I can only read Les Miserables in English translation.

Question

Because I don't understand French, I can only read Les Miserables in English translation.I don't think the bolded part sounds right, and I'm tempting to revise it as "I can only read the English version/translation of Les Miserables." What do you think? Thanks.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

I think you can be more concise: Because I don't understand French, I can only read 'Les Miserables' in English.

Marius Hancu · Answer

I agree with MM, but I'd change the order:

Because I don't understand French, I can read 'Les Miserables' in English only.
Because I don't understand French, I can read 'Les Miserables' only in English.

Philip · Answer

Marius HancuI agree with MM, but I'd change the order:

Because I don't understand French, I can read 'Les Miserables' in English only.
Because I don't understand French, I can read 'Les Miserables' only in English.

I prefer these positions of 'only' rather than before 'read'.

Clive · Answer

Hi guys,

Despite all these interesting comments, I really don't see anything wrong or unnatural in the original sentence.

Clive

Philip · Answer

CliveHi guys,

Despite all these interesting comments, I really don't see anything wrong or unnatural in the original sentence.

Clive

There is nothing unnatural, indeed, because so many people place the word 'only' in places I think it doesn't really belong. I prefer to put it as near the part that I am "only-ing" as possible.

"Of the romance languages, I can only read Spanish," to me is incorrect because the placement of 'only' indicates that one's talents in Spanish are in the reading, but not in speaking or writing. Granted, what is meant may be understood, but I still like to put it closer to the element of the sentence I intend to modify by it. [This is just a little "thing" that G.G. and I share.]

Hoa Thai · Answer

Hi,

Do all there 'only' suggestions imply that the speaker knows only English, or s/he does not know the novel exists in other languages besides French and English?

Thanks,
Hoa Thai

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Because I don't understand French, I can only read Les Miserables in English translation.

Do all there 'only' suggestions imply that the speaker knows only English, or s/he does not know the novel exists in other languages besides French and English?

The speaker is a native speaker of English.

The speaker knows that the book is available in an English translation.

He has not considered reading it in a language other than French or English, because there is no need to with an English translation readily available. For this reason, his knowledge of other languages seems irrelevant and is not addressed in the statement.

Hoa Thai, this is a query that would probably not occur to a native English speaker. We tend to assume that English translations of all the great books are readily available.

Best wishes, Clive

I can only read Les Miserables in English translation.

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