I amcurrentlyreading a bookaboutCentralAsia, which I startedintobecause I gottheaudiobookandtheaudiobookgotmeinterested.
Andthen I decided I wantedtobuythebookbecausewhen I lieinbedbeforegoingtosleep, I don't wanttobelisteningtosomething, I wanttoreadsomething, therearemanystrategicreasonswhyreadingisbetterthanlistening, althoughlisteningiseasier, butlet's gobacktothebeginning.
Andweessentially, as I pointedoutbefore, thebrainusesessentiallythesamesequenceofsortoflocationsforreadingasitdoesforlistening.
Butofcoursetherearedifferences.
Whenyouhear a voice, youhaveanemotionalconnectiontothevoice.
Forthatmatter, ifyou'relisteningto a lectureandyouseetheprofessor, orifyou'retalkingtosomeone, that's also a differentexperiencethansimplylisteningto a recording.
Andtherearepeoplewhosaythatwewilllearnbetterifweface-to-facetalktosomeonethanifwejustlistento a recording, allofwhichistrue.
However, itis a processofingestinginformationorbeingentertained.
Andasyoulookintoit, thereare a numberofpeoplewhohavedifferentpositionsontherespectiveadvantagesoflisteningandreadingforstudentsandsoforthandsoon, and I willleave a fewlinkshereinthedescriptionbox.
I havetoadmitthat I buyaudioCDsandbooksat a muchfasterratethan I canconsumethem.
Myappetiteislargerthanmystomach, whichisokay.
Maybeoneday I'llgettothem, but I alwaysfeelif I'm inRiga, LatviaandthereareRussianbookstoresand I canbuyRussianlanguageCDsthat I can't getinVancouver, I'm goingtobuythem.
Ontheotherhand, I canlistenwhiledoingchoresaroundthehouse.
I canlisteninthecar, theChinese, uh, historyCD I'veshownyou, likedrive a carandlearnhistory.
Sotherearedifferentusesthere.
But I thinkthattryingtosaythatoneisbetterthantheother, itkindofmissesthepoint.
Tome, whatmattersisthattheyreinforceeachother.
Thefactthat I foundanaudiobookonthehistoryofcentralAsia, which I'm interestedinbecause I'm learningTurkish, then I'm listeningtothisandit, hegoesonandon, andsometimes I think I wouldliketojumpaheadto a differentperiodinthehistoryofcentralAsia, I wantthebookand I wanttobeabletoreaditinmybed.
It's trueevenintermsoftryingtoretain, basedonmyexperience, fictionalstories, and I haveusedfiction a lot.
DiPromessiSposi I useforItalian.
I listentotheaudiobookandthen I readthebook.
I harvestthewordsthatlink, so I increasemyvocabularyandit's twodifferentwaysofconnectingwiththesamematerialandwecangobackseveraltimesandmaybelisteninggivesus a bitof a headstart, a bitof a senseofwhat's there, andthenwhenweread, wepickupmoreorifwehavereadahead a littlebitmore, sothetwoarereinforcing.
I don't thinkit's aneitherorsituation.
If I'm studyingfor a scienceexam, eventhoughmyretentionofscienceinformationwon't beasgoodfromjustplainlistening, butif I canfind a podcastonthatsubjectand I canlistentothatwhileexercisingorinpublictransitordriving, andthen I gobackandreadthatsamematerial, I willunderstandmore.
Infact, I alwaysrecommendcoveringthesamematerialfromdifferentsources.
Soeventwodifferentbooks, threedifferentbooks, audiomaterial, it's allreinforcing, eventheeBooks, forexample, Kindleapparentlyhaslike 80% ofthemarketforeBookreaders, and I useKindleonmyiPad, but I probablydomorereadinginLingQ, thatcertainly I domorereadinginLingQthan I doinKindle.
And I'm not a strugglingreaderinEnglish, but I am a strugglingreaderinjustabouteveryotherlanguagethat I'm learning, maybewiththeexceptionofsayFrench, therearewordsthat I don't know.
Therearesentencesthat I mayknowthewords, butit's notinstantmeaning, clearmeaningthewayEnglishisforme.
Nowitcouldbethat, uh, strugglingreadersinEnglisharein a similarsituationandthere I findthatsometimessentencemode, butnotalwayssentencemode, lookingupwords, youknow, havingtheaudiotimestamptowhat I'm reading, allofthesethingshelpmereadbetter.
And I'veoftensaid, I thinkthatinthesortofliteracystrategies, there's toomuchemphasisondecodingstrategiesandinferringstrategiesandpre-readingstrategiesandcomprehensionquestions.
Ifpeoplewereallowedsimplytolistenandread, tocombinethosetwowonderfulwaysofaccessinginformationorfictionoranythingelse, I thinkbothimprove.
So I thinkweshouldbeawarethatthisexplosionofmaterialviatheinternet, bothaudioandtextandtheincreasingvarietyofdevicesandthewaythatdevicessyncwitheachothergivesus a wholedifferentapproachtocollectinginformation, learning, enjoyingstories, andnottomentionvideo.
Andlike, obviouslyifwe'rewatching a movie, ifwe'rejustlisteningtothedifference, a sensationascomparedtoactuallyseeingthevideoitself.