Multilingual Reading Slogans

May 3, 2004 8:18 PM

I'm making a display for the library in which I work. The display is to show off our collection of children's book in languages besides English. I want to have phrases like 'reading is fun', 'read books' and so on in as many languages as possible. Please list away!
posted by malpractice to writing & language (35 comments total)

c'est amusant de lire

it is fun to read

according to my GF who speaks French as her first language
posted by Grod at 8:23 PM on May 3, 2004

I have, so far:

C'est hypercool de lire; Ich mag lesen; La bibliotheque est chouet; mi piacciano i libri.

Thank you!
posted by malpractice at 8:26 PM on May 3, 2004

chouet chouette
posted by Grod at 8:32 PM on May 3, 2004

Leyendo es divertido
Lea libros (not sure about this one)
posted by amberglow at 8:32 PM on May 3, 2004

lesen macht spass.
posted by jann at 8:45 PM on May 3, 2004

Ich liebe lesen (My German is awful, you might wanna check that)

Eu amo livros (Ditto with my Portuguese)
posted by Slimemonster at 8:47 PM on May 3, 2004

amber: it's "Leer es divertido" Don't ask me why, I'm not a Spanish grammarian but "Leyendo es divertido" sounds wrong to my ears...Your second is ok :)
posted by vacapinta at 8:51 PM on May 3, 2004

oops...i was iffy on the wrong one.

and Pais de los cuentos is Storyland
(unless vaca says no) : >
posted by amberglow at 8:57 PM on May 3, 2004

"Ich lese gern" for German [on preview: "lesen macht Spass" is better for "reading is fun", "ich lese gern" is more "I like to read".]? "legere est iucundum", maybe, for Latin? The only Latin dictionary I can find is really terrible (though it does define "dropsical" and "dudgeon" in Latin).
posted by kenko at 9:03 PM on May 3, 2004

A filipino friend contributes the Tagalog version: "Masaya'ng mag basa."
posted by vacapinta at 9:03 PM on May 3, 2004

Dutch: Lezen is leuk.
posted by fvw at 9:09 PM on May 3, 2004

Ler é giro or Ler é bem giro would be better for children, as this is how they/we speak. If you want to use colloquial, 100% acceptable slang, used by children, teenagers and the President of the Republic, Ler é fixe.

Ler é giro: Reading is fun.
Ler é bem giro: Reading is great fun.
Ler é fixe: Reading is cool.

Btw, what a fixe idea, malpractice! :)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:22 PM on May 3, 2004

Binary:

Reading is Fun! =

010100100110010101100001011001000110100
101101110011001110010000001101001011100
10010000001000110011101010110111000100001
posted by Hildago at 9:34 PM on May 3, 2004

Yomu koto ga omoshiroi desu!

[Japanese]
posted by jeffmshaw at 9:58 PM on May 3, 2004

"Ich lese gern" for German

"Gern" is an infinitival complement. No infinitive in that sentence.

However, "Ich mag gern zu lesen" is "I [emphasis] like to read" or, idiomatically, "I like to read very much."

Jann (the native speaker, naturally) got it.
posted by Mayor Curley at 10:15 PM on May 3, 2004

Llegir és divertit. (Reading is fun)
M'encanta llegir. (I love reading)
Catalan
posted by Zootoon at 10:54 PM on May 3, 2004

Ead-ray ooks-bay.
posted by iconomy at 11:59 PM on May 3, 2004

?????? - ??????!
posted by RavinDave at 12:54 AM on May 4, 2004

Ooops ... MeFi doesn't do Cyrillic, eh?

<< Chteniye -- zabava! >>
posted by RavinDave at 12:57 AM on May 4, 2004

An nangseuh sanuk maak maak
(Thai - read book fun much much)

mail me if you want it in Thai script
posted by Pericles at 2:18 AM on May 4, 2004

Det er så sjovt at læse bøger - it is fun to read books
Jeg elsker at læse - i love to read

(In danish)
posted by FidelDonson at 2:27 AM on May 4, 2004

Eu iubesc lectura.
[I love reading]

(romanian)
posted by jessamyn at 8:05 AM on May 4, 2004

Mayor Curley: They learned me wrong! Or I misremembered.
posted by kenko at 8:27 AM on May 4, 2004

leer es entrete
leer es bacán

not sure if the former is "correct" (entrete might be a colloquial shortening of entretenido), but it's normal speech. the latter is certainly colloquial - no idea if it's just chilean, or a more general spanish expression (bacán is the current cool word for cool - it doesn't seem to have any particular negative associations (won't offend anyone)) (from pauli).
posted by andrew cooke at 9:00 AM on May 4, 2004

Det er gøy å lese - It's fun to read
Jeg elsker å lese - I love to read

Norwegian
posted by widdershins at 9:17 AM on May 4, 2004

"Makalingaw ang pagbasa" - It's fun to read, in Bisaya, a major Filipino dialect. And yeah, available in Baybayin script by email.
posted by azul at 9:33 AM on May 4, 2004

I like to read in Mandarin Chinese, simplified characters, pinyin romanization.
posted by whatzit at 12:09 PM on May 4, 2004

Reading is fun (lit., to read very good). More interesting suggestions welcome...
posted by whatzit at 12:20 PM on May 4, 2004

German: I would use "Lesen macht Spaß!" (reading is fun) or/and "Ich lese gern" (I like reading).
kenko, Mayor Curley: Since German is my native language, I wouldn't know if it's an "infinitival complement" or whatever, but it's definitely correct to say "Ich lese gern". You could also say, "I mag gern lesen" (without "zu"), but no German would use that construction in everyday conversation.
posted by amf at 1:12 PM on May 4, 2004

For Japanese, I like "hon wo yomimashou" - "Let's read books." The "mashou" form is nice and polite, and it also seems friendly and appropriate for use toward kids. You can see this phrase written in Japanese at the top of this page, since MeFi isn't very friendly towards Japanese text.
posted by vorfeed at 2:35 PM on May 4, 2004

Det är kul att läsa! - Reading is fun
Läs fler böcker! - Read more books
Biblioteket är mitt andra hem! - The library is my second home
Böcker är balla! - Books are cool

That would be Swedish.
posted by mr.marx at 2:47 PM on May 4, 2004

In a related vein, see also:

Fruitville Public Library Open Book Gateway

“Open Book Gateway” is a gateway-type structure formed by three open books with pages featuring six, profile-cut quotations in English, as well as the Arabic and Chinese translations. The artwork is approximately 18 feet tall.
posted by piskycritter at 2:52 PM on May 4, 2004

I can eat glass, it doesn't hurt me.
posted by oissubke at 3:02 PM on May 4, 2004

Thank you all so much! This has been such a great help. I am brimming with gratitude!

I'm tempted, oissubke.
posted by malpractice at 4:42 PM on May 4, 2004

Lukeminen on hauskaa - Reading is fun
Lue enemmän, luule vähemmän - Read more, guess less

That's Finnish.
posted by severiina at 10:04 PM on May 4, 2004