When you reading a text which words do you look up in a dictionary?

[yedafu]

Hi everyone! 

I was wondering about your ways in reading Chinese novels/short story/ articles. when you reading a text which words do you look up in a dictionary? do you look up every word you dont know, or just the ones that you fill is critical? and if you just peek up the ones you think is critical what your preconditions for a "look up word"? or maybe you have a "not looking up word policy" and how is that working for you? 

if i can share from my own experience on the subject: if it something in my daily job(like email- contracts ex) and i feel i'm not 95% understand the text, i will look up every word in it. But when i'm reading for pleasure its to frustrating to look up every unknown word, so i'm usually read one page and only go back to translating parts that i feel that i dont have the slightness clue on what the author talking about. 

 

so i would relay like to know what is your strategies/opinions on the subject, 

Thanks,

[imron]

I wrote a post a while back that discusses my strategy for normal texts (the priortisation part is towards the end of the post, but the first part is also worth reading).

 

Nowadays, and with electronic texts, I also use Chinese Text Analyser (a tool that I developed) so I can focus on words that have a high frequency relative to what I'm reading at the time.

[Lu]

When I read for work (or something I must understand fully), I look up everything, but when I read for pleasure I look up as little as possible. I only do it when the word is important for understanding what is going on, or occasionally when I feel studious and a word just looks useful. And names of recurring characters, to know how they are pronounced.

[yedafu]

Imron thanks for the comment, i just read your strategy and i find it very useful but i have 2 questiona i want to ask you about it:

1) lets says i do read for an half  and during that time the words i didnt know add up to 20. my new words per day is limited to 5 (for the same reason as you mention), so do you look up all the 20 in that day, or you will only focus on first 5 and will continue later on (that means that i probably will finish reading alot sooner then checking all the words meaning)

2) do you look up all the words (i.e all the 20 new i find that day) or just the ones you think it more critical for understanding? 

Thanks,

[imron]

I think flexibility is the key, with everything based on the assumption that you aren't going to miss out on any useful words if you are reading regularly, because the useful words will appear on another day (and if they don't then by definition they are not useful).

 

So I would have a minimum time quota for reading, and a minimum+maximum vocab quota for new words (I typically aim for a minimum of 5, maximum of 10).

 

Then when I'm reading, I won't necessarily just learn the first 5 words.  If I think a word might not be so useful, or if it's easy enough to understand from the surrounding context then I might decide to skip that word for now to save space in the quota for other words.

 

Sometimes I'll look up all the words, other times it's just the ones I think are more critical for understanding.  Like I said, it's really quite flexible, with the aim being to create a relatively enjoyable experience.  It will also depend on what I'm reading and how many new words there are. 

 

Then, when I look up a word, I'm using Pleco (with the Guifan and ABC dictionaries) and I don't spend too much time learning the word when I look it up.  I just read the pronunciation and meaning, relate it back to the context of what I'm reading and then read the sentence again making a conscious effort to understand and pronounce the word in context.  If I think the word is worthy of adding to my quota, I'll click the + button to add it to flashcards for later study.

 

This cuts time spent looking up words while reading, and also requires zero effort in flashcard maintenance.  If I hit my daily vocab quota then I might keep reading and just not bother looking anything up, or I might look things up but then not add them to flashcards.  If I'm being overwhelmed by new words, I might even choose to go back and start re-reading from the place I started that day, rather than go forward with too many new words.  If I find what I'm reading is regularly overwhelming me with new words, then that's an indication that I'm reading something too far beyond my current level and I'd put it down and try to find something more appropriate.  The reading process will be much more enjoyable if you have chosen something at the right level.

 

Once I hit my daily time limit, then I'll open up my flashcards and go through all newly added cards in fine detail, making an effort to commit them to memory, and also remembering how they appeared in the context of story, as that usually serves as a good memory hook.

 

Every now and then, I also delete everything in the flashcard deck and start afresh (usually once reviews start to take up more than around 30 mins a day).

[stapler]

I can't ignore words I don't know. I'm too curious. Whenever I'm reading novels I look up every word I don't know in Pleco and add it to the flashcards. I'll review them a few times (2-3 times over the course of a week or two) then delete them. Probably the only words I don't look up are 4 character phrases that are obvious.  And as imron says, the best SRS is just reading lots. I don't worry about working out what words are useful or not. I just review them all a few times then axe them. If I forget them, and they're regular/useful, I'll add them again later. If the word is rare and unimportant, statistically it's unlikely I'll add it again and thus not waste too much time with it. The more advanced you get, the words you're adding for review also automatically become more esoteric.

 

I use to find looking up words a bit of a drag, but I think I've done it so much now that the rate at which I have to look up words is quite low and I basically don't really notice I'm even doing it when I'm reading.

 

I guess my philosophy is I gotta learn these words anyway, might as well get it over and done with.

 

One thing I've noticed is that each novel has its own style/vocabulary. And this generally means the first few pages can be quite a bit harder than the later pages. When I come to read the later page I'm already with the vocabulary and phrases the authors likes to use.

[imron]

I think what you mention about style/vocabulary for a novel or even for a single author across multiple novels is spot on.

 

That's why learning words based on frequency in what you are reading is so effective because a small number of vocabulary items will give you a significant increase in understanding.

[Luxi]

Many of the words I don't understand are either words I once knew but have forgotten, or words/characters for which I know 1-2 meanings but still don't make sense in the context. My natural tendency is to rush to a dictionary, especially since they're now so accessible and fast to use.  However, in my case, I've found it pays to hold the reins a bit and try to figure things out first,

 

Sometimes I'm able to recall the meaning of the 'forgotten' words by reading the paragraph again and again, making sure I understand its structure. So often it turns out that I haven't understood the meaning because I haven't really got a grip on the actual sentence or paragraph it's part of. Some texts are notoriously difficult to read, using very long sentences with sub- and sub-sub-clauses, twists and turns and unclear punctuation - to the point that the brain gives up loses track half way through.

 

I keep telling myself that going to a dictionary may help giving a better idea of what the paragraph is about, but it is not going to help me read much better or faster in the long term.

 

A strategy that helps me gain confidence is spending time in the choice of reading material. I find some authors like Lao She (老舍) or Ba Jin (巴金) quite easy to understand, I can read them without getting lost. Gu Long is also in that category (even when the vocabulary needs a lot of searches at first. In contrast,some articles in the People's Daily and other 'establishment-friendly' press  are so muddled and twisted that even knowing 100% of the characters doesn't make the meaning any clearer. 

 

(Edited for spelling (blushes)