How do you like to log what you’re reading?

[Iversen]

I don't like to log what I'm reading - especially not in quantitative terms. I may mentioned it in my log thread, but that's all - and most of all it's an excuse for writing something in a target language.

My favorite list on Firefox (on my old computer) is brimming with links to pages with useful content- the problem is that I never return to half of them. And logging what I have read would be tantamount to making a list over things I almost certainly won't read again unless it's in a target language and I paid good money for it and put it on a shelf - then I might conceivably return to it as a source for study texts (or as goodnight reading). And if I have it on a shelf then I have almost certainly read it at least once, so why bother about how long it took for how many pages? It's there, and that's all I need to know.

[Lisa]

I'm not very motivated by logging, myself, but reading has been the most successful part of my language learning.

I do my reading in paper books (I'm at the computer all day already), and since I read in the evening anyway, it's a freebie if I can read in my TL. What helps me is reading books in translation that I know well and want to read; I've tried dual language and graded readers but they just end up being boring, and I lose motivation. It's mostly been agatha christies since inexpensive used paperbacks are so widely available online (in common languages, at least). It's a weak form of a dual-language book; I sort of generally know what's happening, so I don't get totally lost if I lose a sentence or paragraph. I order used books online, generally; even the big urban library I visit has a decent spanish section, and asian languages, but very little of anything in french or german.

While I'm reading a paper book, I write down words (on an index card) and the page; and the next day, back at the computer, I look them up and decide if the word is really worth learning (since they are not graded there are some fairly rare words). The page is necessary since something a word out of context doesn't make sense and I have to look up that page and see what it was trying to say. Since I generally know the plot I just read along as best I can, and pick it up again if I miss a sentence of paragraph. And the next time I read that book I'll understand better. Then repeat the whole process.