MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Question for those who read in their non-native language

ficbot · 04-18-2010, 12:24 AM

I am reading more in French now that I have my Kindle (with the built-in dictionary option!) and have really enjoyed how ebooks have opened this up to me. I am a fluent speaker but have always found reading more difficult because you can't just choose to use only words you know like you can when speaking. I think my reading has become a lot more fluid and I am finding I only need to use the dictionary once or twice every dozen pages. This is great. But I find I am still slowing myself down by getting hung up on the mechanics and I would love some tips from those who read confidently in a language for which they are not a native speaker.

Two issues seem to trip me up. I think I still have a bit of a verb phobia because it seems there are so many more tenses in French (since they have the literary ones you never use when speaking, and these duplicate some of the regular ones). I am not sure how important the distinctions are though. When I look at direct English translations of some of them, it seems like there IS a distinction between, say, imparfait and plus-que-parfait. But they are both forms of the past tense. If I know what the verb is and recognize that it is in the past tense, I have been carrying on and feeling pretty comfortable in the story, but then periodically I will panic that I am missing something and start obsessing over the exact form of every verb. Then I start feeling artificially confused and anxious about the whole thing when probably I was fine to continue with the story and not over-think it.

I also think that sometimes I start trying to translate in my head, and that is probably not the smartest strategy. If there is a word I don't know, I should (and do) look it up and this is why I read on my Kindle. I think I should just be going with the experience of the book since my French IS good enough to just enjoy it. But then I start translating in my head (usually related to point number 1 about feeling the need to nail down which verb tense it is) and then I start panicking when something small trips me up.

Does anyone have any tips for dealing with this? Any French people want to reassure me that recognizing a verb is past or present is good enough for comprehension and I don't need to stress about the exact tenses? Or alternately, pass along any tips for nailing down the tenses once and for all if that is truly important?

Do others who read in non-native languages think that 'translating in your head as you go' is how it must be done? Or do you just go with it and not even think (consciously) about what the words mean, trusting that you;ll recognize new vocabulary when it comes up and that you'll recognize familiar vocabulary on an instinctive enough non-translating way so you can just enjoy the story?

04-18-2010, 12:24 AM	#1
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	Question for those who read in their non-native language I am reading more in French now that I have my Kindle (with the built-in dictionary option!) and have really enjoyed how ebooks have opened this up to me. I am a fluent speaker but have always found reading more difficult because you can't just choose to use only words you know like you can when speaking. I think my reading has become a lot more fluid and I am finding I only need to use the dictionary once or twice every dozen pages. This is great. But I find I am still slowing myself down by getting hung up on the mechanics and I would love some tips from those who read confidently in a language for which they are not a native speaker. Two issues seem to trip me up. I think I still have a bit of a verb phobia because it seems there are so many more tenses in French (since they have the literary ones you never use when speaking, and these duplicate some of the regular ones). I am not sure how important the distinctions are though. When I look at direct English translations of some of them, it seems like there IS a distinction between, say, imparfait and plus-que-parfait. But they are both forms of the past tense. If I know what the verb is and recognize that it is in the past tense, I have been carrying on and feeling pretty comfortable in the story, but then periodically I will panic that I am missing something and start obsessing over the exact form of every verb. Then I start feeling artificially confused and anxious about the whole thing when probably I was fine to continue with the story and not over-think it. I also think that sometimes I start trying to translate in my head, and that is probably not the smartest strategy. If there is a word I don't know, I should (and do) look it up and this is why I read on my Kindle. I think I should just be going with the experience of the book since my French IS good enough to just enjoy it. But then I start translating in my head (usually related to point number 1 about feeling the need to nail down which verb tense it is) and then I start panicking when something small trips me up. Does anyone have any tips for dealing with this? Any French people want to reassure me that recognizing a verb is past or present is good enough for comprehension and I don't need to stress about the exact tenses? Or alternately, pass along any tips for nailing down the tenses once and for all if that is truly important? Do others who read in non-native languages think that 'translating in your head as you go' is how it must be done? Or do you just go with it and not even think (consciously) about what the words mean, trusting that you;ll recognize new vocabulary when it comes up and that you'll recognize familiar vocabulary on an instinctive enough non-translating way so you can just enjoy the story?