LANGUAGE LEARNING TIPS // How to use reading to learn a new language

[@SophiaLingua]

I wouldn't have guessed you aren't a native english speaker, your accent is incredible! everything about the cadence and word choice feels completely natural and native, I'm very impressed

[@817jorruto]

ive been reading to help with my spanish and wow i cant believe how much its helped me 😭

[@darshenka]

Your English is brilliant! Thank you so much for inspiration! My current level of English is approximately B1+ ~ B2 and you have shown me that there is more to explore 🥰

[@floatinginbooks]

Your welcome! There is a lot more to explore for sure.

[@davronbekibrokhimov33]

do you need someone to practice speaking

[@andrewwilliams4321]

Loved this, currently making another go at fluency in Attic Greek. I found this video encouraging. Thanks!

[@elledee3865]

I'm an American that moved to the Netherlands and I'm in school to learn the language. My friend bought me a few ebooks from a company called Prismatext (they take usually older books like Alice in Wonderland some new books they have the rights to) and they replace words in English with Dutch words, the same word wherever it shows up. I'm reading HP Lovecraft part in Dutch and while it is not helping me learn grammar or sentence structure, it has expanded my vocabulary. It's interesting, and just one of the things I use in this language journey that I'm on.

[@danielcook4176]

I've always wanted to play around with Prismatext. I don't know if you're into it, but reading Harry Potter and listening to the audiobooks put me wayyyyy ahead of where I was beforehand. It's a good intermediate book/series (if you wanna read them all)

[@floatinginbooks]

Not sure I would endorse that kind of text in my language classroom as things can get lost without proper context. Some words need entire sentences to be rewritten in a target language for it to make sense. Words mean different things in different contexts. So depending on the words that were replaced it could work and be very helpful or it could actually kill your feel for the natural flow of the language and teach you things that may be difficult to unlearn once you advance to higher levels of language learning.

[@faithbwire9164]

Great ideas and strategies shared .... would be applying this in my language journey.. writing summaries is something i would love to practice more.... many people don't encourage writing at first I've struggled with this so much. Though I've realised constructing your own basic sentences and summaries is worth it. Thank you so much ❤❤❤

[@libriniserenagobbo9717]

Ad I love reading in several languages, I Always love watching video about reading ❤

[@almir2723]

Great tips, great advices, thanks! ❤

[@hk2622]

You are talented, well done. Thank you for these tips.

[@calebl6586]

Your accent is so impressive, I didn’t realize you weren’t a native English speaker until you said it

[@timothydouglas9474]

Jij spreekt geweldig Engels! Ik ben zelf Engelstalige en heb bemerkt dat veel Nederlanders goed of heel goed Engels spreken, maar er zijn maar weinig, die ECHT goed Engels spreken, zoals jij. Vooral valt me op dat je blijkbaar een echte interesse voor de Engelse taal hebt en je manier van praten op die van een Engelstalige lijkt, niet alleen wat accent betreft, maar ook de selectie van woorden en uitdrukkingen: naar mijn ervaring spreken de meeste Nederlanders een soort Nederlands met Engelse woorden en hebben kennis van de taal maar weinig kennis van de taal cultuur. Kortom, petje af! In je video hebt jij het over de nut van lezen ter verbetering van de algemene taalkennis. Het lezen van fictie is een goede manier om idiomatische uitdrukkingen en met de cultuur kennis te maken. Welke adviezen zou je geven aan iemand, die ook zijn kennis van Engelstalige culturen via het lezen verdiepen wilt?

[@floatinginbooks]

Dank je! Ik heb Engels gestudeerd, ben docente Engels en heb in de VS gewoond. Ook ga ik regelmatig naar Engelstalige landen op vakantie, lees ik veel en maak ik video's in het Engels. Alle kleine beetje helpen. Als je interesse hebt om te lezen over Engelstalige cultuur dan denk ik dat fictie over historische gebeurtenissen een goed begin kan zijn. Dan krijg je en een smeuïg verhaal en wat culturele feiten (uiteraard aangedikt). Non-fictie houdt ik zelf vooral van geschiedenis boeken die bepaalde periodes/ gebeurtenissen uitlichten. Ik vond The Invention of Murder door Judith Flanders een goede. Verder zou ik voor meer moderne inzichten vooral literaire fictie lezen waarbij de lezer een kijkje krijgt in de levens van mensen. Je leert veel over een cultuur door de beschrijving van alledaagse dingen.

[@Brilliantnash]

Interesting content Maaike. Happy to see a professionaĺ confirm some of the tips I give to other people on how to improve on learning a language. I ofter hear that they are afraid to speak a language because they are afraid or ashamed of making mistakes, but that is how you learn. We've all been there, so talk to me and I'm happy to engage in conversation to improve your skills.

