Learning to Read in Spanish
This has been such a great adventure for me.
I picked up my first novels in spanish a year ago. I began with a trilogy written for young adults by Isabelle Allende: Ciudad de las Bestias, El Reino del Dragon de Oro, and El Bosque de los Pigmeos. I also picked up a copy in English to use as a reference.
I began by underlining all of the words that were unfamiliar to me and making notations and I was reaching for the dictionary constantly. It was a lot of work, but I had to start somewhere.
Here I am a year later, beginning to read novels written for adults. I am much more relaxed with my approach. Instead of looking up every unfamiliar word in the dictionary, I can now rely on understanding by context. The best part of all is that sometimes I forget that I am actually reading in a foreign language!
Lynn, I know just what you mean! Looking up every other word in the dictionary doesn't feel like reading, it feels like decoding -- actually decoding can be satisfying too, but it's enjoyment of a different order. And when you use a bilingual dictionary, you toggle back and forth between English and Spanish, translating rather than reading.
ReplyDeleteI think that allowing yourself to depend on context for meaning lets you experience the text directly and actually think in Spanish. Maybe you can do this now because your vocabulary has increased substantially.
I've become increasingly convinced that when we're learning a second language, it may take a few months or a few years to master the basics of the grammar, but vocabulary is another story. That is a project of a lifetime, just as it is for native speakers.
Estoy de acuerdo con los dos...I am in that beginner stage where I stop reading and look up every word I do not know (which is alot) I bought a spanish cosmopolitan I am on page 3 from stopping and looking up every word
ReplyDeleteReading novels, and watching "Telenovelas" is great practice. Just reinforce it with speaking.
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