Saturday, November 24, 2012

How to enjoy a good book written in English, for non-native English speakers

It was in 2010 when I purchased a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, and when I began to read it, I found verbs and expressions I could only understand if I looked them up in a dictionary. Up until that day I thought I would be able to read the book in a few hours because it is meant to be written for kids. I have some experience reading technical articles, which are written by engineers and scientists and I understand them all perfectly, so reading a book for kids was not going to be big deal. I was totally wrong. The first three pages are full with many words that I had to look up in a dictionary and soon I felt as though I did not know enough English. But, wait a minute, the book was written for children! Why did not I, a student of the Intermediate program of an English course at that time, understand those words? This was too disappointing.

At first I looked up every word whose meaning I did not know, but this took a lot of time and hurt the pleasure of reading because I had to stop doing it for a while. I did this for some days but then I realized it would take me too long to finish the book and was getting bored. I was not enjoying the reading. I used to read the book one page a day every two days until I had to travel to Lima for work. I had read the first chapter of the book and three pages of the second.

This year I took the English lessons again and wanted to read a good book in English once more. I bought copies of other novels and decided to read one written by a renowned English writer. This novel is not intended for children and is regarded as one of the greatest novels of all times, so I was sure I was going to discover a good fountain of joy for my hunger of culture. There was I seeing the book, touching it and wondering what wonderful stories it would bring, when I opened it and started reading. To my surprise, I found myself looking up in a dictionary again. Would the story repeat again? It appeared so.

One day I decided to read without using a dictionary each time I encountered a new unknown word. I realized it was a good way to read. I would try to understand the words in their context and read continuously; this way I would appreciate more the stories and my brain would work more. What is better, I would not stop many times and could enjoy the reading much more.

I have found this system works well and when I had read two chapters of this English novel, I remembered I had stopped reading the Mark Twain's book. So, I put the English book on the bookshelf and took the American one. This time I started it over, without stopping when finding a new word.

Now I have read six chapters and in applying the system described above I have been relishing reading this great American piece of writing. I have decided to look up the unknown words when I finish the book, and then I will continue with the English novel.

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

I Just Like To Write

The Cambridge International Dictionary of English gives as one of the definitions of writing: “…Writing is also the activity of creating pieces of written work, such as stories, poems or articles…” (1692)What is very clear in this definition is it does not mention any specific artifacts which are directly attached to the activity. This art only involves the capacity for literary creation. However, nobody can deny the fact that the tools used for performing such a worthwhile pursuit are closely related to it. 

It is well known the tools used for writing are divided into two categories, namely the surface to write on and the device to write with. It seems the former has maintained its consistency, from the ancient Egyptian papyrus to modern-day paper. Man realized these kinds of surface were well suited for the purpose of imprinting his ideas on. Paper manufacturing has experienced several processes of improving since the medieval illuminated manuscripts epoch, and pieces of it have remained the appropriate surface to write on, both by hand and printing.

As for the instruments to write with, these days there exists a fascinating variety of them. Everybody knows feathers were used in the past for this purpose. Nowadays, one can write with a pencil or choose from a group of different pens: ballpoint, felt-tip, and fountain, to name a few. The latter was a particular beloved one by me when I was a child and in my early teens. For some reason I felt more close to being an actual writer while using the old fountain pens my mother and father would give me. As soon as I started writing with my first fountain pen, I knew it would not be the same anymore. I wanted to use it everywhere: at home, at school, at the English language teaching institute. Then I learned I had to take care of it, so I decided to use it only on special occasions. Years passed and when I entered college it was already a long time I had kept my fountain pens in a safe place. There were many times I wanted to use them again but I always put off the opportunity, until last year when I went to a bookstore looking for a new item. I could not believe I did not find any one: there was only a cartridge pen. This sort of pen looks like a fountain pen—it has a nib and a cap—and one could say they are exactly the same except that it does not have a container to fill with ink but a space wherein you must put a tube containing ink. Now I have three of them. The sensation while writing is almost the same, the results the same.


I do not know in what circumstances the typewriter was invented, but I am sure it opened the way for writers to easily migrate to the computer. This splendid and sophisticated machine offers a range of possibilities for the facilitation of the stages of the publication of a piece of writing. The combination of software and hardware makes the editing process easier. For instance, an impressive number of types of letters and page layouts let the writer customize his piece of work and permit the sight of its final appearance in advance of printing it. Never, since the invention of the printing press, had a high-tech machine contributed so much to the writer’s work in such a remarkable way until now. Furthermore, the advent of the Internet brought the omnipresence of every written work. Blogging is the ultimate example.


Many changes and useful improvements have been made to the writing instruments, different and ubiquitous means of publication are available today; and yet they appear to be a novelty that has not more importance than the act of writing itself. Having examined this matter, I realize the definition of writing mentioned above will always remain perfectly valid, and completely immune to new technologies or its variations. Notwithstanding, I still prefer writing with an old-fashioned pen to doing it using a computer.


Works Cited

Cambridge International Dictionary of English. 1995Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Print.