[@floatinginbooks]

Yes this happens a lot. For two reasons: the bar is set incredibly high either by the person learning the language but also by language learning professionals. The other reason is that many language classes only focus on receptive skills and speaking and writing are snowed under (usually due to the size of classrooms, not because teachers are incapable and/ or unwilling, but because there is literally not enough time/ resources available). This means people are not taught within a safe environment which leads to lack of confidence the minute someone says they cannot understand them or the person struggles to keep up especially when put into a native speaker environment. I actually want to do a Tea Time Chat some time this year about this topic over on the other channel. There are native speakers sometimes commenting on little accent mistakes even I still make, while I make about a dozen grammar mistakes in the same video which are linguistically much more prudent and noticeable. But because those are the types of mistakes even native speakers make they don't notice them, yet small accent mistakes which I cannot change for the life of me is what stands out to them and so they comment on that. While they have good intentions with their comments they should realize that giving that type of feedback without someone asking for it specifically can cause more harm than good if given to the wrong person. I mean, I edit my own videos, it's not as if I don't hear exactly what I could improve.

[@Jeremylouallen]

Ive been reading short stories with audio online, trying to learn Spanish, and i feel what slows me down is while im reading i have to stop and look up words, especially the conjugations. When you mentioned underlining, i figured maybe i should write down what i need to look up later and just get through the story first, as I'm trying to increase my vocabulary. Good thing with Spanish is the cognates, some words are similar to English and obvious.

[@floatinginbooks]

Yes that would be my recommendation. Write it down or underline things to go back to later. Or go super slow and only do a page at a time. Totally depends on your goal. Do you want to get a feel for the language and the story? Then go with the 'write down and look it up later' approach. If your only goal is to know more words then going word by word may be an alternative approach. However, language never words in isolation so a combination of both tactics may be best. Good luck with your Spanish endeavours.

[@Jeremylouallen]

@@floatinginbooks yes I definitely want to and need to increase my vocabulary so more words lol, thanks ❤️

[@kevingeoghegan294]

Use Google Translate to make a parallel translation of a whole page. Take a screenshot of a page of the story and paste it into Google Translate. You can also do the same with a real book by using your phone to take a photo of a page. Not a perfect translation but pretty damn good and much quicker than looking up word by word.

[@bryan143]

Great tips, thank you. It's amazing that English isn't your first language.🙂

[@crooniegrumpkin4415]

Thanks for informative video.

[@HCRAYERT.]

I see you.

[@Eduardo_Music8560]

Hello my dear friend Floating, good evening! Great video, I liked your video! This is the first time that I publish a comment in your channel. Congratulations. Greetings from Sonora, México 🇲🇽... 👍

[@MsTranthihai71]

Thanks ❤

[@faithbwire9164]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@IntelligentAtheism]

No. For languages like Chinese... reading doesn't work because it's too difficult. For languages that uses our alphabet, YES, reading is a great tool.

[@floatinginbooks]

All my friends in uni who studied Japanese and/ or Chinese were all taught characters first so they could move into texts. It may be difficult but that doesn't mean it cannot be helpful.in learning a language in all of its facets.

[@IntelligentAtheism]

Even natives CAN'T read those languages 😅 Check on KZbin: Can Japanese actually read Japanese? Please, don't believe me and watch it with your own eyes, so there are more chances you get me perspective. Chinese is also that difficult. I'll watch that video again, btw😅👍Because it a very funny detail about those languages. "Even natives have A LOT of problems with Chinese and Japanese"

[@817jorruto]

@@IntelligentAtheisma lot of people have used reading to learn chinese/japanese theres a lot of videos on youtube about it you should look it up

[@シトシト-c7k]

so,What you mean is most important way is reading. right? from japan shito

[@kennethwdc]

Would you say how you learned English? I'm American and would not have guessed that you are not American. Usually people from the Netherlands have an accent, however slight, when speaking English that gives away their origin.

[@floatinginbooks]

I studied it, lived abroad and have been working as an English teacher for years.

[@narsplace]

Buy an e-reader the dictionary in one is very good.

[@LloydChristmas-vx2wh]

No account at all -- impressive.

[@GeorgeDeCarlo]

All programs I have seen TOTALLY FAIL to get 60% of all their learners to achieve basic fluency. That failure exposes all language programs AND school classes in the 100+ year scam to make money. I have been posting dozens of challenges to polyglots and websites. I have noticed others using parts of my posts. My revelation is spreading. I also tell parents and students to not take language classes unless they guarantee and prove 60% success. Remember 60% is a D grade on tests, below average. I'll take that to start. And as a side note, don't even take grammar classes in your own language. Want to improve your own language? Read, read a lot and fiction is best since studies showed this. SO AS TO THIS PROGRAM, PROVE THIS. SHOW US PEOPLE WITH EVIDENCE PROVING IT TO US. NICE PHOTOS WITH VERBIAGE IS NOT ENOUGH. PERSONALLY I AM SICK OF THE LANGUAGE INDUSTRY AND SCHOOLS.