Comments on: Book Challenge Update: 8 Down, 16 to Go http://lindenamueller.com/blog/2010/05/book-challenge-update-8-down-16-to-go/ silvery strands of thought Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:55:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: admin http://lindenamueller.com/blog/2010/05/book-challenge-update-8-down-16-to-go/comment-page-1/#comment-3315 admin Sat, 22 May 2010 15:26:55 +0000 http://lindenamueller.com/blog/?p=1891#comment-3315 @Fips: Well, I wasn't getting along very much at all for about six chapters, then I started over and began reading it while listening to the audiobook. It was like I hadn't read those six chapters because I understood <em>so much</em> more! The reader's (ha!) intonation and pauses helped me to identify meaningful word groups and connotations more than my non-native ear could. Reading is going much faster now, and I'm comprehending more. I don't read with a dictionary at all, actually. The audiobook helps with that especially, I think. @Fips: Well, I wasn’t getting along very much at all for about six chapters, then I started over and began reading it while listening to the audiobook. It was like I hadn’t read those six chapters because I understood so much more! The reader’s (ha!) intonation and pauses helped me to identify meaningful word groups and connotations more than my non-native ear could. Reading is going much faster now, and I’m comprehending more. I don’t read with a dictionary at all, actually. The audiobook helps with that especially, I think.

]]> By: Fips http://lindenamueller.com/blog/2010/05/book-challenge-update-8-down-16-to-go/comment-page-1/#comment-3314 Fips Sat, 22 May 2010 08:56:22 +0000 http://lindenamueller.com/blog/?p=1891#comment-3314 How are you getting on with <em>Der Vorleser</em>? I used to find I could get away with flicking through German books for my subject at university, since skipping the odd word (err.. paragraph) you don't understand didn't make a big difference, but when I finally got around to trying to read novels in German it was shockingly hard going! Obviously there were more flowery/descriptive words that you wouldn't normally come across in something like a newspaper article, but even then I often found that when I looked the words up in a dictionary, I'd be surprised that I hadn't even been able to judge it correctly from context. Constantly grabbing for the dictionary made it a slow process, but fortunately things have gotten better. I'm currently on with <em>Der schwarze Obelisk</em> -- the not-so-great Gatsby of hyperinflation Germany -- and find that when I'm within dictionary range there are only a few words each chapter I long to look up. The more depressing notion now is that I occasionally find the English entry only to consider going to look for an English dictionary afterwards! How are you getting on with Der Vorleser? I used to find I could get away with flicking through German books for my subject at university, since skipping the odd word (err.. paragraph) you don’t understand didn’t make a big difference, but when I finally got around to trying to read novels in German it was shockingly hard going! Obviously there were more flowery/descriptive words that you wouldn’t normally come across in something like a newspaper article, but even then I often found that when I looked the words up in a dictionary, I’d be surprised that I hadn’t even been able to judge it correctly from context.

Constantly grabbing for the dictionary made it a slow process, but fortunately things have gotten better. I’m currently on with Der schwarze Obelisk — the not-so-great Gatsby of hyperinflation Germany — and find that when I’m within dictionary range there are only a few words each chapter I long to look up. The more depressing notion now is that I occasionally find the English entry only to consider going to look for an English dictionary afterwards!

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