The Importance of Reading

We need meaningful input to learn languages. Listening is great for preparing to speak, and is the most portable learning activity, but reading is where I feel I acquire the most words.

CC subtitles available in: English, Japanese, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian and Portuguese.

I'd like to thank the volunteers who created this video's translations:

Yukari
Mario
Anne

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My Podcast:

#languagelearning #languages #polyglot

[Thelinguist]

How big a part of your language learning is reading?

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Social Media

[sunneblueme]

As a big time introvert, read and listening is really the only way i could feel comfortable learning a language. So this video is reassuring of that fact.

[coupdecoeur]

"I associate listening with speaking and reading with vocabulary acquisition" best phrase of the video

[eddg]

I believe that the more you know a language the more important reading gets, simply by the fact that it uses so many different words from the conventional and uses tons of descriptive words and verbs you usually don't see in daily contexts. I've been studying English for quite some time now and things like "he drew his sword", "she flung herself forward" were pretty difficult to have an idea of their meaning before I started focusing more on reading. While TV series and movies have a lot of the essential vocabulary you expect to see in your daily life, books help you achieve more quickly that remaining "5%" of words you'll naturally have some trouble with that don't appear so often.

[norama]

هل قرأتَ يوما القرآن الكريم كشغوف بالقراءة كما قلتَ في هذا الڤيديو ؟
أنا لستُ عربيّة لكن أتقِن كمسلمة اللّغة العربية ..وجدتُ عند قراءتي لهذا الكتاب ثراءً في لغتي هذي و جمالاً في نطق الحروف بسهولة فوق الخيال ..سبحان اللّه !

[Trendleader]

It forces you to confront your level of vocabulary. Theres a bunch of words on the page, and you either know them or you don't. And when you do get to where you read well, it gives you utter confidence. you KNOW that you know the language

[nilighosh]

Reading is important because words spoken and written are building blocks of life. Motivational video. Thank you.

[djw]

*For those who are advanced students of German: Ein Lehrbuch für fortgeschrittene Schüler/Schülerinnen der deutschen Sprache, das ich stark empfehle, ist, ,From Language to Literature“. Es besteht aus Geschichten und Ausschnitten von einem Roman des deutschen Schriftstellers Heinz Piontek (*1925 - † 2003), der im Jahrgang 1976 den Georg-Büchner-Preis gewann. Nach jeder Geschichte und jedem Ausschnitt gibt es Fragen für Verständnis und Interpretation. Es ist besonders nützlich in einer Klasse oder mit einem Privatlehrer. Leider ist dieses Buch schon lange vergriffen. Allerdings sind gebrauchte Exemplare bei Amazon und anderen online Buchhandlungen noch zu verkaufen.*

[matildawolfram]

My brother studied languages at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in California. The pace of study was intense. Students had to master the language course in 36-64 weeks. Psychologically it was very difficult, but fortunately he was helped by Yuriy Ivantsiv's book "Polyglot Notes. Practical tips for learning foreign languages”. The book " Polyglot Notes" became a desk book for my brother, because it has answers to all the problems that any student of a foreign language has to face. Thanks to the author of the channel for this interesting video! Good luck to everyone who studies a foreign language and wants to realize their full potential!

[lyanne]

Back when I was in 8th grade, my English teacher praise me for accurately expressing myself in English (which is our second language) through writing. And even now, I still owe that to myself who just loves to read and listen

[gianfrancobenetti-longhini]

Just listening only to the people that you know is very limiting, even if you move to other places. So, as Mr. Kaufmann says, reading is far more important, and serious writers would have to spend hours to transmit the same content verbally. With a book you can leave it, go back in chapters if your mind has some doubts, or reread it after years as you have matured with new experiences, and then see the same words in a different light, as has happened to me with the books of Ayn Rand.
But to understand a nation, it is better to live there for a while, and a good knowledge of the language then becomes important, whether it be a country in Africa or the USA, where there are "local" views and customs for similar topics.
A "thank you" to Mr. Kaufmann for his contribution to the subject.

[elllllllle]

I have thrown away my books in Chinese in recent years. I started to do reading mostly in English. It was difficult at the beginning but it gradually gets better and better, things get more smooth the more books I read. Although I’m still not 100% correct on grammar ( because English verb tenses is just so complicated and I always tempted to use the simple present form), but I have made huge progress in general comprehension and can use the proper vocabulary whenever I want to describe something. I’m here on YouTube to comment not only because I want to leave a comment but also to practice my writing in English.

[Learninglotsoflanguages]

Yes! Seeing the words helps me so much more. I can listen to something 10 times, but if I see a transcript of it and read it once or twice I will understand much more. I'm sure a big part of it is just having the time to process and slow down. I think I really am hopping on the reading bandwagon now with recent successes. It's a different world when you find material at that perfect spot for you. I have a book I bought in spring that was too difficult for me then. Now I can understand 90-95% and the words I don't know are used multiple times so I can use them. Then after reading a couple times I'm writing a summary of the story and it's amazing how quickly I can type from something that I read vs. when I just try to type whatever in my target language.

[kakamama]

Reading in arabic is easier than reading in frensh or in english.if you are able ti read arabic alphabet so it is easy to read an arabic text.

[octaviorizo]

I'm reding your book ( the linguist) because i want to practice my reading skill with your book so i consider that when we want to read something the most important is find interesting topict for you.

[bluetarantulaproductions]

When I was a kid my parents encouraged my siblings and I to read alot. For me I used to read Goosebumps by R.L. Stine for a long time (until my catholic elementary school banned them for dumb reason's). I unfortunately didn't get back into reading novels until Jr. High (grade 8 here in Canada). These day's I read books by William W. Johnstone, Robert Crais, James Patterson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (+ more).

[thestraightpath.]

Hi there, reading is a receptive skill in addition to listening, they represent the INPUT process as opposed to speaking and writing which are productive skills representing the OUTPUT. The more we listen and read the more we can speak and write. To put it in other words, a good listener is a good speaker, and a good reader is a good writer. All in all, if there was no input you wouldn't expect output and vice versa.

[ayaanlenur]

Do know the first verse revealed to the last prophet Mohammed peace upon him. was "READ"
"Read in the Name of your Lord who created; created man from a clinging mass. Read, and your Lord is the most generous, who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know”

[lertransformavoce]

Reading is very good indeed. I note that when I read a lot my listening skills are better; I can recognize a word that I've already read better.

[walterezende]

Hi Steve, I watch yor videos constantly, and because this I reading alot books and e-reader in english, i know my active vocabulary don't is large, but i think i can exprese my self about certes themes, because of this massive reading, my vocabulary growing up very fast and now, I think understand more words. Thanks for share your knowledge. Brazil here!