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What’s everyone reading? | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| Juan M. Senior Member Colombia Joined 5680 days ago 460 posts - 597 votes  | Message 49 of 177 22 November 2009 at 5:06pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
I must say, I tried this method for a long time for English and Spanish with terrible results; my writing suffered a lot from an imprecise knowledge and use of vocabulary, particularly in my native tongue. I think one learns vocabulary from a dictionary and masters it through context. Nowadays I don't sit down to read in any language unless I have a dictionary by my side, either in physical or online format. But of course everyone learns differently and should follow whichever method produces the best results for them.
See, there being such an overabundance of worthwhile things to read originally written in Latin readily available in the Loeb Classical Library in bilingual format, this is something I would never do. Edited by Juan M. on 23 November 2009 at 2:06am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6220 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 50 of 177 22 November 2009 at 6:35pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
I've learned almost all of my vocabulary via exposure. I generally find dictionary definitions to be much more vague than my conception of words in my active vocabulary; sometimes they are useful for words I know more poorly. On the other hand, I find occasional references to encyclopedias, wikipedia, or other reference works for unfamiliar technical terms (especially in fields I know poorly) to be extremely valuable.
I'm a voracious reader - and I find that so painful that I simply don't read if I try to force myself to use a dictionary frequently.
Indeed.
It happened to be the best option at a physical bookstore I was at, and I wanted something immediately; online shops take anywhere from a day to a few weeks. I'm not going to claim it's ideal - it's not. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5748 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 51 of 177 22 November 2009 at 8:20pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
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I'm working on the Penguin Parallel Text Cuentos Hispánicos. This book is so much easier than the German
counterpart. Excellent review, and I find a lot of vocabulary returning to me as I read. Also, I have Spanish: Verbs and Essentials of Grammar, not the world's most exciting book, but a very streamlined and practical guide to use. The back of the book proclaims: "The One Book That Does It All"! It seems a little too much to promise . . . ! Other than that, I'm about halfway through Language in Thought and Action by S.I. Hayakawa. It is a little dated, but has interesting ideas about language, most of which I've read about elsewhere. I'm becoming very curious about the Harry Potter books. They sound like a lot of fun, and even more so in several languages! But I have not accomplished much at all these last two days after my computer hard drive crashed on Friday. I wish my boastful little Spanish grammar manual could help me with that! Edited by meramarina on 23 November 2009 at 1:54am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6220 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 52 of 177 22 November 2009 at 9:06pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
They're very mediocre. Their main advantages are that they're long, widely translated, and often have audiobooks. Aside from that, I can easily think of a lot of children's literature I'd consider better, much less literature in general. That said, I should emphasize that they're mediocre, not horrible. They're far from the worst fiction available, and they're readable - more readable than quite a few pulp bestsellers. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| Halie Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5891 days ago 80 posts - 106 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 53 of 177 23 November 2009 at 1:26am | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
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Well, I like the Harry Potters because I really did grow up with them, and they're easy to read in French because I already know the stories. They're fun, and the series does get better as they go along.
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| Juan M. Senior Member Colombia Joined 5680 days ago 460 posts - 597 votes | Message 54 of 177 23 November 2009 at 2:34am | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
I used to be like that and for a long time shunned the use of a dictionary. Then one day I was reading by the computer and decided to look something up. I quickly realized how inadequate my mastery of both English and Spanish vocabulary was and have thence been happily reconstituting and enhancing my formerly hazy lexicon. And not only has it proven beneficial both for a fuller comprehension of reading material as well as for vocabulary acquisition, but it has been quite enjoyable too. I love for instance the little etymological notes included in many definitions at Answers.com. Incidentally, this is how I discovered language learning - by looking up in an online German dictionary the titles of works referenced in the bibliography of a translation of a book originally written in that language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| Anya Pentaglot Senior Member France Joined 5574 days ago 636 posts - 708 votes Speaks: Russian*, FrenchC1, English, Italian, Spanish Studies: German, Japanese, Hungarian, Sanskrit, Portuguese, Turkish, Mandarin Studies: Ancient Greek, Hindi | Message 55 of 177 23 November 2009 at 11:56am | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
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In French, I've started one more book by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt: "Lorsque j'étais une œuvre d'art", because I like the author and I've already read "L'Évangile selon Pilate", "La Secte des Égoïstes" et "L'enfant de Noé" (the last one seems to me a litle bit too "moral", but I like it in spit of this). I also like very much Amélie Nothomb's books, especially "Stupeur et tremblements" et "Antéchrista".
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| jondesousa Tetraglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/Zgg3nRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6045 days ago 227 posts - 297 votes Speaks: English*, Portuguese, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Mandarin, Spanish | Message 56 of 177 23 November 2009 at 1:28pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
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I tend to read many books at once. Currently, I am reading four books. "História Geral do Brasil" (portuguese), Teach Yourself Series "Improve Your Italian", Lingua Latina Pars I: Familia Romana (Latin), and ”実力アップ日本語能力試験:三級” (Japanes e). Edited by jondesousa on 23 November 2009 at 1:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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