L-R vs Normal Reading

[german2k01]

Let's say 3 hours a day I can keep aside for German learning. I am living in Germany. Obviously, when I step outside I really need to understand what others are saying and respond accordingly. In a year or so when I am done with my degree(taught in English) in Germany , I will need German for professional reasons after graduation. I am a full-time student here

[Lawyer&Mom]

I think you really need to incorporate television, particularly a sitcom or soap opera. Much more exposure to conversational German, and lots of visual clues to aid understanding. The secret here is quantity. At least an hour everyday. You will see big gains at 50 hours and at 200 hours. A dubbed series you are already familiar with is a good place to start.

[leosmith]

Let's say 3 hours a day I can keep aside for German learning. I am living in Germany.

Since, I assume, you are being bombarded with comprehensible input every day, you probably have a case for not using audio when you read. Personally, I would read out loud, use TTS when in doubt, and use a pop-dictionary of some sort to quickly check unknown words. I get more out of my reading that way.

Regarding the “audio decoding” issue you mentioned, you might want to focus part of your study time on intensive listening.

Another thing that could speed things up is to focus on the things you need right now. Imo, the connections your brain makes with items when learning a language can be thought of like a spider web, and no matter how you approach it, the dense mass of items in the middle is going to be made up of the things you need and use the most. To focus on those things directly, and let your web grow naturally out from there, is the path of least resistance. I’m not saying you should stop reading, but maybe it shouldn’t be your main focus if you want useful skills as soon as possible.

[german2k01]

I think you really need to incorporate television, particularly a sitcom or soap opera. Much more exposure to conversational German, and lots of visual clues to aid understanding. The secret here is quantity. At least an hour everyday. You will see big gains at 50 hours and at 200 hours. A dubbed series you are already familiar with is a good place to start.

I have watched a lot of dubbed television series which I have been watching for the last 16 months without missing a single day.
I still feel that dubbed television series are on the easier side. I have picked up a lot of collocations that are used in conversations. I am also thinking about moving away from watching dubbed stuff and perhaps venturing into German television channels which may be difficult at first but with time I may understand them better? However, in real life people speak quickly and spontaneously. I feel like watching dubbed Tv shows do not prepare me well for it? That's my impression of it. I still have difficulties understanding German people working at offices etc

Secondly, why I would like to spend more time on "reading" is the fact that for me at least it is not easy to pick words just through listening maybe a few words here and there. I would like to build my vocabulary base through reading because I can see them written and look them up- that may help with my listening skills as well? Also, about grammar structures. That's my train of thought.

[hasen]

It seems to me that if you're listening to audio in your target language while reading text in your native language you're not doing anything different to when anyone watches a movie with subtitles in their own language...people generally don't learn a language when they do this. Also many sentences when translated, something is lost in translation. You'll probably find a more accurate translation of short phrases than entire sentences.

[rdearman]

It seems to me that if you're listening to audio in your target language while reading text in your native language you're not doing anything different to when anyone watches a movie with subtitles in their own language...people generally don't learn a language when they do this. Also many sentences when translated, something is lost in translation. You'll probably find a more accurate translation of short phrases than entire sentences.

If that is what you are doing then you are doing LR wrong. The point is to have the translation to hand, not to be focused on it. If you do that you will find yourself reading and not listening.

[hasen]

It seems to me that if you're listening to audio in your target language while reading text in your native language you're not doing anything different to when anyone watches a movie with subtitles in their own language...people generally don't learn a language when they do this. Also many sentences when translated, something is lost in translation. You'll probably find a more accurate translation of short phrases than entire sentences.

If that is what you are doing then you are doing LR wrong. The point is to have the translation to hand, not to be focused on it. If you do that you will find yourself reading and not listening.

I haven't tried the method, I merely looked up what it was. It's described as "listening while reading L1 (for learning the meaning of the spoken words)". If you only need it "as a reference" then it would make more sense to do "listening while reading L2" instead. If you only have the translation on hand as a reference then it seems to me that you already understand most of it without any script even, which seems you've gone past the "listening while reading L2" stage. Surely the first stage should be "listening while reading L1", then "listening while reading L2" and finally listening without script and looking up any words as needed.

[rdearman]

It seems to me that if you're listening to audio in your target language while reading text in your native language you're not doing anything different to when anyone watches a movie with subtitles in their own language...people generally don't learn a language when they do this. Also many sentences when translated, something is lost in translation. You'll probably find a more accurate translation of short phrases than entire sentences.

If that is what you are doing then you are doing LR wrong. The point is to have the translation to hand, not to be focused on it. If you do that you will find yourself reading and not listening.

I haven't tried the method, I merely looked up what it was. It's described as "listening while reading L1 (for learning the meaning of the spoken words)". If you only need it "as a reference" then it would make more sense to do "listening while reading L2" instead. If you only have the translation on hand as a reference then it seems to me that you already understand most of it without any script even, which seems you've gone past the "listening while reading L2" stage. Surely the first stage should be "listening while reading L1", then "listening while reading L2" and finally listening without script and looking up any words as needed.

I am on a phone and don't have a like to the description of the method so I will summarize here.

Read book in L1
Listen in L2 while reading in L1 (repeat this step until you can understand without L1 reading)
Read in L2 while listening in L2

There originally was a step about listening in L1 while reading in L2 but most people skip that

[jeff_lindqvist]

Five years ago:

Short version:
1 Read L1
2 Listen to L2, Read L2
3 Listen to L2, Read L1
4 Repeat L2 aloud
5 Translate from L1 to L2

#2 and #3 several times if you want, and #4 and #5 as much as you want.

/.../

Whatever the stone tablets say, (I think) steps 1, 2 and 3 are most important. And if it's a book you already know, you're done with step 1.

(Source: Extensive LRing - variations on the tried and true?

It may me be counterintuitive to do L2 L2 before L2 L1. I think it's about getting accustomed to the sound of the language, word boundaries and so on.

[hasen]

It seems to me that if you're listening to audio in your target language while reading text in your native language you're not doing anything different to when anyone watches a movie with subtitles in their own language...people generally don't learn a language when they do this. Also many sentences when translated, something is lost in translation. You'll probably find a more accurate translation of short phrases than entire sentences.

If that is what you are doing then you are doing LR wrong. The point is to have the translation to hand, not to be focused on it. If you do that you will find yourself reading and not listening.

I haven't tried the method, I merely looked up what it was. It's described as "listening while reading L1 (for learning the meaning of the spoken words)". If you only need it "as a reference" then it would make more sense to do "listening while reading L2" instead. If you only have the translation on hand as a reference then it seems to me that you already understand most of it without any script even, which seems you've gone past the "listening while reading L2" stage. Surely the first stage should be "listening while reading L1", then "listening while reading L2" and finally listening without script and looking up any words as needed.

I am on a phone and don't have a like to the description of the method so I will summarize here.

Read book in L1
Listen in L2 while reading in L1 (repeat this step until you can understand without L1 reading)
Read in L2 while listening in L2

There originally was a step about listening in L1 while reading in L2 but most people skip that

No that doesn't seem to be the method. I read the method at the learnanylanguage forum and it is this:

1 listening (for getting used to the spoken language)
2 listening while reading L1 (for learning the meaning of the spoken words)
3 listening while reading L2 (for learning to associate the spoken and written text)
4 listening while reading L2 and mimicking the speaker (for learning to pronounce the language, see Shadowing)

Although your description of the method doesn't seem to match your previous description of listening while only having the translation to reference..