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B2-C1/C2 - what did you do?

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GREGORG4000
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5310 days ago
307 posts - 479 votes 
Speaks: English*, Finnish
Studies: Japanese, Korean, Amharic, French

 
 Message 9 of 23
04 March 2010 at 10:30pm | IP Logged 
Studying languages has made me realize exactly how many words in English I don't know, and that I just glanced over and got the gist of the text from without even realizing it (such as, say, "porter")
3 persons have voted this message useful



Mark88
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 5466 days ago
15 posts - 21 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: German

 
 Message 10 of 23
05 March 2010 at 7:24pm | IP Logged 
GREGORG4000 wrote:
Studying languages has made me realize exactly how many words in
English I don't know, and that I just glanced over and got the gist of the text
from without even realizing it (such as, say, "porter")


I remember how long it took me to read a page of a German novel. I would waste so much
time looking up every word I didn't know when I saw it, only to find I didn't even know
what many of those words meant in English! When I realised how many words I skip over
in an English novel and still fully understand the sentence/paragraph/page/whatever, I
started doing this with German. Indeed, after I had been doing this for just a few
hours, I realised I could understand very clearly each paragraph without having any
need to look up words. (Well, rarely!) I am already at a stage where I can very easily
enjoy real literature at good speed, and I am talking about things like Goethe here -
not kids books! :-) It took me a long time to get away from being a slave to a
dictionary. Lots and lots of reading is essential... and enjoyable!
4 persons have voted this message useful



Pyx
Diglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 5522 days ago
670 posts - 892 votes 
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 11 of 23
05 March 2010 at 11:43pm | IP Logged 
Mark88 wrote:
GREGORG4000 wrote:
Studying languages has made me realize exactly how many words in
English I don't know, and that I just glanced over and got the gist of the text
from without even realizing it (such as, say, "porter")


I remember how long it took me to read a page of a German novel. I would waste so much
time looking up every word I didn't know when I saw it, only to find I didn't even know
what many of those words meant in English! When I realised how many words I skip over
in an English novel and still fully understand the sentence/paragraph/page/whatever, I
started doing this with German. Indeed, after I had been doing this for just a few
hours, I realised I could understand very clearly each paragraph without having any
need to look up words. (Well, rarely!) I am already at a stage where I can very easily
enjoy real literature at good speed, and I am talking about things like Goethe here -
not kids books! :-) It took me a long time to get away from being a slave to a
dictionary. Lots and lots of reading is essential... and enjoyable!

You can *enjoy* Goethe? ;)
Sorry, I'm scarred by my German high school classes.. I never liked his books.. his poems are good, though..
1 person has voted this message useful



Julien71
Tetraglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 5159 days ago
42 posts - 52 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, German, Spanish
Studies: Portuguese, Hungarian

 
 Message 12 of 23
12 March 2010 at 10:05am | IP Logged 
Are there any poems by Goethe you could recommend me reading to start discovering his work?
1 person has voted this message useful



Pyx
Diglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 5522 days ago
670 posts - 892 votes 
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 13 of 23
12 March 2010 at 12:45pm | IP Logged 
I enjoy Prometheus. But if you want to read somebody that is utterly enjoyable to read, I can recommend Hermann Hesse :)
4 persons have voted this message useful



Julien71
Tetraglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 5159 days ago
42 posts - 52 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, German, Spanish
Studies: Portuguese, Hungarian

 
 Message 14 of 23
13 March 2010 at 4:42am | IP Logged 
Thanks Pyx. That's a very nice poem, I like it.
Do you have any specific book by Hermann Hesse in mind?
1 person has voted this message useful



Pyx
Diglot
Senior Member
China
Joined 5522 days ago
670 posts - 892 votes 
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 15 of 23
13 March 2010 at 6:10am | IP Logged 
Julien71 wrote:
Thanks Pyx. That's a very nice poem, I like it.
Do you have any specific book by Hermann Hesse in mind?

I'd say they're all good, but the one that impressed me most was "Siddharta"
2 persons have voted this message useful



Julien71
Tetraglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 5159 days ago
42 posts - 52 votes 
Speaks: French*, English, German, Spanish
Studies: Portuguese, Hungarian

 
 Message 16 of 23
13 March 2010 at 6:46am | IP Logged 
Pyx wrote:
Julien71 wrote:
Thanks Pyx. That's a very nice poem, I like it.
Do you have any specific book by Hermann Hesse in mind?

I'd say they're all good, but the one that impressed me most was "Siddharta"


Thanks. That looks like an interesting topic: spiritual journey of a boy known as Siddhartha from the Indian Subcontinent during the time of the Buddha. I'll definitely read it.


1 person has voted this message useful



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