Learning by reading

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
Nogon
Green Belt
Posts: 305
Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 6:21 pm
Languages: German (N), Swedish (C), English (?), French (A2), Esperanto (A2). Reading Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Afrikaans. Wanting to learn Polish, Yiddish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16039
x 1068

Re: Learning by reading

Postby Nogon » Sun Jan 09, 2022 1:07 pm

Week 1:
No work this week :D , and bad Covid situation in Sweden, so better stay at home -> lots of time for reading (and sleeping; felt like I could have slept around the clock). Mostly nature related books in German, but even some audiobooks in

Dutch:
Listened to the radio dramatization of Annie M. G. Schmidt - Pluk van de Petteflet (Tow-Truck Pluck), one of the almost "classic" Dutch children's books. Unfortunately the audiobook contained only half of the original book, and it stopped in the middle of one of the several-chapters-long stories, just where it got extra thrilling :evil: . Languagewise it was easy to follow the story, with almost 100% understanding.
Listened (again) to Annie M. G. Schmidt - Minoes (Minnie/The Cat Who Came In off the Roof), read by Theo Maassen, this time without reading the book to help understanding. Missed a few words here and there, but very little.
Listened to Yvonne Keuls - Alle Indische Tantes, read by the author. Not sure whether I would have liked the book when reading it, but the author's rendering of the text was superb. Did understand much more than just the gist, but had some problems especially when Indonesian dishes were mentioned, which happened quite frequently. That "Hey-what-was-that-word?-It-doesn't-resemble-any-German-word-at-all!-Oh-it-must-be-some-kind-of-exotic-food" let me miss the next sentence or two more than once. Nevertheless I'm proud of my level of understanding spoken Dutch, especially considering that I have never studied the language.
Those three audiobooks made my head buzz with Dutch for several days. I'll have to check the library - I hope they have some more Dutch audiobooks.

Other:
Finished Wilhelm Lehmann - Bukolische Tagebücher.
Read Jan Röhnert - Vom Gehen im Karst, Ludger Weß - Winzig, zäh und zahlreich, Ute Woltron - Hanf, Thor Hanson - Federn. Ein Wunderwerk der Natur (Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle) and Bernhard Kegel - Käfer.
Now reading Richard Mabey - Die Heilkraft der Natur (Nature Cure).
All in German.
7 x
Assimil French : 65 / 113
Active wave : 15 / 113

Nogon
Green Belt
Posts: 305
Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 6:21 pm
Languages: German (N), Swedish (C), English (?), French (A2), Esperanto (A2). Reading Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Afrikaans. Wanting to learn Polish, Yiddish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16039
x 1068

Re: Learning by reading

Postby Nogon » Mon Jan 17, 2022 1:41 am

Week 2:
Working, sleeping, working, sleeping, sleeping, sleeping...
And almost no language learning at all.

French:
Read the first chapter of Maurice Leblanc - La Vie extravagante de Balthazar. It's quite easy to read, even though there are lots of unknown words, but I can't say I'm thrilled by the book. Will read another chapter and decide then whether to continue reading or not.

Other:
Still nature writing in German.
Finished Richard Mabey - Die Heilkraft der Natur (Nature Cure). You can't translate "let's see" as "lasst uns sehen" and expect that the result is good German! :roll:
Read Alma de l'Aigle - Ein Garten.
Now reading Robert Macfarlane - Karte der Wildnis (The Wild Places).
8 x
Assimil French : 65 / 113
Active wave : 15 / 113

Nogon
Green Belt
Posts: 305
Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 6:21 pm
Languages: German (N), Swedish (C), English (?), French (A2), Esperanto (A2). Reading Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Afrikaans. Wanting to learn Polish, Yiddish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16039
x 1068

Re: Learning by reading

Postby Nogon » Mon Jan 24, 2022 7:14 am

Week 3:
This week's language activities are very easily summarized: Nothing! :shock:

Other:
More nature writing.
Finished Robert Macfarlane - Karte der Wildnis (The Wild Places). Read Annie Dillard - Pilger am Tinker Creek (Pilgrim at Tinker Creek).
Now reading Dave Goulson - Gardening for Bumblebees.
5 x
Assimil French : 65 / 113
Active wave : 15 / 113

Nogon
Green Belt
Posts: 305
Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 6:21 pm
Languages: German (N), Swedish (C), English (?), French (A2), Esperanto (A2). Reading Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Afrikaans. Wanting to learn Polish, Yiddish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16039
x 1068

Re: Learning by reading

Postby Nogon » Mon Jan 31, 2022 12:47 pm

Week 4:
My nature writing reading spree seems to slowly come to an end so the number of books read in my weaker languages might increase. At least I hope so.

Norwegian:
Read Thorleif Sjøvold - Vikingskipene i Oslo. A short book I bought at the Viking Ship Museum last summer. Luckily I visited it then, as now the museum is closed for the next 4 years or so.

