Podcast on Spotify: Please Don't Make Me Analyse Everything
Podcast on YouTube: Please Don't Make Me Analyse Everything
Benvenuti, Bienvenue, Croeso and Welcome
Hi, I’m Juliet. Join me on a journey through my language learning process and learn my thoughts on different aspects of language learning with the A Language Learning Tale Podcast. Today I’m talking about…
Please Don’t Make Me Analyse Everything, or, Is Reading Literary Works Good for Learning Languages?
In a previous podcast, I mentioned that, in my language studies, when I was a teenager, we started reading the kinds of books that would be referred to as literary during class for my A Levels. I want to talk about that a little today. I don’t know if pupils are still taught about literature in foreign languages in school, before the level of a University Degree, but I’m guessing they probably are.
So, those of you who follow me on YouTube may know that I’m actually a writer in English (and I’m trying it out in Italian, too, but don’t shout that too loud). You might think I would be in favour of studying foreign-language literary works at school.
Well, I have no problem with students reading foreign-language literary works at school, if that’s what the students like to read. In many cases, though, it probably isn’t. They might prefer to read some fantasy, or science-fiction, or perhaps, a graphic novel.
And it’s also the word studying I have a problem with, because that generally doesn’t just mean studying the words. It has a far deeper implication.
I didn’t become a writer until late in life. That’s because I didn’t become a reader of more than one or two books a year till later in life. Why is that? Being taught literature at school, and I don’t mean just in foreign languages. I mean in English, too. School put me off reading.
Didn’t do a very good job there, did they?
I would go so far as to say I hate analysing literature, which is basically what you have to do at school. You have to find meaning where the teacher thinks there’s meaning, in oh, so many ways. The phrases, the colours, the metaphors, the … anything and everything. My internal reaction was, it means that, does it? Really? How do you know? I’m not, of course, saying the author didn’t put any hidden meanings into a work, that’s definitely something that happens, but unless the author actually documented that meaning, you’re simply guessing.
Analysing literature, for me, sucked all the joy out of reading. Instead of enjoying the story, I had to ask myself at every turn what it meant, but not what it meant to me, unless I could prove it with a detailed explanation, but what it meant according to those who are clearly cleverer than the rest of us and agree on these things. The analytical side of my brain is more attuned to technology and, I suppose, languages, not that. We also had to learn quotes to potentially use in exams and because no one knew what would come up in the exams, lots of them. I was not good at this. I just couldn’t fix them in my head.
So, imagine my horror when we had to start reading foreign-language novels in the same way, when I started my A-levels. Not only did we have to work out the literal meaning, which, of course, with the level of language we had after four, or five years of school-style study wasn’t great, we had to work out the — imagine air quotes here — meaning of it. I was not only put off reading in English, especially what is considered to be worthy literature, I was put off reading in foreign languages, too. Because I had little to no time to do other reading, fun reading, I never discovered the kinds of books I actually enjoyed. It wasn’t until a good twenty years later that I discovered I enjoyed reading fantasy and science-fiction. I’d never even tried doing that. The few books I had been reading were usually best sellers, crime novels by big authors. I was missing out on a lot.
I kind of went on a binge reading spree, perhaps trying to catch up with everyone else. To be honest, considering how little people read these days, I probably passed most of the population pretty quickly. I’ve calmed down quite a bit now. After all, it isn’t a race.
So, what has this got to do with language learning? Well, reading books is one of the best things you can do to improve your understanding of a foreign language. It really is. I will do a podcast on how I tackle reading in practical terms, but it basically gives you a huge insight into how the language is used, without it going at a million miles an hour, because you can read at your own pace.
If you read books by native speakers, you will probably also get an insight into the culture of the country.
Should you read literary classics in the language, or more contemporary books?
Well, unless you really love classics, I would say read them sparingly. Many of them use old-fashioned language, which could be difficult to understand. Think about it, Jane Austen didn’t write how we would write today. The language is much more formal and everything is expressed using different words. Any literature in any other language will be the same. That’s not going to be so useful for your language learning and is probably best left until you’re much further down your language journey.
Much better, I think, is to largely read books by contemporary writers, who are writing using the language of their time and who are writing about things that might be experienced by people living now. That doesn’t mean you can’t read something like fantasy, or science fiction, of course, because these stories usually reflect the current times, just in a slightly different setting.
If you are at school and having to read literary works that you don’t enjoy, I would urge you to try reading something that you do enjoy, too, even if it’s only for ten minutes a day. Don’t be like me and get so discouraged by literary works that you leave it way too long to try something else.
That’s all for today’s episode. Don’t forget to join me again next time, for more language learning tips, tricks and tales and in the meantime, check out the A Language Learning Tale YouTube channel for additional, non-podcast content.
Ciao, salut, hwyl and bye for now.