How I read a Graphic Novel to learn a Foreign Language

Listen to me read this post


As I've mentioned before, I live in Vietnam and I am trying to learn Vietnamese.  So, a lot of the activities I suggest to you to learn English, I do myself to learn Vietnamese.  Things like watching TV programs and reading favorite books.  And, as I've also mentioned I love to read the Manga series Case Closed.  I had brought several English copies of the books with me to Vietnam and I was excited to see they had the same books in Vietnamese in the local bookstores.

Here's how I read Graphic Novels...

1. I buy 2 copies of my favorite graphic novel.  One in English and one in Vietnamese. 

2. I read the English copy all the way through to familiarize myself with the story.  Most of the books I read a while ago just because I enjoy reading them but the point is I know the story,  I know who the characters are, and I know what sort of the things they talk about in the stories.  This will help me when I get to the next step.

3. I try to read the Vietnamese  copy all the way through.  These books are actually difficult for me to read in Vietnamese.  Normally, I say pick something that is just a little above your comprehension level.  But since I really enjoy reading them, I do it anyway.  You know what works best for you, so make your own rules when it comes to learning English.  Anyway, when I'm reading this time, I am trying to read to understand and enjoy the overall story. 

4. Next I read the Vietnamese copy page by page with the English copy.  The books are not word for word translations of each other.  But this is actually a good thing.  I want to get a feel for how a particular idea or concept is expressed or communicated in the other language.  This time I'm paying attention to the details more.  How does the grammar work,  how are the sentences constructed, what words or phrases do I want to learn?  I might even look up words in the dictionary to understand them better.   

5.  The last step is the most helpful but the hardest.  I read the English book page by page and think of how I would say the same thing in Vietnamese.  Then I check the Vietnamese copy and see how close I was to the original.

Try these methods for yourself and let know if you like it and find it useful by leaving a comment.  Now, if you will please excuse me, I have alot of reading to do.   

Thanks for listening.  This has been Cassie Brenn for fastfoodenglish.blogspot.com