Reading & Ambiguity Threshold in your TL?

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german2k01
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Re: Reading & Ambiguity Threshold in your TL?

Postby german2k01 » Fri Dec 17, 2021 2:47 pm

Then is the counterargument that you should purchase 50 of the largest, most difficult books you can find?


It does not have to be a Bipolar choice. There must be a middle ground somewhere along the line. It is just my hunch that I should read around 10-12 easy readers in German to absorb whatever grammar structures and relevant vocabulary they offer. After that never see them again in my life and instead move on with contemporary literature. That's the takeaway lesson I derived from the above-mentioned example. My time will be better spent dealing with progressively difficult books than consuming easy readers until the cows come home.

As an aside - BeaP's answer was very helpful when it comes to picking up content based on the categorization of various difficulty levels.
Even it is very tempting to touch upon old literature written by German authors but I will be putting them aside for a while and rather pick up stuff based on my current level. Contemporary novels and magazines, et al.
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reineke
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Re: Reading & Ambiguity Threshold in your TL?

Postby reineke » Sat Dec 18, 2021 7:02 pm

Ambiguity usually presupposes some kind of preexisting vocabulary and syntax and in that case it's more appropriate to talk about word coverage, density, reading difficulty, and ambiguity tolerance. Some books are also challenging syntactically and it's helpful to distinguish between this issue and vocabulary load.

"Whereunto (in your opinion) doth this little flourish of a preamble tend? For so much as you, my good disciples, and some other jolly fools of ease and leisure, reading the pleasant titles of some books of our invention, as Gargantua, Pantagruel, Whippot (Fessepinte.), the Dignity of Codpieces, of Pease and Bacon with a Commentary, &c., are too ready to judge that there is nothing in them but jests, mockeries, lascivious discourse, and recreative lies; because the outside (which is the title) is usually, without any farther inquiry, entertained with scoffing and derision. But truly it is very unbeseeming to make so slight account of the works of men, seeing yourselves avouch that it is not the habit makes the monk, many being monasterially accoutred, who inwardly are nothing less than monachal, and that there are of those that wear Spanish capes, who have but little of the valour of Spaniards in them. Therefore is it, that you must open the book, and seriously consider of the matter treated in it. Then shall you find that it containeth things of far higher value than the box did promise; that is to say, that the subject thereof is not so foolish as by the title at the first sight it would appear to be."

Gargantua and Pantagruel
Unique words: approx 26,000
High vocabulary density
This is one of the most vocabulary dense books in the Project Gutenberg database. It's also quite a tease if you're into French classics.


French audiobook:

http://www.litteratureaudio.com/livre-a ... gruel.html

http://www.litteratureaudio.com/livre-a ... antua.html

English translation
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23033/23033-0.txt

Moll Flanders (an old "classic")
Unique words:approx. 6100
Low vocab density. ("easy")

You can take a look at the "choosing extensive reading materials" thread for some ideas and classifications of books according to relative difficulty.
Last edited by reineke on Mon Dec 20, 2021 12:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Reading & Ambiguity Threshold in your TL?

Postby rdearman » Sun Dec 19, 2021 11:29 pm

reineke wrote:Ambiguity usually presupposes some kind of preexisting vocabulary and syntax and in that case it's more appropriate to talk about word coverage, density, reading difficulty, and ambiguity tolerance. Some books are also challenging syntactically and it's helpful to distinguish between this issue and vocabulary load.

"Whereunto (in your opinion) doth this little flourish of a preamble tend? For so much as you, my good disciples, and some other jolly fools of ease and leisure, reading the pleasant titles of some books of our invention, as Gargantua, Pantagruel, Whippot (Fessepinte.), the Dignity of Codpieces, of Pease and Bacon with a Commentary, &c., are too ready to judge that there is nothing in them but jests, mockeries, lascivious discourse, and recreative lies; because the outside (which is the title) is usually, without any farther inquiry, entertained with scoffing and derision. But truly it is very unbeseeming to make so slight account of the works of men, seeing yourselves avouch that it is not the habit makes the monk, many being monasterially accoutred, who inwardly are nothing less than monachal, and that there are of those that wear Spanish capes, who have but little of the valour of Spaniards in them. Therefore is it, that you must open the book, and seriously consider of the matter treated in it. Then shall you find that it containeth things of far higher value than the box did promise; that is to say, that the subject thereof is not so foolish as by the title at the first sight it would appear to be."

Gargantua and Pantagruel
Unique words: approx 26,000
High vocabulary density
This is one of the most vocabulary dense books in the Project Gutenberg database. It's also quite a tease if you're into French classics.

.
English translation
http://gutenberg.readingroo.ms/1/2/0/12 ... image-0005


French audiobook:
http://www.litteratureaudio.com/livres- ... s-rabelais

English translation
http://gutenberg.readingroo.ms/1/2/0/12 ... image-0005



Moll Flanders (an old "classic")
Unique words:approx. 6100
Low vocab density. ("easy")

English text: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/370/370-h/370-h.htm

You can take a look at the "choosing extensive reading materials" thread for some ideas and classifications of books according to relative difficulty.

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