The third book I want to comment on:
#Review of 📌Sorry, I'm a Foreigner by Craig Ashton.
📌Genre:#languages#non-fiction
📌Book story: the author is a foreigner who came to Russia for a couple of months and stayed forever. After years of struggling to learn Russian (and loving almost every second along the way) this charismatic teacher and blogger decided to share his never-ending love for languages and cultures by the means of a book.
📌My rating:#Amazing
📌Initial impression: I expected to find a lighthearted story about love for the countries, languages, cultures. I expected to see notes of a student, reflection of a teacher and fun impressions of an enthusiast. I’ve got all that and then some.
📌What I loved: almost everything in this one. For me this book, indeed, looks like those notes that you write all over your work; like intrusive thoughts and on-the-spot ideas that you can’t help but get from time to time; like a well-structured stream of consciousness. It envelops you in the utmost respect to your and “foreign” cultures — if you even can still call them foreign after having truly felt them and made them yours? I’m absolutely amazed by the depth of love that the author shows towards the language and the culture it represents.
📌What I didn't like: the songs. Wait, not the way you think. I liked the parts where Craig Ashton was breaking down some iconic pieces. What I didn’t particularly enjoy was the reminder just why I never listen to some — because now I truly understand what the lyrics are about.
📌Final thoughts: must read for everyone who is learning languages, teaching languages, thinking about learning a language, not thinking about any languages and, basically, for everyone. This book is full of hilarious stories and moments of self-reflection.
It reminds you that a language — is a door. And the world that's hidden behind it is definitely worth the trouble of intentionally opening this door, however complicated it might seem.A Quote to Remember:
To understand and learn the language you need to feel it.