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Comment by andrewcooke | Hacker News Reader

fwiw, if you have basic spanish, he's very easy to read in the original. very clear, simple prose (and you only need to read one story at a time).

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This is kind of surprising, because he is typically considered a tough read for native Spanish readers. I wonder if the reason for this is that, although he uses a much wider vocabulary than other authors (making it harder to read for native speakers, specially young ones), he writes in such a precise and masterful way that it ends being easier for non-native readers. [or maybe because he is like a programmer between writers; his writings have some kind of formal language feeling in them]

oh. ok, so that's worrying / embarrassing. since i am no expert perhaps i have misunderstood things. i'm just leafing through ficciones now and i guess there may be words i think are invented that are simply obscure. or maybe he uses non-latin words that, for me, seem easy but are unusual in spanish?

how is someone like donoso rated? that's the kind of thing i find impenetrable...

[edit i just googled to see what others think, and i guess you don't get articles like this http://theclubofcompulsivereaders.blogspot.com/2011/07/es-ta... if he's as easy as i thought]

Do you have any references that he's hard for Spanish speakers? I'm curious.

I find him easier to read than most other Spanish short story writers. Could be the logic.

I am also Argentinian and not everybody reads and follows Borges writings in spanish. I will not enter in a "reference game" since is public knowledge here, even if it's not written formally.

Had an old boss who was a Romance languages PhD dropout. He told me that Borges' first language was English (his father was half-English and it was the primary language at home), he went to boarding school in Switzerland, so he basically doesn't write Spanish as a native speaker. This can make his writing in Spanish more accessible to English speakers, but jarring and dissonant to native Spanish speakers.

Can't judge the merits of it myself, but it seems plausible.

Borges use of the Spanish language was perfect. He had a very deep knowledge about the precise meaning of words native speakers use in a more careless way. And he had the accent, etc. of a native speaker. People might find it hard precisely because he uses the language with an exactitude and a vocabulary that is really uncommon.

I'm from Argentina, and I have heard that many many times, but I've never read one of his book.

I don't have any references, this is based on personal experience of living in Argentina and having seen what people say about his books here (he's considered the hard writer). It's a shame though, because his writing is really wonderful.

Borges is "hard" because of his ideas of the infinite, time and so on, not because it's hard to understand what he writes. His Spanish is quite plain and easy to follow. That doesn't mean one understands completely the message.

I don't think any native Spanish speaker would have trouble understanding what he writes.

I don't think he's a hard read myself. But I do think it is an usual occurrence that Spanish speakers find it hard to read, and I think it is because of the language mainly, and not because of the content. But because I don't think it is hard myself, and because I didn't make a survey, I can't say this is exactly the case for most of the population.

Maybe it's the English influence? He was an avowed admirer of English literature and spoke fluent English, which he got from his half-English father.

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