Because I’m non-native English speaker, I look up every unknown word and phrase in the books I read. But that’s starting to get in the way of enjoying the books and kinda draining my energy. I often find myself tired and sleepy after searching for and reading the definitions.
This happened with LOTR, The Denial of Death and is continuing to happen with Moby-Dick.
I encounter unknown words in every paragraph. Spending 2-3 hours a day on reading, I only read no more than 20 pages.
What should I do?
Should I first start with books that are easier to read or should I ignore some of the words and try to understand them in the context? Or something else?
by idkwhattosay728
11 Comments
As a native English speaker I have a to look up words in LOTR/Moby Dick. You might want to try easier books as you suggest.
English is my third language So, tbh, you’re too slow, 20 pages in 2-3 hour is too low
I would suggest start with young adult, like –
The phantom tollbooth.
Brainwalker.
The Graveyard Book.
Read all three, those are best.
These are enough to build your speed, only if you try to increase your speed, only if you push yourself
If you read them with your same speed, you won’t do any progress
Talking about vocabulary, keep you mobile or laptop alongwith you when you read, and keep google on, so you won’t waste much time in reopening app again and again
And try to remember words as those will repeat again in some another chapter or another book, in few months your words library will grow vast
Moby Dick is a hard read for many native speakers. (And I am glad to see that people are still reading The Denial of Death.) When I read in other languages I’m fluent in, I still usually have to go to the dictionary fairly often.
>Should I first start with books that are easier to read.
Yes. You can’t expect to, as a learner, start by reading long classics and follow effortlessly. You should look for preferably shorter books (you mention books that are very long and deep, why not pick some shorter, lighter-themed stories?) and with the text that feels just slightly above your vocabulary level. Once there, definitely do not search for every word you don’t know or can’t figure out from the context. Your brain will passively adapt and gain vocabulary that way, as long as it’s not excessively too advanced.
(My two cents as someone who also went through a similar situation in the past when learning English)
You should try to improve your reading fluency before reading books like Moby Dick. Reading that slowly indicates you’re not at the level right now to read those books. I would try books aimed at young adults.
Begin with easier books, and depending on your level of English language try not to look out the meaning for every single word, instead start trying to understand the context of the phrase you’re reading. English is my second language and I learned by myself as well. And one thing, also depending on your English level, start to or try to think in that language and not translate everything in your head, got it? And a good tool for language learning are e-readers, they help a lot to improve! Hope it helps you some way and don’t give up! ❤️
>ignore some of the words and try to understand them in the context
This would be my recommendation. If you do English assessments it’s quite common that you’ll have unfamiliar words in the reading comprehension section. Learning to infer meaning is a very valuable skill for this type of assessment.
Although, if you read several pages and don’t understand the general concepts, then the book is probably above your level.
Try reading ebooks.
On my kindle, you just press/hold word for dictionary.
You don’t lose your place and return immediately to last part read.
Only drawback is you’ll need wifi for dictionary.
English is my second language so here’s some tips:
– Pick easier books. YA or contemporary fiction usually don’t have any archaic or outdated word
– Ignore the words you don’t know. You don’t have to look up every single word you come across. Can you sorta kinda get what’s going on with context clues? If so, skip the word you don’t know and continue reading
– Figure out your English language level. If you’re B2 it’s too early to read Moby Dick. Google english books for B2/C1/etc and pick a book from the list
I did that too. Looked up every word I didn’t know or wasn’t sure of and it really took me out of the story and wasn’t any fun. I forced myself to stop. Tried to get the meaning from the context and only looked it up when I really needed it to understand what was going on. It was a bit weird at the start but it’ll get better. If you need to look up a lot switch to easier books at first.
Yes, pick easier books, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t read important books in English if that’s something you want to do. A classic like Lord of the Flies might be much easier.
There are also books out there for people learning with the English on one side of the page and the original language on the other. I read fairly fluently in French and I still will buy those editions for poetry in particular.
You also might consider not looking up every word. If you can figure it out from context, maybe just keep reading until you hit some thing that either seems incredibly important or that you really can’t pin down.