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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 3863 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes  Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 193 of 295 21 November 2014 at 5:57am | IP Logged | |||||
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Could you give your Kindle workflow, or link to where you have talked about it before?
I have never used a Kindle. So you buy a Kindle (or not), and an ebook dictionary (which one?), and also a German novel. Both books come to your account. Then you start reading the German novel. How do you link the dictionary to the novel? Does this workflow also work on the web browser kindle reader on the computer? And also on the kindle app on android devices? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4314 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 194 of 295 21 November 2014 at 11:13am | IP Logged | |||||
If you read back in my log you'll find some of the answers you are looking for. ;) I'd recommend buying the Kindle with a cursor, as this makes it a lot easier to look up lots of words as you go. Unfortunately, Amazon has just discontinued selling it, but you can still pick up models on Ebay.de: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Amazon-Kindle-WIFI-6IN-W-E-INK-DISPLA Y-B006ZZS4QQ-0814916017805-/161492571931?pt=DE_iPad_Tablets_ PCs_eReaders&hash=item2599b5171b Note: There are cheaper offers on Ebay if you look around. I'd recommend buying the PONS German-English dictionary. Once you have the Kindle you link it to your Amazon account. You can either download books direct using the inbuilt wifi in the Kindle or download bought books to your PC and then transfer them to your Kindle. The Kindle will automatically recognise the language of the book and load the appropriate dictionary. Kindles come with the German-German Duden dictionary for free, but it's not every useful for learners, so I'd recommend getting the PONS. From the homepage of the Kindle, you can choose settings and on the (3rd? page of settings) you can choose the dictionary you want to use for each language - if you happen to have more than one installed. If you buy ebooks outside of Amazon, the books will probably be in EPUB format. You'll need to convert them to MOBI format to read them on your Kindle. Calibre, is free open-source software that will convert between ebook formats (and much more). WRT workflow: I basically just read and look up unknown words as I go. Over time you'll learn words simply from reading. It's quite remarkable. Whether you look up every word as you read is a matter for taste. If you get stuck on a sentence or paragraph don't worry too much - and move on. It's not important to understand every piece of text, just keep reading and it will eventually make sense. Expect to sweat the first novel. It will get easier quickly but the first few hundred pages are difficult. Children/Young-Adult books use a simpler vocabulary so are much easier to start with: I enjoyed reading the Harry Potter books and Percy Jackson, but there are ton of different books out there to choose from. With the Kindle you can get a free sample chapter so you test out books before you buy. There is a note function in the Kindle, which you can use to mark sentences you want to import into Anki, but that's a bit of a pain to use.
I haven't tried these versions of Kindle. I am sure you can read books using this software, but I am not sure how the dictionary would work. Edited by patrickwilken on 21 November 2014 at 11:28am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4314 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 195 of 295 21 November 2014 at 2:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I am sometimes surprised at how much more fluent my listening is getting. I had no trouble following this 15 minute science video on science video on the effects of Dark Matter on the macro-structure of galaxies. I am still struggling with text, but listening is getting ever easier.
The presenter in this video reminds me (in a good way) of lots of German professors I know. As a general tip: The videos on die Zeit are updated every day and are much more interesting than those on Deutsche Welle. Edited by patrickwilken on 21 November 2014 at 2:54pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 3863 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 196 of 295 21 November 2014 at 10:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks Patrick for the explain.
I tried to see if Calibre could be used, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be possible to change the dictionary. I just don't like being tied to a proprietary 6 inch device is all. But I may not have a choice here. Of course, another option is to export the books to .txt and read in firefox using firelang. Edited by Gemuse on 21 November 2014 at 10:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4314 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 197 of 295 21 November 2014 at 11:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
I think there is some confusion (at least from my side). Calibre is software that runs on your computer, not the Kindle and allows you reformat ebooks amongst other things. You can read ebooks direct from Calibre too -- it has an inbuilt ereader. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 3863 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 198 of 295 21 November 2014 at 11:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Nein, nein, es war meine Schuld.
I was trying to see if I could read German books with a dictionary on the computer using Calibre, instead of having to buy the 6 inch Kindle. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4314 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 199 of 295 21 November 2014 at 11:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
Well you can read EPUB formatted books using the EPUBReader extension for Firefox on your browser, and then use the Firelang extension as a pop-up dictionary, but I think the formatting is not great, but still it does work. If you buy the books from Amazon you'll have to use Calibre to strip the DRM from the books (do a Google search for how to do this) so you can convert them to EPUB format. But if you buy the books from the publishers direct they probably won't have DRM versions of the books and in any case will most likely be in EPUB format already. This method has the advantage of allowing you to export looked up words from Firelang into Anki very easily. Personally I don't want to be tied to my laptop, and the rendering is not perfect, but this does work. BTW: I am not sure what you mean by "tied to" the Kindle. You are able to read books from any publishers on it (just use Calibre to convert) and you are able to export books out of it (just use Calibre to remove the DRM from Amazon). It's just a convenient viewing device, but you can read your books on multiple platforms. Edited by patrickwilken on 21 November 2014 at 11:32pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| ijsn Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 3525 days ago 12 posts - 19 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 200 of 295 23 November 2014 at 11:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Another option is to use ReadLang. It seems like it is perfect to follow the method proposed by Patrick.
2 persons have voted this message useful |
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