Do reading books improve your writing skills?

[Mivo]

I should have included the translations -- sorry about that, and thanks to those who fixed that. Well, maybe "fixed" just isn't the best word in this context.

[Freeshadow]

Being a translator of German (although not of English) I'm fine with that.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Mivo

This reminded me of an American friend. Some seventeen years ago, she was learning German and eager to practice her new vocabulary with native speakers. She walked up to a German guy, intending to strike up a conversation by complimenting him on his pants, and said, "Ich mag deine Hoden." The guy looked baffled, then grinned and responded, "Thanks, my girlfriend likes them, too."

I only let her live it down a few years later.

Well, German and Dutch are alike so much, yet sometimes very different. There's a flower market every spring here, where a lot of Germans also show up (we live near the German border). And especially the word "bellen" is fun:

Ich werde Sie bellen. (a Dutch customer to a German stand owner).

Spoiler:

Bellen in German is to bark (like dogs do) and in Dutch to make a phone call). So, instead of "I will call you", it becomes, "I will bark to you"...

And there are more words like that: "möchten" (would like to) vs "mogen" (am allowed to).

So, it's easy to see why it all becomes a jumble when I try to speak German!

[Quexos]

Reading books improves your spelling and that is all !
If you want to improve your writing you must write but people don't do that anymore in this digital day and age...

[HarryT]

Judging by some of the spelling and grammar we've seen in this thread, unfortunately I have to conclude that reading does not improve these skills.

[Mivo]

Originally Posted by Quexos

If you want to improve your writing you must write but people don't do that anymore in this digital day and age...

People, as a group, probably write more now than they ever did before in the history of humankind. Composing emails, text messages, forum posts, and blogging or chatting online, are all writing tasks. Looking back thirty years, when I was in my teenage years, there was much less need to write.

Granted, none of this is prose or "quality" writing, but still, even in those areas the internet and the computer era have made it possible for everyone to share their creative writing. Many of the publishing barriers have been lessened or removed, and everyone can express themselves to an international audience (instead of a couple friends and relatives), if they so wish. The now common spellcheckers also help, because they provide instantaneous feedback and show the correct way.

Back then, and even more so in the pre-computer age, fewer people communicated textually, so poor spelling or grammar weren't nearly as noticeable.

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Judging by some of the spelling and grammar we've seen in this thread, unfortunately I have to conclude that reading does not improve these skills.

Blame the audiobooks and audio dramas.

[Mivo]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

Blame the audiobooks and audio dramas.

Audio books have been around since the 1930s.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Judging by some of the spelling and grammar we've seen in this thread, unfortunately I have to conclude that reading does not improve these skills.

;-)
I might be one of posters you joke about.
If I make 5 grammatical errors in a short post, it might still be an improvement - when you compare it to a post with 15 errors I would have made 10 years ago ;-)

[Froide]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

Blame the audiobooks and audio dramas.

I don't consider those "reading". (I think I'm agreeing with you.)

[Quexos]

Originally Posted by Mivo

People, as a group, probably write more now than they ever did before in the history of humankind. Composing emails, text messages, forum posts, and blogging or chatting online, are all writing tasks. Looking back thirty years, when I was in my teenage years, there was much less need to write.

That's not writing, that's typing !
Writing is when you take a pen and with your hand form letters, words and sentences and people don't do that anymore.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Quexos

That's not writing, that's typing !
Writing is when you take a pen and with your hand form letters, words and sentences and people don't do that anymore.

I disagree. "writing" is the translation of thoughts to a medium where others can read them. If writing is defined as ONLY being done by forming letters with a pen, then most authors aren't writers, either, and haven't been since the invention of the typewriter.

Shari

[Prestidigitweeze]

Since this is an international forum, and since web conversations take place in the valent vale between writing and speech, I'm quite prepared to overlook typos on this thread. If I had to write posts in Spanish, German or Portuguese, you'd see far more errors in my posts than I see in posts by others.

Also: This thread has a touch of ESL about it and I approve of anyone's efforts to slake their inner polyglot.

[Tarana]

Readings books improves the writing skills for some, but not others. Personally, I think someone who DOESN'T read will have a hard time improving their skills beyond the basics, but I've seen MANY examples of people who read tons and tons of books and can't write at all well.

Judging by some of the spelling and grammar we've seen in this thread, unfortunately I have to conclude that reading does not improve these skills.

I wouldn't compare casual online writing with more formal writing. While some take exquisite care of every word they put forth in the void, others just want to get the word out. In addition, some of us can't read the screen very well and errors get by fairly easy.

[mr_nihilism]

I suspect my reading habbit might come into play as to why my wife is always asking how to spell a certain word and I can almost always do so correctly. I was no wiz in English class or anything. I just read.