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Reading a novel... or thinking... | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Caneta Newbie Brazil Joined 4700 days ago 2 posts - 4 votes Speaks: Portuguese* | Message 1 of 13 29 December 2011 at 11:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi for everyone! You know when you read a book, while you read the words, you start to
think the story. I have trouble to read novels and think the story when the book is written in another language. And... how can I constroy my thoughts and think in? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| fiziwig Senior Member United States Joined 4851 days ago 297 posts - 618 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 2 of 13 30 December 2011 at 3:00am | IP Logged | |||||
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The first novel I read in Spanish I was 64 pages in before I started to think about the story at all, and even then I was mostly thinking about the words and trying to figure out what the sentences meant. Then around page 160 or 170 I realized I was only thinking about the story. But it took me several months to get that far into it.
I think the secret is to just keep working at it, and eventually it happens that you are involved in the story. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6583 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 3 of 13 30 December 2011 at 3:35am | IP Logged | |||||
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Exactly.
Or you can start with children's books and graded readers. And/or try to make the language FEEL familiar - in my case, football streams and twitter have helped a lot;) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6606 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 4 of 13 30 December 2011 at 10:21am | IP Logged | |||||
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I like to relax and visualize the story. However, if my target language is very weak, it can be difficult to visualize since I might be missing important points. I find that it helps to read a story I've already read in my native language or another strong language. This is because I then already have the images in my mind. The words of the new language then connect to the old images and I find myself learning a lot of new vocabulary because of this. After having done this a few times, I have increased my vocabulary and gotten used to the literary style and grammar of the new language. Then I will find that I can read a story in the target language without knowing it from before. Even if I don't get every detail, I get enough to form images in my mind and quickly find myself following the story and forgetting that it is written in a foreign language.
4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| birthdaysuit Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4803 days ago 48 posts - 101 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Swedish | Message 5 of 13 30 December 2011 at 2:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
I second this. When I attempted to read an unknown book in one of my weaker target languages, I found it impossible. So I moved on to a book I was familiar with - the language learner's favourite series - Harry Potter, and worked my way through that. You will still miss many words, but gradually things will improve. Just have a dictionary to hand to look up those tricky words you need to know for the story to make sense. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5248 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 6 of 13 30 December 2011 at 5:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
@Caneta, I am not intending to insult your English, but obviously, you are not fluent in English. I can understand the gist of your question but I cannot get the full meaning of your question clearly. It is possible that you may mean "How do I think in the target language whilst I'm reading?", but it is not clear. I think it would also help you to submit a post in the Portuguese Thread here on the forum where you can write in Portuguese and receive answers in Portuguese that may also be helpful to you. Temos muitos membros brasileiros com muita sabedoria. Bem-vindo ao forum! Edited by iguanamon on 30 December 2011 at 7:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5002 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 7 of 13 30 December 2011 at 6:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
Now, I do not want to ruffle any feathers... But do enlighten me how any of this is relevant? I did not know that one needed to be fluent in English before one could post here. I apologise if I have offended you. I did not mean to. Sincerely, Napoleon Edited by napoleon on 30 December 2011 at 6:53pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5248 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 8 of 13 30 December 2011 at 7:20pm | IP Logged | |||||
I am not sassing the OP, just trying to help. I simply stated the obvious, that the original post is not worded in a clear manner. I merely meant to say that, even though people are trying to help with ideas about the OP's topic, it isn't exactly clear what is being asked. We think we know, but do we really 100% know what the OP's question is, and more importantly- how best to help him or her? That's the relevance. No, you don't have to be fluent in English to post here- but the more clearly you can express yourself and what you want to know, it will help you to get more relevant responses to your queries, and conversely, it also helps to be able to more fully understand the responses. Language is a means of communication and the more clearly one can express oneself the better in order to elicit the most helpful replies. We do have areas where members may post in many languages and receive responses written in those same languages. I posted the link to the Portuguese thread because since the OP is new he/she may not be aware of its existence and the opportunity for assistance that it can provide. I was merely trying to help the OP. Sorry for any, unintended, offense to any member who isn't a fluent English speaker. Edited by iguanamon on 30 December 2011 at 7:49pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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