Reading to understand or translate? (Books, Literature & Reading) Language Learning Forum

Reading to understand or translate?
Tags: Comprehension/understanding \| Reading
Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading

Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6096 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish	Message 1 of 3 07 June 2011 at 7:02pm \| IP Logged
	I've developed a frustrating habit with my reading. There may be nothing to worry about and what I'm experiencing is quite universal. However I've a suspicion that something needs fixing. What happens is: I read a couple of pages of a story (aimed at 12-15 year old children). I read outloud and concentrate on pronunciation, after a while (been 8 months since I started Polish) my reading is flowing a lot better and there are fewer pauses. BUT, my comprehension lags. So I find myself re-reading the pages again, but this time concentrating on meaning. What I struggle to achieve is the capacity to read and understand simultaneously. I may recognise 50% of the words but I can't grasp their meaning at the same time as reading at normal speed. Hence I have to go back over it slowly and deliberately. What's made me suspect something's amiss is what I've read in 'The Art and Science of Learning Languages' by Gethin and Gunnemark, an excellent book by the way. The authors warn about the dangers of translating the target language into your native language. One of the dangers is that this translation creates an additional step in comprehension. For example, English speakers know that 'bird' = a feathered animal with a beak. We make a DIRECT association with reality, we don't first translate the word into another word and then comprehend. So: Native comprehension: bird = feathered creature (reality) sad = feeling low (reality) But in reading my target language there's another step before reality: 'ptak' [POL] = 'bird' [ENG] = reality 'smutny [POL] = 'sad' [ENG] = reality What I want to get to is POLISH WORD X = REALITY X with no step in between. So that when I read it's as if I'm reading in my native language because my brain has learned to make an instant and direct connection to reality. I suppose the ultimate is to actually think in the target language. But how to achieve this? Hours more reading? Change the way I read? Try some kind of immersion? Stop reading anything English for a few months? I hope I've explained myself, and would value your experiences and advice. Edited by Mooby on 07 June 2011 at 7:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful
galindo Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5198 days ago 142 posts - 248 votes Speaks: English, Spanish, Japanese Studies: Korean, Portuguese	Message 2 of 3 07 June 2011 at 9:03pm \| IP Logged
	You've only been studying it for 8 months, so it's normal that there are still gaps in your comprehension. You may currently rely on the link between Polish words and their English counterparts in order to aid your understanding, but that doesn't mean that you will never be able to develop a direct link between the Polish words and what they mean. Be a little more patient with your brain! It's working very hard to build up new connections and assimilate a whole new system of communication. It's still too early to ask your brain to abandon the only way of thinking/communicating/relating to the world that it's ever known. I don't think that reading out loud is a good way to improve your comprehension. You're just giving yourself an extra task to focus on in addition to understanding the words you're reading, and the sound of your own voice can be distracting. You don't need to be working on your pronunciation at the same time that you're trying to work on your reading. How good is your listening comprehension? Once you can hear someone speak Polish and not need to translate it in your head, you can definitely achieve the same thing in reading. I think that listening comprehension is very important for improving reading skills, since you are basically listening to Polish in your head when you read silently. Reading will get a lot easier as you expand your vocabulary. One way to avoid translating as you read is to read something very descriptive that allows you to clearly picture what is going on; when the words you read are in the context of a strong mental image, you don't need to use English to help you along. Obviously it's hard to have an image in your head for the more abstract words, but it's quite easy to create one for most common words, especially concrete nouns, adjectives, and action words. You don't actually need to link each word to an image, though; what's important is to be able to use your imagination to create a vivid scene for the story you are reading, so that you won't feel lost when you encounter an unknown word or one that you can't quite remember the meaning of. 6 persons have voted this message useful
Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6096 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish	Message 3 of 3 07 June 2011 at 9:57pm \| IP Logged
	Thanks for posting galindo. I must admit to not doing nearly enough listening. The worry I have is that if I only read, then words will become associated with a series of letters rather than sounds. Gethin, in the book I mentioned, confessed that this happened to him, so that when he was having a conversation and heard someone say a word his brain would throw up a mental image of this written word rather than the reality of what that word represented. I've read elsewhere on the Forum that listening should not be delayed, after all many peoples speak languages with no written words at all. Another thing I need to confess is that I have a strong Anki addiction (AA Anonymous!) and this has undoubtedly skewed my comprehension to the visual assimilation of single words rather than contextualising a flow of words audibly. An imbalance I must address - out with the cd's and radio tomorrow. 1 person has voted this message useful

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