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Reading Aloud Technique | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| sfuqua Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4700 days ago 581 posts - 977 votes  Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog Studies: Spanish | Message 65 of 70 18 December 2011 at 6:40am | IP Logged | |||||
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I seem to remember reading some book while I was a peace corps volunteer( probably borrowed since I had no money :)
Maybe it was Pei's _how to learn any language and what languages to learn_. Anyway, the author was of the opinion that it took about 2000 pages of reading of varied material, to reach "near native speaker" reading abilities. I know that this had something to do with my decision to include a lot of reading aloud in my learning. I wonder what reading _Don Quixote de la Mancha_ (using audiobooks and the like to turn it into a big Assimil course) would do to my reading, listening, and speaking after I get done with Assimil. Maybe I would be prepared to hang out in Spain in the 17th century :) Seriously, could one actually read aloud, and understand 2000 pages of modern Spanish novels,and not be able have a beer with the gang, flirt with the girls (or boys if that's your taste), and so forth. I agree that this would only work if there is some sort of control on the pronunciation of the learner. Perhaps by using audiobooks one could produce a sort of an "Assimil" course. Take 30 seconds of the book. Listen to it, read it, check the translation, then read it aloud, maybe 3 times. I wonder... steve 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| allen Newbie United States Joined 5019 days ago 23 posts - 73 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Korean, Thai | Message 66 of 70 18 December 2011 at 7:10am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think the relevant question is what exactly does reading aloud help that reading to
yourself doesn't? I imagine that someone could read and understand 2000 pages in their head and still have a beer with the gang. Btw, I doubt 2000 pages is nearly enough to read near native speaker abilities. Native speakers can read subtitles for movies which are very fast. I would say 20,000 pages is closer. But then it probably depends on the language as well. Off the top of my head I can't think of reading aloud helping with anything other than pronunciation and maybe speaking fluidity. But if nobody is correcting your pronunciation when you're reading does it really help all that much? To be fair I read out loud myself but near as I can tell it can only help to the extent that you're able to correct yourself. That is, to the extent that you already have an idea of how you'd like to sound but can't readily produce those sounds. But what if you don't have a clear idea? What if that idea is flawed? I think shadowing is still superior because at least you hear the correct pronunciation. But I like reading aloud for a slower pace. Edited by allen on 18 December 2011 at 7:11am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6610 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 67 of 70 18 December 2011 at 10:26am | IP Logged | |||||
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If you aren't native or advanced, you can use two techniques:
1-Shadowing the audio as your read aloud. 2-Listen and read silently a paragraph and then read this paragraph aloud. Anyway, if you want to learn a language you will use other techniques apart from reading aloud, for example: extensive listening. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4844 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 68 of 70 18 December 2011 at 6:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
It takes a lot more focus to read aloud. Look back at the 2nd post in this thread. I don't believe it is as difficult as the post makes out, but it does require more engagement to do so. More engagement and focus means more of the learning is retained. It's the same reason Pimsleur asks you to repeat out loud rather than in your head. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| slucido Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Spain https://goo.gl/126Yv Joined 6610 days ago 1296 posts - 1781 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan* Studies: English | Message 69 of 70 18 December 2011 at 6:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
You are right. It takes more focus, engagement and effort. That's why I am always looking for excuses for not to reading or talking aloud in L2. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| fiziwig Senior Member United States Joined 4800 days ago 297 posts - 618 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 70 of 70 18 December 2011 at 7:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
If that's all that reading aloud can help with, then that seems like quite a lot to me, and well worth the effort. When learning to speak a new language virtually every sentence is a tongue twister. You are asking your vocal machinery to make sequences of sounds it has never made before, and it can be very difficult. What reading aloud a couple of novels has done for me is make those "tongue twisters" completely effortless. Now that I can easily and smoothly make the sounds of Spanish, even if I don't completely understand every word I'm reading, I can concentrate on grammar and vocabulary, because the speaking part of the equation has been mastered. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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