French:

Started reading Jean-Claude Mourlevat - A comme voleur (not translated, I think).

Other:
Finished Dave Goulson - Gardening for Bumblebees. Not as interesting as some of his other books, but I learned the English names of some flowers.
Read Rachel Carson - The Edge of the Sea. Great book. I want to read her other works!
Reading (in Swedish) Jesper Nyström - Svamparnas planet. Det uråldriga nätverket som bryter ner och bygger upp vår planet (translated to German but not to English as far as I know).
6 x
Assimil French : 65 / 113
Active wave : 15 / 113

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1968
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... &start=200
x 4050

Re: Learning by reading

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Jan 31, 2022 3:42 pm

Nogon wrote:Week 4:
My nature writing reading spree seems to slowly come to an end so the number of books read in my weaker languages might increase. At least I hope so.
Ani mentioned a French nature/tree book ages ago:
So I have had a translation of a book by David Haskell, Écoute l'arbre et la feuille, in my amazon wish list for a while. It was $20 which seems like way too much for a digital copy but I got an unexpected gift certificate from a company the other day and decided to splurge. I am so so happy. I adore this book. Taking a break from Sookie Stackhouse to learn about the world of 12 different trees.

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 482#p89482
2 x

Nogon
Green Belt
Posts: 305
Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 6:21 pm
Languages: German (N), Swedish (C), English (?), French (A2), Esperanto (A2). Reading Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Afrikaans. Wanting to learn Polish, Yiddish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16039
x 1068

Re: Learning by reading

Postby Nogon » Mon Jan 31, 2022 4:46 pm

Thank you very much for this hint, @DaveAgain! Hitherto I was not familiar with David George Haskell's writing. I'll definitely check his books, though perhaps not in French. I don't think I have the necessary nature-related vocabulary. On the other hand it would be a good opportunity to learn all those words. Have to think about it... Maybe some parallel reading? Hmm...
Pity, the library doesn't have his books in any language.
2 x
Assimil French : 65 / 113
Active wave : 15 / 113

Nogon
Green Belt
Posts: 305
Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 6:21 pm
Languages: German (N), Swedish (C), English (?), French (A2), Esperanto (A2). Reading Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Afrikaans. Wanting to learn Polish, Yiddish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16039
x 1068

Re: Learning by reading

Postby Nogon » Sun Feb 06, 2022 5:24 pm

Week 5:
Quite good week, as I'm back on

Yiddish:
Contniued reading קענעט גראַהאַם - דער װינט אין די װערבעס (Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows). Read chapter six - Toad is in jail now - and started on chapter 7. I can read much of it with quite good understanding, even though I sometimes get lost in long, winding sentences. If only there weren't the loshn koydesh words! Or if they at least were written as they are pronounced! Then I could just check the original text for their meaning, just as I do with the words of Slavic origin. But those horrible Hebrew words I have to check in the dictionary for to learn (and forget) their pronunciation. At least finding the words is getting faster by and by, as I'm becoming better acquainted with the alefbeis.

French:
Finished Jean-Claude Mourlevat - A comme voleur. The least good of those of his books I've read.
Reading Maurice Leblanc - La Vie extravagante de Balthazar. Quite a funny book, although I probably wouldn't read it in one of my better languages (were it translated). But it matches my level of French quite well. Of course there are unknown (and unguessable) words, but not uncomfortably many. I've borrowed another of Leblanc's books which was available at the library.

Other:
Finished Jesper Nyström - Svamparnas planet. Det uråldriga nätverket som bryter ner och bygger upp vår planet. A book about fungi. Interesting but not very well written. For example:
"Hur förökar sig då svampar? Det mest korrekta svaret blir nog: Alla!" (p. 44) :roll:
You can't answer a "how"-question with "all" and on top of that claim that that's "the most correct answer", can you?
Read Elin Anna Labba - Herrarna satte oss hit. Om tvångsförflyttningarna i Sverige (no English translation, but a Spanish one). Highly interesting book about the dislocation of Sámi people in the 1920's and 30's in Sweden.
Reading Robert Macfarlane - Berge im Kopf (Mountains of the Mind). Fascinating!
7 x
Assimil French : 65 / 113
Active wave : 15 / 113

Nogon
Green Belt
Posts: 305
Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 6:21 pm
Languages: German (N), Swedish (C), English (?), French (A2), Esperanto (A2). Reading Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Afrikaans. Wanting to learn Polish, Yiddish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16039
x 1068

Re: Learning by reading

Postby Nogon » Sun Feb 13, 2022 7:24 pm

Week 6:
Quite like last week.

Yiddish:
Read another chapter and a half of קענעט גראַהאַם - דער װינט אין די װערבעס (Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows). (Rat and Mole saw Pan. Toad escaped from jail.) Love the book, even though it's slow reading.

