe Book 3 too! Should help reinforce lots of the repeated vocabulary (I've been using Imron's Chinese Text Analyser software to pre-learn a set number of unknown words before starting each chapter -- I'm definitely building up the bloodthirsty/violent part of the language). But, even if you do pause for the HSK, I don't think there's any chance I'll catch you up....

 

I'm reading this not long after finishing a Chinese novel (i.e. not translated into Chinese). As to the conversation above, I don't see a big problem with reading books translated into Chinese, especially if you're getting plenty of exposure to normal Chinese via other means (e.g. TV etc). Would definitely choose sliiiiiightly stilted Chinese over not reading anything.

 

However, I don't think there's much of a dificulty gap between this and the Chinese book I read, 圈子圈套, so you might want to give that a go after the Hunger Games. And you'll be happy to know that 圈子圈套 is a trilogy too although I have to warn you, in Book 1 at least, I don't remember any violent killing : http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/29523-book-of-the-month-december-2011-%E5%9C%88%E5%AD%90%E5%9C%88%E5%A5%97/

[Geiko]

圈子圈套 is on my bookshelf too, some time ago I picked the first novel and tried to read the first two or three paragraphs, but I didn't understand much, so I postponed it. I was under the impression that it was significantly harder than 饥饿游戏... I will have to try again later. In any case, after The Hunger Games I already have another trilogy waiting to be read, 黑质三部曲 (His Dark Materials, by Phillip Pullman). I've wanted to read it for a long time, but felt slightly embarrased to "waste" my time with teenage literature, so it was great to find a Chinese translation, to make the reading more... profitable   

 

Going back to 饥饿游戏, it turned out to be a good choice, because I discovered that an old friend of mine was a big fan of the trilogy. We hadn't met or phoned for months, and the books made us organize a reading club! It was fun to discuss our point of views. Usually my old friends don't share my passion for China, so it was a great experience.

 

 

[ChTTay]

"I have downloaded the book"

@realmayo - Where did you do this? Amazon China?

[Geiko]

Silly comment: on every odd page of my edition, next to the number of the page, they decided to write the name of the book in English. Guess how is "Mockingjay" written in Chinglish?

[Guest realmayo]

ChTTay: it wasn't amazon, I found it for free somewhere, but I've since converted and deleted the pdf so I can't remember where it was from.

 

The digital edition seems okay, probably a few mistakes, and it lacks Geiko's transcription of 'Mockingjay'.

[roddy]

That is definitely the work of some bored English teacher who's been asked for one too many favours from his friend at the publishing house...

[Geiko]

This morning I finished "Fockingjay". Although it was my least favourite book from the trilogy (I thought it was rather long and dull in the middle), the beginning and the end were still interesting, and I liked to finish the series, it was like closing the circle. Again, I recommend THG as a first novel, because, once you have acquired the new vocabulary, it's very easy to read and understand. You only need to be interested in the story, and you'll have a lot of fun while practising your reading! All in all, I've read the 680,000 字 of the whole trilogy in two months, not too bad! 

[imron]

Congratulations.  There's a great sense of accomplishment to finishing books in Chinese.

[Guest realmayo]

Excellent. About to finish book 1.....