How many english/foreigned books have you read in your entire life ?

Sondage - How much english/foreigned books have you read in your entire life ?

0 (I don't understand the question or I never tried)
5% - 16
1 (I tried but... not for me/too hard)
10% - 29
2
6% - 19
3
5% - 17
4
4% - 12
5
3% - 11
6-10 (included)
11% - 33
11-20
12% - 37
21-30
5% - 15
31... and beyond ! (c) Buzz
33% - 96

Total : 285

 

  • Bambi_slaughter

    Chouchou des imprimeurs

    Hors ligne

    #71 10 Août 2010 22:15:23

    Um ... :emb: In my entire life, I've read only 1 book in english and it was Matilda ... but I also began Animal Farm of George Orwell but I've not ended it ...  I try to read book english and I began HP 2 weeks ago and it's not too hard but I read very slowly, it takes me almost 20 mn to read a chapter and I  looked into the dictionary just 4/5 times, maybe I don't have the habit to read literary text in english. I read articles too and it's easier than that.

    So, as I read like a turtle, I said to me I should read a book in french and in the same time to read an another one in english but at a moment or another I read only the french book and "forget" the another.

    Anyway, I've a question for you people who read books in english. Do you want to understand everything or almost (I mean the descriptions, the puns ...) or you're just content with the general meaning ?
    I would to know that it's necessary to take always the dictionnary when we don't know a word.

    And I have an another question. Maybe, in september, I will live in Lyon to study communication or maybe I stay in Toulouse and do a college year just to keep the subventions (I don't feel myself ready to begin my working life) and the only college I would to go is English College. And for that, I would like to know what are the books we have to read in first year.

  • Lyra Sullyvan

    Accro des mots

    Hors ligne

    #72 10 Août 2010 22:23:41

    When I read in english, I don't understand EVERY SINGLE word, but most of them. Usually, I understand 95% of the text, I think. Even some puns.
    The thing is, I don't open the dictionnary for every word I don't know. I check the meaning when I see the same unknown word a lot of time, or when I'm really stuck, when I don't understand the scene.

  • Bambi_slaughter

    Chouchou des imprimeurs

    Hors ligne

    #73 10 Août 2010 22:54:37

    Thanks for the answers :)

  • Touloulou

    Accio Severus Snape

    Hors ligne

    #74 10 Août 2010 23:33:19

    When I start reading a book in english, I usually start writing down all the words I don't get on a piece of paper, but after a while I get too lazy and stop doing it. Actually, if the book's really good and you crave to know what's next, you won't care if you don't understand some vocabulary, as long as you know the basic things.
    And of course, literature is nothing like reading newspapers. I think it takes some time to get used to the author's style before being able to read fast, even if you speak english well.

  • Touloulou

    Accio Severus Snape

    Hors ligne

    #75 10 Août 2010 23:37:13

    By the way... I don't want to quote every mistake, that would not be the point of talking in english in this topic, but the one in the title is pretty huge, so I thought that it would be best to correct it. It should be written "how many books", because you can count them.

  • Lelf

    A moitié noyé sous sa PAL

    Hors ligne

    #76 10 Août 2010 23:47:31

    Never use a dictionnary. Prevents you from focusing on the story and slows your reading.
    I understand english less well than Lyra I think but when I'm into the story it doesn't matter.
    If there is a particular lexical field I don't understand (like the magic words in my first Harry Potter, words that come back a lot and you need to understand because it's quite annoying not to understand them ^^), I use a dictionnary once for a few words, but not much.

    To sum up, I try to "feel" the book.

    @Toulou : I hadn't seen it !!!! :D

  • Lyra Sullyvan

    Accro des mots

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    #77 11 Août 2010 00:13:09

    For the book I studied, when I was in College (I wasn't studying English, but I had a class of English Literature in option), we read Nineteen Eighty-Four and Macbeth. I'm not sure that it's easy to begin with, but you can expect stuff like that. We also studied some short stories (in the book "Short Story Masterpieces").
    Hope it helped !

  • Miss Spooky Muffin

    Mange-mots

    Hors ligne

    #78 11 Août 2010 09:20:40

    I don't think it's good to keep looking in the dictionary while you read, first of all you lose your line all the time, and then the atmosphere of the story gets a bit spoiled by the interruption. If you understand enough to get by then just read, it doesn't really matter if you understand everything or not. And if an unknown word is coming back all the time, you can always look for it afterwards and feel great for understanding new things about the story :D

  • Invité

    Invité

    #79 11 Août 2010 12:01:10

    Yeah I never look up in the dictionnary. Either i undertsand by the context or I will understand it if I meet the word several times in different books and contexts...

  • Touloulou

    Accio Severus Snape

    Hors ligne

    #80 11 Août 2010 20:07:41

    On the other hand, there are some words (les faux-amis, for instance) that you'll probably never be able to understand, a dictionary is still a basic to learn a language!
    It's better to write them down and check them when you're not reading, seems like a good compromise.