Can anyone please tell me something about these English journals?

[chenpv]

I went to our school library today and found that the library had subscribed some new journals including these two:

(1) The Atlantic

(2) The Harper's Magazine

I skimmed over them which seemed a bit sophisticated. I am wondering if anyone could kindly tell me something about these two journals. So, what kind of people are these two journals aiming for? Do you guys read them? For what reasons do you read or not read them? Are they suitable for me whose English is not so good?

Also, I would like to read some insightful periodicals popular among the foreigners. Currently, I read 'the American spectator' 'National Geographic' 'New Scientist', I would appreciate it very much if you could give me some suggestions.

[gato]

Both of those are two of the more popular social commentary and current events magazine. "The Atlantic Monthly" is more on the right politically. Its former editor, Michael Kelly, supported the 2003 Iraq War. Kelly died in an accident while reporting from Iraq. "Harpers" is generally much more left-wing in terms of political coverage. It also tries to cover literature and the arts to a greater extent than "Atlantic Monthly." "The Atlantlic Monthly," on the other hand, tends to have articles that are more in depth, more academic than "Harpers."

Of the two, I prefer "The Atlantic Monthly" because its writing and analysis tends to be better. "Harpers" tends to be too overtly political, and its articles tend to be somewhat shallow. I find that I can learn something new from "The Atlantic," which is not the case with "Harpers." If you are interested in left-wing political coverage, read the "The New Republic" or "The Nation," though they are probably too focused on US domestic politics for an international audience. On the right, there is the "National Review" and "The Weekly Standard." "The American Spectator," I believe, is usually considered to be on the far right. Its publisher funded the effort to investigate Clinton's sex life and his past in Arkansas.

As a general interest magazine, "The New Yorker" magazine is a much better choice for those who wants to read reporting and social commentary from a slightly left-of-center perspective. It also has the best arts and architecture coverage of any general interest magazine. Its writers are some of the best in the English language. And it's a surprisingly popular magazine, considering the length and depth of its articles. Currently, "The New Yorker" has somewhere around 1 million subscribers, much more than either "The Atlantic Monthly" or "Harpers."

Some of its articles are available online: http://newyorker.com/

All the magazine mentioned above target a more educated audience, meaning college graduates or above. Their vocabulary used, the sentence structures, and the knowledge assumed is generally is at the college level. For general interest current events, "Time" and "Newsweek" are both good choices among US magazine. The level of difficulty with these two is about early high-school level. I don't know much about what the Brits, Aussies, and New Zealanders reads. Canadians tend to read the same thing as the Americans. ;-)

[gato]

Could you recommend some good Chinese magazines for current events, as well as, the arts?

So far I know about《小康》,《读者》and《财经》, and the weekly newspapers 南方周末 and 经济观察报.

[bhchao]

For general interest current events, "Time" and "Newsweek" are both good choices among US magazine. The level of difficulty with these two is about early high-school level.

Time is written more in a liberal flavor, while Newsweek has a more conservative approach.

I like reading Foreign Affairs. Last month the magazine featured a series of articles devoted to China, written by Chinese and Western editors.

[kudra]

For my money, I'd go with The Economist. Don't be put off by the name, it is by no means all business or economic reporting. The only thing I can comment on with any expertise is the science writing, which I find head and shoulders above for example The New York Times science reporting. I suppose The Economist is right of center politically. Probably all of these suggestions from this and the other posts, you can sample on the internet. While it has a european flavor, and British usage and spelling, The Economist is still the only magazine I am willing to actually pay money to read.

Now about that money I am willing to pay, here is the disclaimer. I usually buy an initial subscription at "teaser" rate, then find that because of work or family I am not reading it as much as I promised myself I would when I wrote the check. (Of course if I actually read the whole thing, I would not have time to post to chinese-forums) So I let the subscription expire when renewal comes up at the regular rate which is kind of steep. In about 2 years I will get another offer to subscribe at the reduced rate. If you are in a university and the library gets it that's great. Or possibly some econ or finance or business professors get it and will let you have it after they are done with it. Or, they might let you use their subscription ID to read the full content on the web.The magazine may have a student rate.

The Atlantic Monthly: actually a couple friends of mine one who teaches ESL and the other who is a writer/english teacher (both in the US) cough up their hard earned money for the Atlantic.

[gato]

You can read a portion of "The Economist" online on its website: http://www.economist.com/index.html

I subscribed to it for a year before stopping because I found that too many of its articles were filled with its reporters' generally Thatcherite personal opinion rather than a more fair and comprehensive look at the facts on the ground. On the plus side, its financial reporting is very good.

[wushijiao]

I subsribe to the Economist. I think an advantage, besides the ones also mentioned, is that it has fairly comprehensive global reporting. A lot of other magazines might only have two or three articles about foreign countries per week.

The Atlantic is great for its depth. I like Christopher Hitchens's book reviews.

I agree with gato that the New Yorker is also a great magazine.

Are they suitable for me whose English is not so good?

