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Dual Language book, how to?

 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies Post Reply
superstacker
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 5791 days ago

25 posts - 28 votes
Studies: French, Russian, Spanish

 
 Message 1 of 8
27 October 2011 at 11:59pm | IP Logged 
Hi guys,

In an effort to boost my studies a bit, and keep them interesting I have purchased the
following book:

Russian Stories (Dual-Language Books) [Paperback]
Gleb Struve (Editor)

It contains 12 short stories, by a variety of Russian writers, the English is perfectly
lined up with the Russian so finding out meaning is easy.

My question is how to go about learning vocab from this book? Is it a case of writing
down every word I don't understand (which will be a lot at first) and then going over
the page over and over until I understand all the words? Then move on to next page?

Or am I missing on a crucial method?

All help appreciated.

Edited by superstacker on 28 October 2011 at 12:05am

1 person has voted this message useful



jazzboy.bebop
Senior Member
Norway
norwegianthroughnove
Joined 5404 days ago

439 posts - 800 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Norwegian

 
 Message 2 of 8
28 October 2011 at 12:35am | IP Logged 
This site gives some advice which you might find useful as well as other bilingual texts you can use for learning Russian: http://english.franklang.ru/index.php?option=com_content&vie w=article&id=1:ilya-franks-reading-method&catid=3:2011-04-22 -11-56-11&Itemid=2
5 persons have voted this message useful



Wompi
Triglot
Groupie
Germany
Joined 4942 days ago

56 posts - 64 votes 
Speaks: German*, Spanish, English
Studies: Czech

 
 Message 3 of 8
28 October 2011 at 10:24am | IP Logged 
I also have a bilingual book in czech and couldn´t read it fluent at first in the target language so I started to read first the sentence in my language and then the sentence in the target language and associated the words. After I finished the book I read it in the target language anew (because I only have this book) and marked all those remaining words with a marker I still didn´t know. I find if I mark those still missing words your brain can learn and remember these words easier.

Edited by Wompi on 28 October 2011 at 10:26am

4 persons have voted this message useful



superstacker
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 5791 days ago

25 posts - 28 votes
Studies: French, Russian, Spanish

 
 Message 4 of 8
28 October 2011 at 2:12pm | IP Logged 
jazzboy.bebop wrote:
This site gives some advice which you might find useful as well as
other bilingual texts you can use for learning Russian:
franks-reading-method&catid=3:2011-04-22-11-56-11&Itemid=2">
http://english.franklang.ru/index.php?option=com_content&vie w=article&id=1:ilya-franks-
reading-method&catid=3:2011-04-22 -11-56-11&Itemid=2


I am possibly none the wiser from reading this, the book doesn't have any prompts or
inserted translations, just English on one side and Russian on the other. I would have
thought it best to go through paragraph by paragraph, but i'm really not sure of the best
way to do this...
1 person has voted this message useful



JiriT
Triglot
Groupie
Czech Republic
Joined 4783 days ago

60 posts - 95 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, English, German

 
 Message 5 of 8
29 October 2011 at 2:12am | IP Logged 
I believe, reading a book with the translation can be very helpful. But there may be
two problems. The first, is the language of the book current? Or a hundred years old or
is it a special language, not the common form of the language? The second possible
problem, is is a literary translation or a translation very close to original? Literary
translation can translate the meaning (as the translator understood) but not the word
and grammar structure. The main point should be, when I use a bilingual book, I do not
a dictionary, instead of it I use the translation into my mother tongue.
If you know some basic grammar and some vocabulary, you should try to understand the
meaning first just from the text. Then you can read the translation a try to guess the
meaning of the unknown words. Finally, you can compare the meaning you guess from the
text and its translation with the dictionary. Even here you have to decide the correct
meaning, since only few words have just one meaning. So the guesswork is not a waste of
time, you would do it anytime, even without the translation. The translation helps you.
Here you can compare, if the translation and what you have found in the dictionary is
often similiar or the same. In such a case you could do without a dictionary or to use
it not very often. It is not necessary to look up each word. But at the beginning it is
better. Some words you will not find anyway or their meaning in the text will not be in
the dictionary. If you understand the sentence as a whole, it should not stress you.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4895 days ago

2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 6 of 8
01 November 2011 at 10:21pm | IP Logged 
jazzboy.bebop wrote:
This site gives some advice which you might find useful as well as other bilingual texts you can use for learning Russian: http://english.franklang.ru/index.php?option=com_content&vie w=article&id=1:ilya-franks-reading-method&catid=3:2011-04-22 -11-56-11&Itemid=2


That article was interesting. He basically described the L-R method, without the listening component. I think audio would definitely improve comprehension, as well as ensuring better pronunciation and developing your ear.
1 person has voted this message useful



iscem42
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 5236 days ago

6 posts - 6 votes
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: German, Mandarin, Hindi

 
 Message 7 of 8
03 November 2011 at 12:32am | IP Logged 
Prof. Arguelles also has some pretty solid advice in this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=zbBdz80Vpr8&feature=channel_video_title

I think one of his suggestions for saving time is to read through the translation first so that you'll have a good idea
of the context before you start reading in the target language. After that, he suggests waiting for a while (perhaps a
few hours, or perhaps until the next day) before reading the translation. Doing that, you may be able to train your
memory a bit better than if you just read them at the same time.
1 person has voted this message useful





Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6689 days ago

9078 posts - 16473 votes 
Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian
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 Message 8 of 8
03 November 2011 at 1:50am | IP Logged 
I have written a whole lot about this in my Guide to Learning Languages, part 2


1 person has voted this message useful



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