| Reading a text in another language is in many ways very
similar to reading a text in your own language. It is an active process
in which you bring as much to the final result as the text does.
You use in the first instance any knowledge you have of French, and any similarities you can find between English and French. These are called bottom-up strategies, because they go up from the words of the text towards the meaning. Using a bottom-up strategy, you can probably understand the following: Le capitaine Jonathan(If you don't know any French at all, you may need to know that jour = day, sur = on.) Secondly, and just as importantly, and even more so when you are a beginner, you use your previous knowledge and assumptions, both about the world and about the way texts are constructed, as an organizing principle into which the new text information is slotted. (This is why it is much easier to understand a text when it's about a subject you know well.) Using previous knowledge and assumptions is called a top-down strategy, because you are going down from more general knowledge and meanings to the specific meanings of the text. A top-down strategy will help you with a word like décédée in a sentence such as: La princesse Diana est décédée à Paris dans un accident d'auto.Now here are three specific strategies you can apply immediately in your reading.  Global UnderstandingThe first and most important thing about reading texts in another language is that it is not effective to try to understand a text word by word. Read it through first quickly to get an overall impression of what it contains. Use your own general knowledge and the cognates (see below) which the text contains to make assumptions. Don't reach for a dictionary for every word you can't understand. Don't think you need to translate everything, or understand exactly how the meaning is conveyed by the words. Some texts are easily understandable even if the English words elude you.
CognatesCognates are words which resemble words in your own language and have similar meanings. It's easy to guess the meaning of French words likeThere are lots and lots of cognates in French texts. Once you have read through for general understanding, try to pick them out and make good guesses about their probable meanings. Most of the time you'll be right.
InteractivityMost texts are not interactive, of course, but texts on the Web often are. You can use the interactivity to figure out meanings. This can be as simple as clicking on a link such as dessins animés and seeing cartoons, or on a button that says Recherche, and seeing a search box pop up. It can also involve many steps and much ferreting around. Kids are usually very good at figuring out meanings in this way. If you're as old as me, you'll have more trouble, but it's surprising how quickly you can improve. If you have kids, get them to help you. They'll love it, and you'll learn a lot.Important Note: When you think you have understood a text sufficiently well and have completed the assigned activities in this course, you have only done half the work. To make progress, you need to do Second-Stage Activities. Click now to find out about this important part of the course. |
