tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post8052833275271228592..comments2024-03-14T11:50:14.761-04:00Comments on DarwinCatholic: Are Audiobooks 'Real Reading'?Darwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-55588360869577916322016-08-23T03:14:03.747-04:002016-08-23T03:14:03.747-04:00Cristina,
I agree entirely, I used to do a lot of...Cristina, <br />I agree entirely, I used to do a lot of rewind/replay listening to musicals reading the transcript. As for translations, in my language the quality of translations declined dramatically in the last decades, especially for bestsellers the publisher wanted to publish quickly. I don't know about German, but since the tendency to drop grammar/stylistic standards seems to be universal, maybe you should try something that was translated earlier. I found children/youth literature particularly useful. Agnesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-80185961708167504872016-08-22T04:38:30.759-04:002016-08-22T04:38:30.759-04:00Hi, Agnes! Isn't language learning fascinating...Hi, Agnes! Isn't language learning fascinating? <br /><br />I actually made a similar analogy a few days ago, when trying to listen to someone's German podcast. Since he was reading a funny story and doing the characters' voices (and yes, since I'm not as quick in German as I'd like to be) my comprehension must have been around 20%. I played the recording a second time and didn't do much better. Then I tried a third time, this time following along with the transcript he had also provided. And suddenly I could "understand" even totally unfamiliar words! I compared it to those book-and-cassette packs that were popular in the 70s and 80s. Pop the cassette into a player, read along with the book, turn the page at the tone, etc. <br /><br />Thanks for the tip. My Twitter feed is almost 100% German these days, and my Spotify playlist is even better. But I'm concentrating on translations of novels because the last thing I want is to read <i>Die Unendliche Geschichte</i> before I'm ready for it. Cristinahttp://linguavert.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-64542572969711907692016-08-22T02:45:31.705-04:002016-08-22T02:45:31.705-04:00"From the perspective of a language learner, ..."From the perspective of a language learner, reading and listening are two different skills; so if I were being technical, I'd say that an audiobook isn't "really" reading. (I've read, for instance, Twilight in German, with really good comprehension; but when I put on the Twilight audio book, I start scrambling for purchase all over again.)<br /><br />Having said that, I've experienced both being "work," with listening being the much harder task by far. It's thrilling to imagine getting to the point where I can perfectly understand an audiobook while doing chores around the house! For me, "cheating" is sneaking a peak at the text (or at the subtitles in a film) in order to better understand what I'm hearing."<br /><br />As a native Hungarian speaker who speaks/reads several foreign languages, I know very well what you are talking about. However, I think this is not a process related to reading but a process related to the foreign language skill. This is a different sort of decoding/transcription, that of translating the non-native language into your own (or rather, in the case of listening, comprehending the pronounciation of the foreign language - since you understand the written text better). So I'd say it's "cheating" the way being read to by a parent is for a child, since to master the skill of understanding spoken foreign language, you need to practice that decoding until you can use it with no extra effort. <br /><br />And I always try to fing something that was originally written in that other language if I try to further my reading/listening skills. Agnesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-90881766212673148092016-08-19T16:20:48.510-04:002016-08-19T16:20:48.510-04:00I always had the guilty cultural feeling that audi...I always had the guilty cultural feeling that audiobooks didn't really count as reading, but it was all I could manage while I was working. I definitely have visual images of my surroundings intimately interlocked with plot points in the various books I heard. <br /><br />I thought when I quit working I would finally have time again to actually read and not cheat by listening. I did for awhile until the kitchen was delegated to me and I have yet to figure out how to get finished in there before way too late into the night.<br /><br />Now that I have joined the information age via portable smartphone, I plan to revisit the audiobooks, even though I am home, even though it seems like I should have time to read.<br /><br />I think that listening isn't quite the same thing as reading and decoding, but I've decided it isn't cheating either. It is more important to hear and contemplate the ideas contained in a book than to be particular about the method used to get those ideas into your mind.Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13472686909226073213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-58420898424033519552016-08-19T12:59:13.729-04:002016-08-19T12:59:13.729-04:00That's very true. Because I can do it more sl...That's very true. Because I can do it more slowly (and turn to a dictionary where necessary) I can start to puzzle our reading and writing in German but my speaking is weaker and my listening is weakest of all. Darwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-41201405377716554212016-08-19T03:26:14.356-04:002016-08-19T03:26:14.356-04:00From the perspective of a language learner, readin...From the perspective of a language learner, reading and listening are two different skills; so if I were being technical, I'd say that an audiobook isn't "really" reading. (I've read, for instance, <i>Twilight</i> in German, with really good comprehension; but when I put on the <i>Twilight</i> audio book, I start scrambling for purchase all over again.) <br /><br />Having said that, I've experienced <i>both</i> being "work," with listening being the much harder task by far. It's thrilling to imagine getting to the point where I can perfectly understand an audiobook while doing chores around the house! For <i>me</i>, "cheating" is sneaking a peak at the text (or at the subtitles in a film) in order to better understand what I'm hearing. <br /><br />My own reading-related guilt has to do with most of my German reading being translations of texts originally written in English. Is this "real German"? Is riding a bike with training wheels "real bicycling"? Or going back to books, is a reading comic book with many panels that have no words at all "real reading"? And so on . . . Cristinahttp://linguavert.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-52962434065972746352016-08-18T16:50:21.736-04:002016-08-18T16:50:21.736-04:00A classic novel in the hands of a good narrator cr...A classic novel in the hands of a good narrator creates a magical experience for my children. Campbellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-55222305373528721422016-08-17T23:02:12.054-04:002016-08-17T23:02:12.054-04:00Very well put, sir.Very well put, sir.Darwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-33791273070125244762016-08-17T22:34:53.377-04:002016-08-17T22:34:53.377-04:00I would beg to differ, Brendan, with your fear tha...I would beg to differ, Brendan, with your fear that you are just 'passing' by allowing someone to read to you.<br /><br />Rather, I would suggest that this is one of the most primordial of pleasures. We have long sat by the campfire while the bard tells us the tale. Books on tape is the most recent of updates of this pleasure.<br /><br />My brother, who has an even more profound version of dyslexia than myself, is quite unable to read. But he has been listening to books for decades. I have described him elsewhere as the most literate analphabetic in my experience.<br /><br />If you were to choose not to listen, nor to read, then I would pity you. Not so now. You do what you can.Bernard Brandthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00159541603126407072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-28144058937742605432016-08-17T14:09:58.947-04:002016-08-17T14:09:58.947-04:00I almost can't stand to listen to audiobooks, ...I almost can't stand to listen to audiobooks, or anyone reading to me. I won't even let my kids read me their poetry, I'm always grabbing at the page and saying "but I want to SEE it" and they're always snatching it back, probably worried that I'll try to correct their spelling.<br /><br />I'm visual to a fault.bearinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07953735060133330755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-49316493463872648342016-08-17T12:59:06.614-04:002016-08-17T12:59:06.614-04:00If I was sitting somewhere where I could be readin...If I was sitting somewhere where I could be reading, I'd definitely find reading a book faster and more enjoyable. For me, the "killer app" for audiobooks is that I can read while doing non-verbal activities such as driving or mowing the lawn.Darwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-76787883391914500122016-08-17T12:56:42.970-04:002016-08-17T12:56:42.970-04:00Ironically, I find it easier to read a book than t...Ironically, I find it easier to read a book than to listen to one. But I still know what you mean about that guilty feeling.Jennifer Fitzhttp://jenniferfitz.comnoreply@blogger.com