Can I learn just by reading?

[deathtrap]

Let's say for example that I was started from a very basic beginner starting point, with a couple hundred words that I know and only know a little grammar, could I learn just by reading with a dictionary at my side(Pera-pera-kun for example) ? Would I be able to take myself to an advanced level like this?

Maybe I might miss a lot of grammar points, so what if I also added a grammar book that I could look in whenever I encountered a grammar point that I didn't know?

[Guest realmayo]

I think the main difficulty would be that with a sentence you don't understand you would also not know why you don't understand it, you would be unable to identify the new grammar point or points in the sentence, meaning you wouldn't be able to look them up. Not having the grammar explained to you would probably make progress very slow because you'd have to run into the same grammar point several times, and remember the previous instances of running into it and not understanding, before you could be confident that you had 'picked up' the meaning. Plus it would be slow and frustrating to be checking a dictionary for every other word.

I think you would definitely succeed if you had lots of willpower and lots more time than most people, but in my opinion you'd be making the journey longer and more difficult than it needs to be. I'd suggest a textbook as your map, a friend or tutor as your compass, and if progress is slow and frustrating consider it may not be because your textbook is bad, just because the language is tricky and takes time and patience.

[li3wei1]

Also, you may get to an 'advanced level' of reading, but it won't help you with speaking or listening, so you won't be passing any HSK tests or similar.

[msittig]

There's lots of scholars who are experts in ancient/dead languages, who got there by reading and studying alone. I think you could reach a similar place with Chinese, eg see classical Chinese.

[imron]

It's possible but it will be slow and painful. I would think you're much better off following a textbook until you get to an intermediate level.

Also, be careful with pop-up dictionaries. They make it fast and easy to look up words, which often has a detrimental effect on your ability to actually learn the word (because people have a tendency to look it up quickly and then once they have the meaning, not put any effort in to actually trying to remember the word).

[laurenth]

I'm far from being a specialist, so take my opinion for what it's worth.

What do you mean by "learning"?

If "learning" means "learning to read", than reading is not only one possible manner of learning, it's the only one.

If "learning" means "learning the language" (which, as a first approximation, could mean: reading the written language, understanding the spoken language, writing, speaking, etc.), than you'll obviously have to use other methods sooner or later.

That raises an interesting point: according to the input hypothesis, it's better to start with lots and lots of input (reading and listening) before you even open your mouth or grab your pen. So that approach may correspond to your own hypothesis.

In fact, whatever your preferred way of learning is, you'll have to practice all skills at some point. The real question is the priority that should be given to any given skill at any given time, based on you level, your interest, the time and the resources available, your own pet-learning hypothesis, etc.

I believe it's perfectly possible to learn a language just for reading. E.g. I enjoy reading Latin and I don't speak it (though I'm aware that some people like to speak it and are convinced that speaking Latin makes it easier to learn to read - yet another perfectly plausible hypothesis).

Anyway, reading will never hurt, whatever your level. Focussing on reading at the start may even boost your knowledge of the language up to a point where learning other skills will become much easier (input hypothesis).

But, as realmayo said, you'll probably need some assistance that books alone won't be able to provide.

And just reading may also become boring. Diversity fuels the interest.

[li3wei1]

One problem many beginning students have is pronunciation. If you attempt this massive reading-only drive without first getting the pronunciation correct, you may be reinforcing bad pronunciation (as you say the words to yourself or 'hear' them in your head), which could be a real disadvantage when you decide you do want to learn how to speak and listen eventually. On the other hand, if you ignore pronunciation completely, and avoid that problem, and just associate the characters with their English meanings, you'll still have a massive mountain to climb all over again when you decide to learn to speak. Plus, knowing or being able to guess the pronunciation is often a help towards remembering the meaning, so you'd be making that part harder as well.

[roddy]

Advanced at reading, yes. Advanced at anything else, no. If you plan a career of reading Chinese documents, fair enough. If you're doing this as it looks temporarily easier or more convenient, you're storing up major problems and frustrations for yourself later on.

[Lu]

If "learning" means "learning to read", than reading is not only one possible manner of learning, it's the only one.

I disagree. To learn to read Chinese, you would at the very least need to learn a fair number of characters and words as well as a certain amount of grammar. Without that, a page of Chinese is just squiggles that will never make any sense. You need to have a basis in the system first before massive input becomes even possible, in case of reading at least. Personally I don't think starting with massive input and massive input only is the most effective way to learn to listen/speak either, but I can see how it might be useful. But for reading, no.

I have been fooling myself thinking that I could improve by just reading. It doesn't work. What does work is a combination of vocab learning and a lot of reading. I would probably benefit from looking at some more grammar too, but well, one thing at the time.

[laurenth]

I disagree

I agree with your disagreement, Lu: "reading" really means trying to understand what you read, which entails looking up vocab and grammar (and pronunciation in the case of Chinese), and studying what you have discovered so far - then maybe one day, you reach the mythical 98% comprehension level at which you can "just read".

In theory, "massive input" should be possible at almost any level. However, unsurprisingly, the kind of texts that lends itself to massive input when you're at a beginner or intermediate level is massively boring. So maybe, at the bootstrapping stage, we are doomed to start with "10% reading and 90% studying vocab" while hoping it will be the other way around as soon as possible.