Belarusian language book in German
A German linguist Sonja Heyl from Berlin’s Humboldt-Universität Institut für Slawistik has written a Belarusian language study guide, which will be published in 2006. It’s already listed on amazon.de:
• Lehrbuch der weißruthenischen Sprache (250 pages, 29 euro)
• Audio-CD, weißruthenische Sprache (19 euro)
That’s nice to know someone is doing this. So far, the only Belarusian-language book they had on amazon.de was a simple phrase book, with an audio tape:
• Weißruthenisch: Wort für Wort (8 euro)
It’s worth noting, however, that American amazon.com currently does not offer a single title about Belarusian language.
December 4th, 2005 at 6:54 pm
Want to add… there’s not a single book about Belarus or Belarusian language in all the libraries in Holland or any bookstores. Ive checked every single one of em, including the main library which has 7 different floors and has books on (almost) everything.
December 5th, 2005 at 1:59 pm
The German situation is a just little bit better. They have 7-8 books about Belarus on amazon.de.
December 5th, 2005 at 5:09 pm
Hmmm.. actually amazon.co.uk says there are roughly 400 titles matching “Belarus” (includes titles such as “Russia and Belarus travel guide”). I think the situation here is most likely due to demand… you can ask any person here about the word Belarus and they either don’t have a clue or think you said Russia.
December 5th, 2005 at 5:49 pm
> amazon.co.uk says there are roughly 400 titles matching “Belarus”
Of them only a dozen are directly related to Belarus (country introduction/politics/history), the others being books, for example, written by Jews from Belarus, that write some fiction or non-fiction about totally unrelated matters.
> or think you said Russia.
Who knows, what an average Belarusan would know about Netherlands? Besides, Holland has a rich history. They even had their own colonies.
December 6th, 2005 at 8:53 am
Aye, that was what I was saying… most books does include a little bit, but is never actually about Belarus. In travel guides or even an old soviet dictionary I did find a few references about Belarus but it was never more than a few lines or a paragraph.
The average Belarusan about the Netherlands? Hmm… well those that are my friends do know. They know where it is and a little bit about it (cheese, drugs, windmills lol Ive heard it all). Its FAR more than I can say of any Dutch person. The reason they think I’m talking about Russia is the same as why you refer to Germany as White-Holland. Occasionally I call this place White-Germany. Belarus also has a rich history. I’m in no way proud of a country having had colonies as they’re also related to slavery and so on.