Reading in English as a Non-native Speaker

[Majorix]

Number of e-books in my native language (Turkish) being scarce, and some books I wanted to read not being translated into Turkish, I had to start reading e-books in English last year.

I usually read fiction, mostly fantasy novels and thrillers.

Apart from vocabulary I don't face many problems. I have never built a rich vocabulary. Never learned any definitions by heart when our poor high school teachers kinda forced us to BTW the main reason I use e-readers is because they provide built-in EN->EN dictionaries, allowing me to look up unfamiliar words with just a tap, however I forget the meaning just minutes after and look up the same word again and again each time I face it. Kinda like a fish I am

I should mention here that playing computer games greatly helps learning English. That is how I learned most of the stuff. I have never been to an English-speaking country, not even for a few days, but I bet it would have helped if I did.

I am sure there are people like that out there, so show your face! Tell us about what your native language is, about what helped you in learning English, the reason(s) why you prefer to read in a foreign language, what kind of books you read, about the ups and downs of reading in a foreign language, about the difficulties you face or maybe give some tips to others.

[taming]

I took French at University in the US and read popular novels in French for several years to try to keep up. I had no opportunities to speak French in my day-to-day life. Now I live in Western Canada--still no French in my day-to-day life--but I can watch TV in French (though it drives my prairie boy husband crazy).

[Majorix]

I think if I was a native speaker of English, I wouldn't bother with learning any other languages (and I guess most US citizens do this already). Most books are written in English, and if not, you can expect a translation into English before any other language.

[samhy]

Originally Posted by Majorix

BTW the main reason I use e-readers is because they provide built-in EN->EN dictionaries, allowing me to look up unfamiliar words with just a tap, however I forget the meaning just minutes after and look up the same word again and again each time I face it. Kinda like a fish I am

In that case, when I have looked up a word, I highlight it so I can check it again after finishing the book.
An eReader is a great way to have better access to native contents. It was one of the reasons I bought one in the first place.

[estelle58]

My native language is French but I don't like translations so I read mostly in english

[Ansileran]

Originally Posted by Majorix

I think if I was a native speaker of English, I wouldn't bother with learning any other languages (and I guess most US citizens do this already). Most books are written in English, and if not, you can expect a translation into English before any other language.

That sounds quite narrow minded. Yes, it happens quite often, but it doesn't mean it's right. What about poetry? Not worth reading? You loose so much with any translation...

TV is a great way to practice a foreign language. Reading on a reader is great too because of the dictionaries (assuming there is a dictionary in the language that interests you). If I can, I read in the language the book was written, if not... French translations unless they are too expensive (they often are).

[Atunah]

I am German and immigrated to the US a few years back. I have always been a reader and the transition was very difficult for a while.
What I mean is that it took a while for me to be able to immerse myself into the English books, as I had done with the German language books.

I am now at the point that I can only read English fiction books, its odd and hard to explain. But I don't speak, read or write German much at all, other than a few phone calls to my family, so I am all English now.

One thing I found very interesting was re-reading books I had read first in German. I was a huge Stephen King fan and I re-read a few books of his.
The translation of his books to German are top notch. Same creepy feeling no matter the language.

[Salgueiros]

I am Portuguese and i read both in english and portuguese. I can read without problem nonfiction in both languages, but i find the english language a bit "dry" and unable to provide all the nuances that i see and feel when i read in portuguese, specially if it is a portuguese author. The same applies to other languages (mainly, french, italian or german), so for novels and literature in general, i read in portuguese.

Poetry is even less of a problem. I simply do not touch any english translation of a non english poetry book. I find it in most cases a total loss.

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by Majorix

Tell us about what your native language is, about what helped you in learning English, the reason(s) why you prefer to read in a foreign language, what kind of books you read

My mother tongue is Arabic. I attended private schools my whole life and it's only when I graduated from high school did I go to a public university. Some of you may wonder what this has to do with anything. Here in the UAE, they rarely teach English at public schools and if it's taught, it's taught very poorly. Public schools focus on the Arabic language solely; all of the subjects are taught in Arabic. Private schools on the other hand don't focus only on our native language, English similarly is regarded as a vital language that we have to learn, in order to graduate it was (still is) compulsory for us to speak/write fluently in both Arabic as well as English.