Well, it seems that your English is pretty good. I suppose at your higher level of English, it depends on what kind of English you want to master, and what type of texts do you want to be able to read with fluency.

One difficulty about those magazines is that they will assume that you have quite a bit of background knowledge. For a Chinese person with good English, I think cultural refrences in texts might be a big stumbling block. But, you can cheat. You can buy a "Cultural Refrence" book that will inform you about a lot of things that educated native speakers probably know. I think with the help of one of those books, perhaps your reading comprehension will improve quicker than it would be just extensive reading alone.

(I don't have this particular book, but you could consider something like this):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395655978/103-6093604-2330219?v=glance&n=283155&n=507846&s=books&v=glance

[Lu]

I agree about the Economist, good in-depth coverage about things around the world. And not rightish, that is, I'm quite leftish and the Economist doesn't annoy me so it can't be very rightish.

But the English it uses is not easy, I really have to concentrate when reading it.

[chenpv]

Thank you guys very much. I think i will read 'The Atlantic Monthly' 'The Economist' 'the American Spectator' from now on. If I have extra time, i will try some other periodicals. BTW, 'The Economist' is a British journal. (Wait, wait, I have no problem with British people or British English.) Would the english read a little highbrow? I dont know, I ve got this preconception from my experiences reading one of my academic textbooks------- <

. Oh, believe me, its writing style unbelieveably disagreed with me, maybe a little showy I think and from time to time, i would be confounded by the complex sentences. Afterwards, I am always afraid of British english materials. I know its my problem. So I just wanna make sure whether I have to get inured to British English writing style or not?

Could you recommend some good Chinese magazines for current events, as well as, the arts? So far I know about《小康》,《读者》and《财经》, and the weekly newspapers 南方周末 and 经济观察报.

Gato? You are not a chinese??? I thought you had told me somewhere. Anyway, I read 《咬文嚼字》《读者欣赏》for arts;《青年参考》《参考消息》《环球时报》《南方周末》《新民周刊》《凤凰周刊》for current events; and I will browse 《集邮》《收藏/拍卖》〈看电影〉....... you know there are a lot of journals available in our school library.

The Atlantic Monthly: actually a couple friends of mine one who teaches ESL and the other who is a writer/english teacher (both in the US) cough up their hard earned money for the Atlantic.

Kudra, I dont understand. you mean the Atlantic is expensive for americans?

Well, it seems that your English is pretty good. I suppose at your higher level of English, it depends on what kind of English you want to master, and what type of texts do you want to be able to read with fluency.

Wushijiao, thank you very much. Hehe, i think my english has come to a stagnancy and I do sense that there is a conflict between english dealing with science and that coping with arts. Or in other words, sometimes if i put my stress more on or or other academic journals for a while, i will definitely have to spend sometime to get familiar with the articles in and vice versa. So what should I do to further improve my english? Thank you for recommending that book, i think i will go around and see if i can get a copy.

Economist, good in-depth coverage about things around the world. And not rightish

hehe:mrgreen: Middler here, can read anything except those which are created to inspire tears.

[Jose]

Regarding The Economist, I was a subscriber from 1991 to 2003, but I decided not to renew my subscription because I found it too right-wing for my liking. Their stand on the build-up to the Iraq war was the last straw for me. I also used to find their pro-American and anti-European opinions ("America has got it right, Europe has got it wrong" sort of thing) a bit grating, probably because I am from the Continent myself.

Even though I am not a subscriber any more, I have to admit that I still buy the magazine from the newsagent's most weeks. I just can't think of any other publication with such a good coverage of international politics. They usually have very good articles about events in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Their coverage of Chinese politics is fair and balanced, in my opinion. The sections on books and science and technology are also great.

Finally, reading The Economist has certainly helped me to improve my writing skills in English, so, as a fellow learner, I definitely recommend it if you are interested in politics and current affairs.

[gato]

chenpv, yes, I am Chinese, but I left for the US when I was in 6th grade and have just recently returned, so I have quite a bit of catching up to do.

I just discovered that "南风窗" is a very good magazine, too.

http://www.nfcmag.com/

[chenpv]

Thank you Jose. I think I will read 'The Economist' whatever difficulties I might encounter when reading it.

i just discovered that "南风窗" is a very good magazine, too.

I never officially read this magazine in that I find most of the people who read it, you know, are in their 40s or 50s. so...... I am sort of put off.......

PS: The other day, one of my best friends told me about this site where you can download some western periodicals, including 'The Economis' 'Newsweek' 'Time' 'Cosmogirl'(whats this journal aiming for?) etc. in pdf version. Donno whether it helps.

[kudra]

The Atlantic Monthly: actually a couple friends of mine one who teaches ESL and the other who is a writer/english teacher (both in the US) cough up their hard earned money for the Atlantic.

Kudra, I dont understand. you mean the Atlantic is expensive for americans?

I was being a little bit silly. These friends, teaching what they do, don't make that much money considering how much education they have. So, "hard earned" in that sense.