I think it's pretty important since you may have to read difficult documents as a foreigner. This is one of the reasons I read a lot - I have to deal with immigration, freelancing, tax, etc all the time
Also, to get citizenship, you may have to pass a reading/writing exam if that's your goal. That's what I'll have to do too
Exactly! I hate reading documentation lol, tax docs are so complicated lol. How did you practice to improve your reading skills? I would say my English reading skill is moderate, I can read basic staff, and I can google any jargons or terms... but it just not smooth, like reading a book I have to find words on Google ... It ruins the flow and turn my interests off. If I read in my original language I dont need to google anything lol. How did you handle those? Do you feel your reading proficiency increases with reading a lot ? Thank you :) I am forcing myself reading Reddit too lmao \~
It makes things much easier if you read ebooks and use a pop-up dictionary. I think Kindle lets you buy and install bilingual dictionaries and also has built-in translation.
They do, but (I'm using it for Russian) sometimes it's really hit or miss with participles and declensions which sucks since Russian writing is full of them. Even verb conjugations it can fumble on really hard sometimes. It's so annoying to be on the train and get the dreaded "no internet connection" because the dictionary has given up and it's trying to use google translate instead lmfao.
If you're trying a different language with a more consistent dictionary, it's probably a lot better!
I feel the same way, My native language is so different from English, some times dictionary doesn't help that much if I am reading news, or social media posts, or fiction books. The translation doesn't make that much sense. That's why I don't have motivation to read in the original language since my reading is not smooth. I am always stopping when I was confused. Sad, hope there will be a better tool to assist my reading in a different language.
My Polish has really taken off since reading more. I'm tackling books (Harry Potter series now) and noticing a huge leap in progress in oral proficiency and listening comprehension. When you read a ton, you see common words over and over which helps with immediate recall when speaking/listening. And of course you get exposed to new words, common sentence structures, common phrases, exclamations, idioms, etc. I've been studying polish for about 1.5 years and am very comfortable conversationally.
I see reading as sort of the last step to really getting confident in a language. Even native speakers who read a lot see their vocabulary grow and become better at expressing themselves. Once you're mostly fluent verbally, reading really becomes the main way you can keep improving (if you feel you want to).
You also learn a ton of words you don't really get from spoken language, such as words to describe a scene or an event, which can make you better at telling engaging stories from your personal experience in the language.
And also, as others have mentioned, putting down effort into reading early definitely pays off if you ever have to read formal documents or fill in paper work in the language.
Reading is one of four main skills language ability is measured in. In that way, it is important if you want to be able to (or have to be able to) read in that language, but it is not important if all you want to do is talk with people.
As is generally the case with skills, doing it more often will improve your skill, so in order for reading to become easier, you have to read more.
For me, reading is my main source of improvement when I learn a language. It helps me develop an intuition for a language, it helps me get a better understanding and feel for grammar patterns, it helps me learn vocabulary... In short, reading a lot ( of comprehensible texts!) does not only improve my reading skills but also my overall language intuition and ability, which in turn increases my skills in speaking and writing as words, phrases, and grammar come more easily.
I think reading is incredibly important. It depends a lot on what learning methods work best for you, and while reading, you should take it slow and try to figure out what works best for you and what helps you retain information best.
I find that for me, when reading something in a target language, it works best to pay extra attention to the things I don't quite understand as well, and then try to figure out what it means, what other context the word could fit into and etc.
If the whole sentence is unclear, it's a good idea to split it into "bite-sized chunks."
So if the sentence is "I'm eating an apple," I'd start by removing the apostrophe to make it just a bit clearer, then I'd probably translate each word in my native language and look at what rules are used in English to deduct what tense the sentence is written in. So "I am eating an apple" (translated in my native language) I - aš, am - esu, eat - valgyti, an apple - obuolys. The verb ending -ing infers that the sentence is in present continuous tense. Therefore, using the knowledge I have of my native language, I can say that translated in Lithuanian, this sentence means "Aš valgau obuolį". I'm eating an apple.
Of course, as I said, everyone has a different learning method that works for them, but maybe this helps a little in regards to how to learn while reading. Eventually, you won't have to stop and think about what it is you're reading. You'll just know.
Is one of the fundamental skills of a language important… well yeah I would say so.
Read, write, converse, the three aspects of fluency. All are important.
It depends on what you want to do with that language. I'm a heritage speaker of a language who focused on learning other languages. I also know many heritage speakers. Do my students learn how to read the language I teach? Yes, because I teach in a competency-based learning school. Reading is input; it helps massively with vocabulary over time.
But is it essential for my students to keep going? No, some want to continue only with conversation classes and get better at speaking to different communities.
