How have you approached "stretch" literature?

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einzelne
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Re: How have you approached "stretch" literature?

Postby einzelne » Mon May 31, 2021 3:30 am

leosmith wrote:Overall, I think it's a good method, and I'm sure it works well for you, but I have two questions.
1) Why do you read the translation first? To each his own, but for me that would reduce my motivation.
2) Why don't you just use a reading tool? They have built in mouse-over dictionaries and keep track of your vocab, including color coding. There are free ones available, if price is the issue.


1) An experienced translator is by definition more equipped to appreciate the subtle nuances of the original, especially if you read the classical text (archaic vocabulary, different Umwelt). In some cases (poetry is a good example) reading translation first saves you a lot of time and trouble.

That doesn't mean that I read all classical or complex fiction with translation as a crutch. Sometimes it's only the beginning of the book, just to get used to the author's style. Sometimes there's no translation at all (after all, this is the main reason I learn languages — to get access to books which otherwise I wouldn't be able to read). But I doubt you can approach someone like Hölderlin or Milton without translation even after 5 years of extensive reading. But, of course, it should be a translation you can trust.

2) I cannot read books on laptops, I get easily distracted. For me, it simply doesn't feel like reading at all. iPad is the only exception, I can easily read on it for hours (I wish someone started to sell print replica books for Kindle, since for me mobi and epubs are an evil, a necessary but, at the end of the day, still evil).
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leosmith
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Re: How have you approached "stretch" literature?

Postby leosmith » Tue Jun 01, 2021 2:24 am

einzelne wrote:An experienced translator is by definition more equipped to appreciate the subtle nuances of the original, especially if you read the classical text (archaic vocabulary, different Umwelt). In some cases (poetry is a good example) reading translation first saves you a lot of time and trouble.

That doesn't mean that I read all classical or complex fiction with translation as a crutch. Sometimes it's only the beginning of the book, just to get used to the author's style. Sometimes there's no translation at all (after all, this is the main reason I learn languages — to get access to books which otherwise I wouldn't be able to read). But I doubt you can approach someone like Hölderlin or Milton without translation even after 5 years of extensive reading. But, of course, it should be a translation you can trust.

That makes sense. You are are reading something much more difficult than your level. To be clear, I don't really consider the translation to be a crutch. I have tried reading them first, but stopped because they made me less motivated to read the original, that's all. Fortunately it sounds like that's no a problem for you.
2) I cannot read books on laptops, I get easily distracted. For me, it simply doesn't feel like reading at all. iPad is the only exception

I'm pretty sure they all work on ipad.
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einzelne
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Re: How have you approached "stretch" literature?

Postby einzelne » Tue Jun 01, 2021 2:39 am

leosmith wrote: I have tried reading them first, but stopped because they made me less motivated to read the original, that's all. Fortunately it sounds like that's no a problem for you.


Yes, apart from that, I read original books without any recourse to translation, both extensively and extensively.

As for apps, I'm always open to explore new apps. I like the Kindle app, because the moment you click on the word you immediately get the translation. As I said, I try to mimic the reading of actual books as close as possible and I can only regret that it is quite normal to have PDF of academic book but not that of fiction. I would love to have an app where the moment you click on a word in a PDF file, it would open the dictionary window.
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Re: How have you approached "stretch" literature?

Postby leosmith » Wed Jun 02, 2021 12:12 am

einzelne wrote:I would love to have an app where the moment you click on a word in a PDF file, it would open the dictionary window.

If you are talking about a browser extension, Readlang, LWT and LingQ all have them. I assume they support iPad, but I could be wrong.
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