With the European Day of Languages approaching on September 26, how are you planning to celebrate the day?
How about marking the occasion by giving your students some of their favourite English books to read in another language. On the one hand, they will enjoy rediscovering their favourite books; and, on the other, they will be motivated to encounter new vocabulary and grammar by reading their beloved stories in a different language.
As a student wrote to us this month about her Russian translations of the Harry Potter books: “These books are amazing! I have been trying to learn Russian for a while now and thought that these would help, as I already know the text so well.”
As a guide to what is available, here is a selection of popular English-language authors whose books can be bought in European translations from European Schoolbooks Limited or the European Bookshop.
Young readers
| Jeff Kinney | David McKee |
| Eric Carle | Julia Donaldson |
Older readers
| Stephenie Meyer | George R. R. Martin |
| J. R. R. Tolkien | Philip Pullman |
| Michael Morpurgo | J. K. Rowling |
| Suzanne Collins | Roald Dahl |
| ‘A Level’ set texts |
Adult readers
| Sophie Kinsella | Peter May |
| Dan Brown | Danielle Steel |
| John Grisham | James Patterson |
| Frederick Forsyth | Ian Rankin |
| Clive Cussler | Classic authors like Dickens and Jane Austen |
As well as full translations of books by these and other English-language authors, abridged versions are available which have been specially written for language learners of different abilities.
We wish you and your students a happy European Day of Languages!