TO BE MORE PRECISE…an army of zombies.
Since arriving back on Irish shores three months ago from Colombia, I’ve continued to work on my Spanish.
Fortunately, Dublin has no shortage of Spanish speakers for practice. But I’m finding that private study is my preferred option for keeping my interest levels high. Even more so if I’m interested in the material (No more boring grammar books).
Sandwiched between the World Cups games, I’ve watched dubbed episodes of Rick and Morty on Netflix. Admittedly, not the easiest to follow.
The best discovery, at least when it comes to digesting and learning new words, has been the Walking Dead comics. I’ve been a fan of the TV series for a few years, despite its fondness for dragging its arse at times (Hershel’s farm anyone?).
I bought Volume 1 in Spanish and tore through it at a fair clip. I’m loving the new tangents/characters that the books explore. I’m seeing Michonne in a whole new light!
Comics are something I loved as a kid – Tintin and Asterix especially, and it never really occurred to me that they could be used as an effective medium for learning languages.
Maybe that’s because I always equated comics as being for kids.
Anyone that has read/watched the Walking Dead will know that’s not the case. It’s now opened up a world of Graphic Novels and Superheroes (nerd alert!) which is really exciting.
One of my challenges now is finding material that is compelling and in South American (Mexican) Spanish – my preference.
Surprisingly, there are no book stores in Dublin that sell/trade foreign language pulp comics which is kinda shitty. The best I’ve discovered is International Books which stock Tintin and that costs about €15 euro for one story. Sure, I’d have that read in my lunch break.
Maybe there’s a business idea in there. With so many foreign students in Dublin, there’s bound to be a market for it.
I can see us huddled around street corners, pale waxen faces with glazed eyes from too much time spent indoors reading. Fingers groping and tearing through boxes, looking for the next hit.
Not too dissimilar to los muertos vivientes, ‘cept instead of brains, it’ll be comics we’re hungering for.
I got all of the Asterix books, in English mind you, from the local library recently to relive the childhood fun…I read them in order and thoroughly enjoyed them…albeit mainly the names of the characters. Never really thought to learn a language that way…maybe you could do a French version of Rot? 🙂
I quite fancy ROT as a comic book. Know any good graphic illustrators that are feelin’ charitable? 🙂
Well…if you really childlike drawings, I could be your man! 😄 Seriously though…no I don’t. It’d be good as a comic…you could perhaps even lighten things and make a children’s version…
You might be onto something there Graham. Though, with the kids stuff it’s highly visual so I’d need to hire someone. Send me some artwork and we might make a deal 😉
Cool post, Aidan.
Thanks Rae 🙂
check the library’s webpage for kindle editions. amazing stuff to be found!
Good Call Suze!