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Amazon Kindle and language learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| bernardpar Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5560 days ago 4 posts - 7 votes | Message 9 of 64 06 October 2010 at 9:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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I did not have any problems on Kindle 3 with Polish, Russian and French books. I agree
with Arekkusu that iPad is a more versatile device. Unfortunately it also costs more and it is not that easy on eyes. And again Arekkusu is right saying that some books have to be specifically formatted for eink devices, the problem can be easily sorted out with Calibre -free ebook management software (it converts between different formats, sends books on device, enables daily subscription of more than 300 newspapers). There should be on the market within months new devices with Pixel Qi screens, they will have advantages of both iPad and eink technology. The rumour has it, there will be also new ipad with smaller screen -7 incher ? But if somebody needs a device only for reading books KIndle or Sony is the way to go. Edited by bernardpar on 06 October 2010 at 9:55pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6947 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 10 of 64 06 October 2010 at 10:17pm | IP Logged | ||
I've always found the hardware to be the main attraction of the e-readers. I bought two REB1100 readers (one for installing Cyrillic, one for Latin alphabet-based books - it wasn't unicode-based) back in the early 2000's and they were the next best thing to a book I could find at that time. Laptops, computers, cell phones, etc, are just not the same because of ergonomics. It's either an e-reader or a paper book, otherwise, it just doesn't work for me. What I would look at is how good the hardware is and which commercial and user content formats are supported. Edited by frenkeld on 06 October 2010 at 10:21pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7107 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 11 of 64 07 October 2010 at 1:16am | IP Logged | ||
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One question...
There I am on holiday earlier this year with my Sony E-Reader outside in bright sunlight reading; in contrast, how well does that iPad or Tablet PC cope without me needing a black sack over my head?
Calibre - so much better than the utter sh*te Sony software that is supplied. Reminds me of my Sony MP3 player and the Connect app (Winamp did a better job). Although, I have to say I still find myself using Sigil to tweak EPUB documents far too often 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5385 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 12 of 64 07 October 2010 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | ||
There is no doubt that e-readers fare better in bright sunlight, and that - except perhaps for price -- is their only advantage. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Faraday Senior Member United States Joined 6122 days ago 129 posts - 256 votes Speaks: German* | Message 13 of 64 07 October 2010 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Kindle betters the iPad in readability in sunlight, price, portability, and battery life.
For language learning, however, I find the Tablet PC superior to any of the aforementioned devices. It affords stylus-based navigation as opposed to the inefficient buttons of the Kindle or the clumsy finger-driven iPad, as well as the ability to run any program written for the PC. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Faraday Senior Member United States Joined 6122 days ago 129 posts - 256 votes Speaks: German* | Message 15 of 64 07 October 2010 at 8:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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There are many models out there. Some have a swivel design and a keyboard. Others have a pure tablet format,
which I prefer. The latter category includes HP's TC1100, and Motion Computing's LE1700, both of which can be found inexpensively second-hand. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| oceankyle Newbie United States Joined 5245 days ago 28 posts - 32 votes Speaks: English* | Message 16 of 64 07 October 2010 at 11:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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I thoroughly enjoy my Amazon Kindle for many reasons. It's much easier on the eyes for
reading, its lightweight so its much easier to hold (than a laptop), and you can actually use it outside. There are also many fewer distractions with my kindle, helps to concentrate. There are other advantages to it, but the ease on the eyes and the ability to read outside are absolutely huge to me, which are the main reasons I enjoy mine so much. It does work for learning languages as you can change the default dictionary (if you can find a good one). Instant lookup of a word is great. However if you are getting it as a primary tool for learning a language I would assume your money is better spent elsewhere. There are a lot of books in many languages available for free online that will work with the Kindle. Don't forget the kindle has other features such as text to speech and I believe it can work as an mp3 player. I've actually never used either of these features, I just read. You can also get on the internet, but on my kindle 2 this feature sucks. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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