When I was young, my mother used to get me English and Arabic novels. I used to read both but I preferred the English novels a bit more for some reason. The Arabic novels were classics translated in Arabic and it could be that a few were translated poorly. I enjoy fantasy and science fiction and you very rarely see Arabic books in these genres.

[Ansileran]

You always loose something with translations, even if they are well done, simply because you loose the cultural signification behind the words. Or simply because there is no equivalent word in the other language. Try translating the full meaning of "mutterseelenallein" (German) in English. Something simpler: I once tried looking for a translation for "entrebaîller" (French) in English. Couldn't find a word with the same meaning...
Reverse it. I couldn't find a proper translation for "angst" (English) in French, something like "angoisse" but not exactly...

[guanaco]

Originally Posted by Ansileran

You always loose something with translations, even if they are well done, simply because you loose the cultural signification behind the words. Or simply because there is no equivalent word in the other language. Try translating the full meaning of "mutterseelenallein" (German) in English. Something simpler: I once tried looking for a translation for "entrebaîller" (French) in English. Couldn't find a word with the same meaning...
Reverse it. I couldn't find a proper translation for "angst" (English) in French, something like "angoisse" but not exactly...

Well, they say that if one wants to look into the "soul" of a language then one must see its untranslatable words.

BTW, I speak Spanish and also can read in English. I learnt some English in regular school, took some courses in a language school, but most of my vocabulary comes from reading books in English and watching TV using the SAP option.

I prefer to read books and poetry in their original language. Of course for other languages besides English and Spanish it is a matter of availability of a translation. I have found that in general is easier (and cheaper) to find an English translation than a Spanish one.

[kacir]

Hi.
We had similar discussion some time ago here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=179851
Look at my post #23. I do not want to repeat it here.

[Majorix]

Hey kacir. Sorry for creating a similar thread, but the title of that one doesn't tell much about how it would be similar to the one I created.

I enjoyed reading that post. But you never mentioned where you are from. Care to tell?

I also took that test and I got what I expected: ~13400 words. At least I know where my weaknesses lie :P I most likely would not be able to read a book without the built-in dictionary of my PW, however that is expected of a lazy student like myself who only recently started reading books in English. But I have my hopes up, I have a richer Turkish vocabulary than the average Turkish adult, so why shouldn't I achieve the same in English?

[Zora]

You learn common words in your native language by hearing them in context. Eventually the meaning becomes clear. It is only the words that appear infrequently that one has to look up. As you read in English, the meaning of words that appear frequently will gradually become obvious.

I am a native English speaker who reads (but cannot really speak) French. I still remember reading The Three Musketeers in French, many years ago. I started out by looking up the words I didn't know, but that slowed me down too much. I discovered that I could figure out what was happening even if I didn't know all the words. So I abandoned the dictionary and just READ. About halfway through the big book, I figured out my first French word from context. Feutre. The large felt hat that the musketeers wore. WOW! That was such a thrill.

If you keep reading in English, you will learn words the way you learned words in Turkish.

[Antoinekamel]

Dear Majorix,

My native language is Brazilian portuguese. Since I've come to know Kindle, I started to read in English because there are almost no ebooks in portuguese.

What I've found to work most to learn English is 1) to use not an EN-EN dictionary in your e-reader, but a translation dictionary.

2) Each time I see a definition, I look to the horizon and, mentally, put the word in funny or deep phrases, imagining a picture to record what that word means. I record it more easily for later passages.

3 If you have to look the dictionary too many times in a book, you're reading the wrong book. Normal people (me included in this case) cannot retain so many new foreign words in a row. With step number 2, the word learned keeps fixing in your mind while you continue to read. If you continue to get meanings, you get lost on the book and on the word you've searched before.

Hope these 3 steps help.

By the way, get a (legally) free English to Turkish Kindle dictionary here: http://eb.lv/dict/.