Does anyone else here read books in languages they don't speak?

I can't speak Ancient Greek, but I can read it.

Same, I can read and translate both latin and ancient greek but I can't speak neither.

I try Finnegans Wake now and then.

One time I was super fucking high watching Godfather 2 and I felt like I could understand the parts set in Italy even though I don't speak Italian and my rip didn't have any subs.

>le drop off the last letter of English language speaker actually knows english meme

Fucking stop. It’s obvious that you would understand English because there isn’t a damn difference between French and English.

A Frenchman learning English is like a Frenchman learning how to ream another Frenchman in the ass: they were always one step away from it their entire lives.

I can understand quite a lot of French, but takes forever for me to form a comprehensiable sentence

Of course.

Spanish, Italian, French, Catalan, Provençal, some Latin etc.

The only languages I can truly speak are Portuguese and English. I can speak Italian somewhat well, but I am not fluent yet.

I also translate poems from all of those languages.

You don't know what you are taking about, but I pardon you. Many English speakers really do have that impression.

Here's the thing: grammar is pretty much the same for Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Provençal, French, and all that's in-between.

fuck off, Ezra

why is english comprehension so poor in France then?

Because most people who speak English today speak it because of American culture (Hollywood movies, music, video games, etc.) and France has historically been a cultural powerhouse of its own.

While I am indeed the guy from the Pound thread a few days ago, calling me by the great man's name is inappropriate, as his achievements are much more important than anything I will ever do.

>speaks 15 languages
>chooses to write like a total twink

>because of American culture (Hollywood movies, music, video games, etc.)
most English proficiency around the world is a hangover from British imperialism. you think 125million Indians speak English because of Tom Cruise movies or Call of Duty? in the case of France, since the early 18th Century, or at least since Voltaire's exile, it became very common for the educated classes of France to learn English. British culture has had many bursts in popularity among the French bourgeoisie, and even as late as the early 1900s there was an obsession with Victorian culture and literature.

most young people now in France probably learn their English outside of school through the internet, but the reason the average English proficiency among slightly older French people is so low is probably more due to laziness and embarrassment at having speak another culture's language. its got nothing to do with your cultural powerhouse meme, English has had a presence in France for centuries.

french and latin
speak german and English

I can relate.
I am fluent in French, Spanish and Romanian. I can read Italian and Catalan without blinking. Portuguese is a bit more difficult, but I can still understand 90%+ from the context.

You don't need to understand the grammar

you can loook it up too it's not hard at all to learn grammar

its funny because it even this way for english resderas I tend to have 20%+ ability to understand latin and french and spanish texts from 1500 BCE - now and ive never even studied foreign languages

If you read enough in a language won't you at least get somewhat better at speaking it? I attribute a lot of my speaking ability in Japanese to having read a lot, though speech is certainly something that you have to practice on its own.