+- kanji koohii FORUM (http://forum.koohii.com)
+-- Forum: Learning Japanese (http://forum.koohii.com/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: Learning resources (http://forum.koohii.com/forum-9.html)
+--- Thread: Light Novels (/thread-3183.html)
Pages:
1
2
Light Novels - Jarvik7 - 2009-05-29
Normally I'll read a page or two, or until the next natural break point, and then go back and look up stuff I guessed about (if any) & bookmark them in my dictionary for SRS input later.
Light Novels - mentat_kgs - 2009-05-30
With light novels I try to guess the meanings by the context. If I can't, I skip. But I do give a try.
With text on the computer, I'll skim it first, looking for vocabulary I don't know. Then I read the text. If there is some sentence I like, it'll go to the SRS.
Light Novels - zodiac - 2009-05-31
Tzadeck Wrote:Anyway, after that I started looking up every word in a text that I didn't understand--in my native tongue of course. It's very rewarding, and you'll realize very quickly that when you're reading something complex you very often assume the wrong meaning of a word if you go by context alone. It might not be true with fiction, but with non-fiction I'd highly recommend trying this.Hey, I do the same thing, and I can say it is indeed very rewarding - one of the joys of knowing a language well (your native one in this case) is the ability to understand the precise meaning of what you are reading - good writers are able to use such precision to convey lots of information/emotion using little words. Guessing from context, although workable, does deprive you of this.
An example many will be familiar with is reading jargon-filled works, where knowing the precise definition of a term rather than a general idea is crucial. Sometimes I wish normal language was like that, without the ambiguity and all.
However this is probably more relevant to people who already have a good command of the language... as a beginner quickly learning the rough meaning of many words seems more important.
Light Novels - kfmfe04 - 2009-05-31
zodiac Wrote:I totally agree with both your comments. "Guessing by context" allows me not to get bogged down in dictionary lookups, but let's call it what it is: "guessing". This is made very apparent when I actually look up the words in my native English. But having a contextual sentence does help motivate me to learn the unknown vocabulary, and get a sense of the real meaning of a word, after confirming that my understanding is not "way off the mark".Tzadeck Wrote:Anyway, after that I started looking up every word in a text that I didn't understand--in my native tongue of course. It's very rewarding, and you'll realize very quickly that when you're reading something complex you very often assume the wrong meaning of a word if you go by context alone. It might not be true with fiction, but with non-fiction I'd highly recommend trying this.Hey, I do the same thing, and I can say it is indeed very rewarding - one of the joys of knowing a language well (your native one in this case) is the ability to understand the precise meaning of what you are reading - good writers are able to use such precision to convey lots of information/emotion using little words. Guessing from context, although workable, does deprive you of this...