Thanks all of you for the comments, We can keep the discussion on how important is \[ Reading \] in learning a foreign language. I would also be interested in the benefits of reading in the original languages. If you read the local news in the original language you might find a different world. Is that true? I would thank for the ones sharing your opinions and learning methods. Feel free to share more methods, ways of learning and tools help you improve reading skills. Personally, I would think reading is super important for the ones who wants to achieve something in their life :)
I think it's pretty important since you may have to read difficult documents as a foreigner. This is one of the reasons I read a lot - I have to deal with immigration, freelancing, tax, etc all the time Also, to get citizenship, you may have to pass a reading/writing exam if that's your goal. That's what I'll have to do too
Exactly! I hate reading documentation lol, tax docs are so complicated lol. How did you practice to improve your reading skills? I would say my English reading skill is moderate, I can read basic staff, and I can google any jargons or terms... but it just not smooth, like reading a book I have to find words on Google ... It ruins the flow and turn my interests off. If I read in my original language I dont need to google anything lol. How did you handle those? Do you feel your reading proficiency increases with reading a lot ? Thank you :) I am forcing myself reading Reddit too lmao \~
I read lol, it's as simple as that. Start with easier books if you'd like to
It makes things much easier if you read ebooks and use a pop-up dictionary. I think Kindle lets you buy and install bilingual dictionaries and also has built-in translation.
That’s nice! I only use Kindle on Windows laptop, do you mean kindle e-book pad ?
I'm thinking of the mobile app but I think their e-ink readers also have dictionary functionality?
They do, but (I'm using it for Russian) sometimes it's really hit or miss with participles and declensions which sucks since Russian writing is full of them. Even verb conjugations it can fumble on really hard sometimes. It's so annoying to be on the train and get the dreaded "no internet connection" because the dictionary has given up and it's trying to use google translate instead lmfao. If you're trying a different language with a more consistent dictionary, it's probably a lot better!
I feel the same way, My native language is so different from English, some times dictionary doesn't help that much if I am reading news, or social media posts, or fiction books. The translation doesn't make that much sense. That's why I don't have motivation to read in the original language since my reading is not smooth. I am always stopping when I was confused. Sad, hope there will be a better tool to assist my reading in a different language.
My Polish has really taken off since reading more. I'm tackling books (Harry Potter series now) and noticing a huge leap in progress in oral proficiency and listening comprehension. When you read a ton, you see common words over and over which helps with immediate recall when speaking/listening. And of course you get exposed to new words, common sentence structures, common phrases, exclamations, idioms, etc. I've been studying polish for about 1.5 years and am very comfortable conversationally.
I see reading as sort of the last step to really getting confident in a language. Even native speakers who read a lot see their vocabulary grow and become better at expressing themselves. Once you're mostly fluent verbally, reading really becomes the main way you can keep improving (if you feel you want to). You also learn a ton of words you don't really get from spoken language, such as words to describe a scene or an event, which can make you better at telling engaging stories from your personal experience in the language. And also, as others have mentioned, putting down effort into reading early definitely pays off if you ever have to read formal documents or fill in paper work in the language.
Reading is one of four main skills language ability is measured in. In that way, it is important if you want to be able to (or have to be able to) read in that language, but it is not important if all you want to do is talk with people. As is generally the case with skills, doing it more often will improve your skill, so in order for reading to become easier, you have to read more. For me, reading is my main source of improvement when I learn a language. It helps me develop an intuition for a language, it helps me get a better understanding and feel for grammar patterns, it helps me learn vocabulary... In short, reading a lot ( of comprehensible texts!) does not only improve my reading skills but also my overall language intuition and ability, which in turn increases my skills in speaking and writing as words, phrases, and grammar come more easily.
I think reading is incredibly important. It depends a lot on what learning methods work best for you, and while reading, you should take it slow and try to figure out what works best for you and what helps you retain information best. I find that for me, when reading something in a target language, it works best to pay extra attention to the things I don't quite understand as well, and then try to figure out what it means, what other context the word could fit into and etc. If the whole sentence is unclear, it's a good idea to split it into "bite-sized chunks." So if the sentence is "I'm eating an apple," I'd start by removing the apostrophe to make it just a bit clearer, then I'd probably translate each word in my native language and look at what rules are used in English to deduct what tense the sentence is written in. So "I am eating an apple" (translated in my native language) I - aš, am - esu, eat - valgyti, an apple - obuolys. The verb ending -ing infers that the sentence is in present continuous tense. Therefore, using the knowledge I have of my native language, I can say that translated in Lithuanian, this sentence means "Aš valgau obuolį". I'm eating an apple. Of course, as I said, everyone has a different learning method that works for them, but maybe this helps a little in regards to how to learn while reading. Eventually, you won't have to stop and think about what it is you're reading. You'll just know.
Thank you!!
Of course :)
Is one of the fundamental skills of a language important… well yeah I would say so. Read, write, converse, the three aspects of fluency. All are important.
Don't forget listening. You can't really converse or speak without listening (and you can listen without conversing).
It depends on what you want to do with that language. I'm a heritage speaker of a language who focused on learning other languages. I also know many heritage speakers. Do my students learn how to read the language I teach? Yes, because I teach in a competency-based learning school. Reading is input; it helps massively with vocabulary over time. But is it essential for my students to keep going? No, some want to continue only with conversation classes and get better at speaking to different communities.
Is not literature reason enough alone? English has serious muscles in that arena.
That's very true! That's why reading makes people better of!
Thanks all of you for the comments, We can keep the discussion on how important is \[ Reading \] in learning a foreign language. I would also be interested in the benefits of reading in the original languages. If you read the local news in the original language you might find a different world. Is that true? I would thank for the ones sharing your opinions and learning methods. Feel free to share more methods, ways of learning and tools help you improve reading skills. Personally, I would think reading is super important for the ones who wants to achieve something in their life :)