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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4535 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes  Studies: German | Message 73 of 295 20 January 2014 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
The Kindle plus Collins is really great. I don't know what level you are, but you might want to think about getting a subscription to die Zeit. It's a great weekly German newspaper with a similar scope to the Guardian. The Kindle subscription is only 8 euros/month (I think). Die Zeit Edited by patrickwilken on 20 January 2014 at 7:53pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4535 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 74 of 295 22 January 2014 at 12:38pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Narrow reading, wide gaps
With the new year I have started to read more 'adult' books. I just finished "Südlich der Grenze, westlich der Sonne" by Haruki Murakami, and earlier in the month the first of the Harry Hole mysteries, "Der Fledermausmann" by Jo Nesbø, and "Gammler, Zen und hohe Berge" by Jack Kerouac. It really feels like my vocabulary has taken a big step forward, but it really is surprising how I will suddenly hit a wall in my understanding. I flew through Kerouac, but reading the 30 page essay on Kerouac and Snyder at the end felt like I was wading through treacle. I have started reading articles from the weekly newspaper, Die Zeit, in the morning and suddenly feel like I have gone back at least six months in my learning. I have similar experiences with films. I am currently watching the third season of the Sons of Anarchy (recommended). Although I understand a lot of what's going on, there are still big gaps in my understanding of conversations. On the other hand I watched "Strange Days" and "The Mothman Prophecies" in the last week and had no trouble at all understanding pretty much everything people said. I don't think this can be just put down to good and bad days or to grammar. There just seems to be interesting limits to my vocabulary, and that is surprising in so far as I have had the expectation that as my general vocabulary improved I would be able to access all genres relatively equally (albeit with the need to learn a relatively small specialized vocabulary associated with each). What I think I am realizing now is that while there are some very low frequency words associated with each genre (e.g., words like "crime scene" in thrillers, and "spaceship" in scifi), there are a ton of mid-frequency words that are associated with each genre (or even author). The upshot of which is that you can get extremely fluent in a particular area, but suddenly take a *big* hit in understanding when you read something else. While I like the idea of "narrow reading", at my intermediate level I feel I have to start what you might call wide reading if I am ever going to get to C1, since while you can probably ignore or pick-up the low frequency words as needed, the mid-frequency words can't so easily be done without. Edited by patrickwilken on 22 January 2014 at 7:58pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4084 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 75 of 295 22 January 2014 at 5:48pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Have you tried some vocabulary books Patrick?
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| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4371 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 76 of 295 22 January 2014 at 5:55pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Die Zeit is a tough one. I became overly ambitious last year and moved on to that one right after Deutsche Welle became too easy. I chose that one because I read on a forum somewhere that it was definitely for C1 level and above, so I figured it would stretch my vocabulary. I definitely had the 6 month regression period! It's better now, but I admit I typically read in the Gesellschaft and Wissen sections which probably makes it easier (I really don't like to read current news events and would rather read things where I can learn new information).
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| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4690 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 77 of 295 22 January 2014 at 6:00pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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If the actual newspaper of Die Zeit is too tough, start with the articles free online at
www.zeit.de--they seem to be much easier. I spent a little while making vocabulary flash cards from those a few years ago, maybe 10 a day, and after about a month I started to feel much more comfortable with news vocabulary in general. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4535 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 78 of 295 22 January 2014 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
So nice to have all these German learners on my blog!
I put lists from Themen Aktuell for a while in Anki, and then when I started reading books I started putting words/sentences from the books into Anki as well. But after about a year of Anki I decided to just read and let my vocabulary naturally develop. I quickly look up words I don't know on the Kindle as I go, but don't make any other effort to memorize them. So far that's been working very well.
That makes me feel much better! I've been focusing on the politics section, partly because it's at the start, but also because I live in Germany and want to know what Germany is thinking about the world. Perhaps I should check out their special section written for children first! :)
That's a good tip, but I have a Kindle subscription and it's relatively easy to read with the Kindle and dictionary, and the Kindle is nice as I have a week to slowly and systematically work through the entire paper. The only problem is that there are a lot of words not in the dictionary.
I think in general that's a great idea. The problem is that I sort of OD'ed on flashcards. At the moment I think I'll suck-it-up and see how it goes for the next few weeks. If I am still having lots of trouble I might make a new deck in Anki. Edited by patrickwilken on 22 January 2014 at 8:03pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4690 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 79 of 295 22 January 2014 at 8:15pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
I think flashcards in general are a great idea--in theory. In practice, I'm allergic to them, and I sympathize completely with anyone who runs away screaming from the thought of flashcards. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4535 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 80 of 295 22 January 2014 at 9:02pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
I used to add unknown words that I came across while reading into Anki. At a certain point I started reading much faster than I could learn cards (I ended up with something like a 3-month gap that was getting ever bigger). At this point I realized I could either read less or not worry about cards so much. A lot of my cards were 'sentence cards' anyway. And I figured I could see the same sentence X-times or X-sentences once in a book. I thought the book option was more fun. Anki is great to build your vocabulary up to the point where you can start using native materials. After that point I am not so sure (esp. if you consider the time you make/use the cards could be spend reading). Edited by patrickwilken on 22 January 2014 at 9:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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