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Audiobooks vs, reading | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6321 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 1 of 10 22 January 2011 at 11:42am | IP Logged | ||
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I find audiobooks inherently more enjoyable in many ways than reading, particularly as they are a superb means of maintaining and improving listening comprehension without the luxury of being immersed in an L2 environment. Since maintaining aural contact with my languages is paramount for me, using audiobooks is therefore more congenial to my studies. So this thread is for curiosity's sake, to find out whether the majority here prefer to read words or listen to them. Edited by ChristopherB on 22 January 2011 at 11:43am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| aabram Pentaglot Senior Member Estonia Joined 5538 days ago 138 posts - 263 votes Speaks: Estonian*, English, Spanish, Russian, Finnish Studies: Mandarin, French | Message 2 of 10 22 January 2011 at 6:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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I love reading, I don't listen to audiobooks. They're totally different genres for me.
Book is a story where I myself make the pace, put the emphasis and use style which I feel it should have. I actively take part in unfolding the story. Audiobook -- why is it even called a book? -- is a narrative which I merely witness. I'm passive and I have no control over emphasis, drama or style. Absolutely different genre. It's kinda like polling "do you like doing carpentry or do you like going to the movies". But that's me. For aural contact I just watch TV and movies. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6954 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 3 of 10 23 January 2011 at 4:36am | IP Logged | ||
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I prefer both in conjunction. If both are available for a certain book, I would rather
use both than only one. This is because reading through books in an L2 is slow and painful at the lower levels, and I lose motivation rather quickly, while with an audiobook it's difficult to understand or look up new words; it's like listening to the radio without a transcript. For my native language, I prefer books. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6321 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 4 of 10 23 January 2011 at 6:12am | IP Logged | ||
Well hardly. An audiobook is so- called because it's a book that has been recorded. They both provide the same content, merely delivered via different media. In any case you make a good point that one has no control over the narrative of an audiobook; this is certainly true. In my native language I rarely listen to recorded books, but for foreign languages they can be extremely helpful. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| skeeterses Senior Member United States angelfire.com/games5Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6623 days ago 302 posts - 356 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Korean, Spanish | Message 5 of 10 23 January 2011 at 3:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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Audio books can be a good tool for learning your foreign language, but only if used in conjunction with the written
book. Its extremely important to have a good grasp of the printed material before turning on the audio. For the Korean book I'm working on, when I read it, I read one page at a time and then play the audio for that portion. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6788 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 6 of 10 23 January 2011 at 4:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't consider audiobooks a competitor to paper books. They are much more versatile
than that. I use them when cooking, walking, waiting for the bus, waiting in line, falling asleep etc. In all kinds of situations where a paper book isn't practical. That still leaves moments when I have the time and I feel like sitting in a comfy chair and reading for books on paper. Ideally I would like to start with audiobooks as soon as possible in a new language, but it takes longer before I can handle them. It's much easier to read when you see the text visually. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Thomas_DC Triglot Groupie Denmark Joined 5779 days ago 58 posts - 65 votes Speaks: Danish*, English, French Studies: German, Arabic (Written) | Message 7 of 10 23 January 2011 at 7:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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These days i listen to audiobooks while following the text at the same time. I read much better than i speak french, and my hope is that the audio will help me with the oral dimension of the language, however, i quickly loose my focus, and never catch a lot, when i only use audio.
I do agree about the audiobook being an interpretation of the book, and i think that a lot of the experience you get out of reading, is lacking in audio-recordings (especially when the reader changes his voice for different characters and when silly soundeffects and music is added). For learning, though, audiobooks are really helpful, and i am looking forward to being able to understand them without reading at the same time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6788 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 8 of 10 23 January 2011 at 8:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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Oh yeah, I really dislike audiobooks with sound effects and music interludes etc, it's
especially painful when you're just learning the language and merely listening to it under perfect conditions is a big challenge already. Edited by numerodix on 23 January 2011 at 8:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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