The Effect of Images in Foreign Books!!!

Having written my last synthesis page (the basis to this blog post) on Flight 45 from Charles de Gaulle to JFK, my writing was heavily influenced by my trip. During my time in Paris, I picked up quite a few foreign books. I speak some French, but different tenses and extensive vocabulary can be very confusing. Images really help!

“Le Petit Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is widely considered an incredible French book for children-except it’s actually quite sophisticated. Not only is it incredibly difficult for ME to read word-wise (I can only read it for about ten minutes at a time because it drains so much of my energy), from what little I’ve gotten through, I could really tell that it dwells into some more grown-up themes. For now, my thirteen-year-old (fourteen tomorrow…) self with three years of French under my belt is incredibly thankful for the surplus of images found on virtually every page. In “Le Petit Prince” images help the reader understand major plot points.

“Les Mythes Grecs Illustrés” was a book I thankfully came across searching for Greek Mythology in French. This book was clearly geared for a younger audience (Thank God), so I could read it much better. It also helps that I have a minor obsession with Greek Mythology, so I already knew the stories in the book by heart. One thing that interested me, however, is that the French changed all the names to French-sounding names. Ex: Perseus becomes Persée. Because I already knew the stories, images helped me figure out the minor details.

“Autrefois l’Olympe [Mythes en haïku]” is a book of twenty or so myths, each represented by a single haiku. If you thought reading poetic English was difficult, try poetic FRENCH!!! Reading this, I began to question if I actually spoke any French at all! If it weren’t for the images in this book, I would have had no clue as to what I was reading! In this book, images help readers know what the heck is going on (don’t let that make you not want to read this book it’s really incredible).

Overall, when reading foreign books, images play a vital role in comprehension. I want to go back to Paris now!!!