French:
Finished Maurice Leblanc - La Vie extravagante de Balthazar. I thought that I had borrowed another of Leblanc's books at the library, but I happened to take one by Leroux :shock: . On top of that, it was a book which someone else here in the forum had just read and which bored them to death - so I won't read that!
Read again Jean Giono - L'homme qui plantait les arbres (The Man Who Planted Trees). I read that several years ago - it was the first "book" (more like a short story; 56 pages with lots and lots of illustrations, so very little text) ever originally written in French, which I read in French. Then it took me several days to read it, now just an hour or so.
Read Jean-Claude Mourlevat - La troisième vengeance de Robert Poutifard. Hilarious! Robert Poutifard is a retired teacher who hated each and every day he had to spend at school, and who after his retirement decided to wreak revenge on the most horrible former pupils who had made his life hell. Revenge is sweet!
Started reading Jean-Claude Mourlevat - Sophie Scholl: Non à la lâcheté.

Other:
Finished Robert Macfarlane - Berge im Kopf (Mountains of the Mind). Fascinating!
Read Das Buch des Dede Korkut (Book of Dede Korkut).
4 x
Assimil French : 65 / 113
Active wave : 15 / 113

Nogon
Green Belt
Posts: 305
Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 6:21 pm
Languages: German (N), Swedish (C), English (?), French (A2), Esperanto (A2). Reading Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Afrikaans. Wanting to learn Polish, Yiddish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16039
x 1068

Re: Learning by reading

Postby Nogon » Sun Feb 20, 2022 7:04 pm

Week 7:
Mostly French. And a bit

Danish:
Started reading Bjarne Reuter - Den egyptiske tenor. A sort of crime novel, although not a serious one. Quite funny but nothing I absolutely "have to" read. Nice though to be able to read a book in one of my minor languages without having to refer to adictionary all the time.

French:
Finished reading Jean-Claude Mourlevat - Sophie Scholl: Non à la lâcheté. A very short novel about Sophie Scholl's last weeks in life and the importance of doing what one feels is right even though one has to pay a high price.

Read Claude Izner - Mystère rue des Saint-Pères (Murder on the Eiffel Tower). A not very good crime novel about several strange deaths at the World Exhibition in Paris 1889. I read the prologue in French - lots and lots of unknown vocabulary, unguessable from the context, as the context was unintelligible. So I had to check far too many words for the reading to be comfortable. Then I read the beginning of the novel in translation at Amazon to check whether I had understood the prologue correctly. I had, but at the same time I understood that the book wasn't good enough to spend such a lot of effort into reading it. So I borrowed the Swedish translation (Mordet i Eiffeltornet) and read each chapter first in Swedish and then in French. I learned lots of vocabulary, but in regard of literature it was a waste of time. Won't read the other parts of the series.

Listened to the first five chapters of J. R. R. Tolkien - Le seigneur des anneaux; La fraternité de l'anneau (The Lord of the Rings). Found a reading of the first nine chapters on YouTube. I had planned to read parallel in French, but found that the book I had borrowed at the library, has a different translations, alas. So I just listen. Without previous knowledge I'd not be able to follow the story line, but as I'm quite familiar with the book (read it many times in German, several times in English and once in Swedish) I understand enough to know what's going on in each scene. The first chapter (Bilbo's birthday party) was quite difficult, loaded with unknown words, but the second - Gandalf and Frodo talking about the ring - was much easier.
Surprisingly I still know quite a bit of the poems/songs by heart in German (Doch niemals klingt ein Springquell so süß wie heißes Wasser mir - platsch - auf die Füß, for example.)
6 x
Assimil French : 65 / 113
Active wave : 15 / 113

Nogon
Green Belt
Posts: 305
Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 6:21 pm
Languages: German (N), Swedish (C), English (?), French (A2), Esperanto (A2). Reading Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Afrikaans. Wanting to learn Polish, Yiddish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16039
x 1068

Re: Learning by reading

Postby Nogon » Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:14 pm

Week 8:
Such a horrible, horrible, horrible week! As if Covid weren't bad enough, now there is war in Europe too. Since Thursday, I haven't been able to concentrate on reading in whichever language.

Danish:
Finished Bjarne Reuter - Den egyptiske tenor.

French:
Listened to chapter 6-8 of J. R. R. Tolkien - Le seigneur des anneaux; La fraternité de l'anneau (The Lord of the Rings). Unfortunately these are the only chapters available at the YouTube channel and I didn't find any other channel providing a French audiobook reading of The Lord of the Rings.
Read Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt - Le sumo qui ne pouvait pas grossir.

Other:
Read Vanessa Onwuemezi - Dark Neighbourhood.
5 x
Assimil French : 65 / 113
Active wave : 15 / 113


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests