On Reading A Novel In English

Several months ago I finished Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. As I stated in my last post, I decided to read it without consulting a dictionary and simply trying to infer the meaning of the words from the context. I did so. I just sat cross-legged on my bed holding no more than the book in my hands and began the journey to the amusing world of Tom Sawyer and his fellow rascal Huck Finn, by doing a straightforward reading and hoping to understand the depicted adventures on my own.

Although I gained time, I could only gain a somewhat incomplete understanding of the novel. A number of unknown words referring to nature, others used to describe landscapes, and the slang used and the dialects spoken in the Mississippi river's surrounding area at mid-nineteenth century, appeared as I advanced through the pages of the book. It is clear the prospect of understanding all those words appeared unlikely but I managed to most of the times. The crux of the matter is I was able to arrive at the final page after a few weeks (by reading four to six pages a day), so I did fulfil the main goal: to enjoy the reading while doing it continuously.

When I finished the book I felt so glad that I sprang to my feet, headed towards my wardrobe, took my copy of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn out of it (yes, I keep some of my books in my wardrobe, my bookcase is too small) and began to read it the same way; of course it worked this time too. I was so excited to discover that this novel is, in some way, a continuation of the former, and was keen to totally read it in the course of a few days, but some days after I had started I got distracted by earthly matters. Notwithstanding, I had already proved to myself that one can read a novel written in a foreign language–at least one written in English, for non-native English speakers–without stopping every time they encounter an unknown word in order to look it up in a dictionary, and can, if not completely understand the novel, get an overall impression of it.

The next step is to reread the novel, this time using a dictionary. I am sure this undertaking will take longer than the preceding one, yet it will bring the satisfaction of understanding every single written word and thus the whole book on completion of the process of enjoying a great piece of writing. From now on I'll follow this procedure.

This way of approaching the reading of a novel, that is, to try to understand new words in their context, is found in Reading Comprehension exercises in tests given to students both when learning a new language and as a method of learning new words in their mother tongue. I reckon everybody has experienced it, one way or the other. So, it is obvious I am not the first person whom this idea has ever occurred to; and since it is universally acknowledged as a very good manner to learn new words, wouldn't it be reasonable to think this style of reading is highly appropriate for training the brain and accustoming it to the act of inferring?

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.