Is it ok to post books in other languages?  Is there a call for that, does anyone know?  Since I live in Germany, there are often german books available at the local book swap shelves (not teaching, just novels or whatever that happen to be in german).

Hi Patrica,

From the PBS Help Center:

What can be swapped here?

Allowed:

• Paperback books
• Hardcover books (dust jackets not required)
• Audio books (must be originals, not burned copies)
• Ex-library books
• Books with accompanying media
• Textbooks/Workbooks 
• Foreign-language books (if in a language other than English, the language must be specified in the book description)

 I don't know if there are in demand, but they're okay to post.

I had a couple of books in French that I picked up at Goodwill .  I posted them and both went.  One fairly quickly, the other one took awhile.  They can't be sent abroad, of course, but there are a lot of foreign language speakers here, I think.  They have to have ISBN#'s, but I think most do.

Just curious: why are they required to have ISBN's if other postable books are not?

Please post them!  A lot of college students who are majoring in languages are looking for books like this to purchase cheaply (or in this case, trade). 

Winston, the books can be sent abroad, IF the member, as the one who posted above is, is a member, or family member of, a military service. This is indicated by the stars & stripes bow under their name.

Also, I agree with the question of why they would HAVE to have an ISBN? Other books can be posted as a non-ISBN, I wouldn't see any reason why a foreign language book couldn't be, but you may be aware of something I am not?

You folks who asked about my comments----Probably you could indeed post them without ISBN#'s, but they might be difficult for people looking for them to find among the number of posted books---you really would have to list them by the title in the language that they are printed in ,wouldn't you?  I suppose if you were a foreign language student looking for that title in the foreign language, you 'd find it OK, though. 

Yes, shipping abroad to APO/FPO addresses is AOK, and I have done so several times.  You often have to fill out a customs form which is a pain, but not an insurmountable one.  Keep in mind that the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and islands like Yap and Saipan also qualify as domestic mail, too.  I have shipped to PR, the VI, but not the others listed above, though.

Quite a few of the foreign language books I have seen listed are listed in both English and the other language. I'm very grateful when people do that, as well as when they put the descriptions in both the foreign language AND English. I like to order books for my DIL, and if they are only in Spanish, and I want them to be a surprise, I have to get my DS to find time to read it for me.

Also, I found the form for shipping to APO/FPO online and very simple to fill out, and then was told by the PO that because it was a personal gift item to be used personally by the service member or one of their family, that I didn't even need the form! But, I recommend filling it out anyway, it's really easy to do and print to take with you to the PO.

Post away, and if you see any French books, let me know. I know there are teachers and students on here that are always looking for books.

You could also tag them with the language they are in to help make them more findable.

I am interested in Japanese language manga, and I can often find those posted here.  Not a problem at all!

I am german by birth and have been living in the USA for the past 24 years. I would love to get a hold of some german novels. So go ahead and post away. I am sure there are more members like me and miss part of home and don't get to read german too often anymore.

I post French books.  Usually they are snapped up the first day, but if they aren't, they can sit on my shelf for quite a while.  I think people find them in the books "posted today" and grab them.  Now that we have tags, I've tagged them.

You can also go up to the top right hand corner of any page here,  Right above "need help?" there's a search window.  Plug in "french" (or "german"  or "spanish") there, and you'll get thousands of listings, some of them along the lines of what you are looking for.

At this point, only Spanish has an actual catalog for that language's books, tho not all are correctly listed in or not in it. I just got one for my DIL that was not in it, and is totally in Spanish. But, I've found several that are in it that are NOT Spanish. I'd love to be able to see the owner's of the books in there so I could make sure they are all correctly listed. Instead, you should always PM the sender to make sure the book is in the language shown.

To get to the Spanish catalog click SEARCH>>ALL BOOKS>>Libros En Español in the list near the lower left side of the box.

Can you search by tags too??

You can sort of search by tag.  If you find a book with a tag you like and click on the tag, it brings up everything that has that tag on it. 

If you have trouble finding the tag you want, you can temporarily add the tag you want to a book , click on the new tag (bringing up everything with that tag) then delete it (by clicking on the red x)  if it doesn't apply. When I do this, I use a book from my own shelf so that I'll remember which book I used for the temporary tag.

I have some books in german posted, and have mailed a few out already. I would search for books in german by searching for common german words in titles.

Diane