@MariaOldewage has given me the advice to read some books and they will help me to improve my grammar and vocabulary. This advice struck me. Not because it is a special advise or a big revealing for me or something (sorry Maria). It is a good generic advise. Always. I learn most of the times from books and articles. So I read a lots of English texts. But it is not working anymore or least not on the level I was expecting it will.
After a good sleep and some reading (some article and some references, not language related) I have noticed that I don't read so thoroughly as I used to. I consume the content but I don't care if I don't understand every world. That is okay mostly (my goal is to understand the content and not to enjoy the quality of the text) but now this behavior holds me back. Other problem is that the references and documentations don't have a board variety of words. Yep. Who would thought that? So yet again: I am my own enemy...
So today (after a very long pause) I started to read English literature again. My choose is 'My Family and Other Animal'. It is a great book but my reasoning was much more simple: It is already on my bookshelf also I have the original English version and the Hungarian translation. The hardest part is now to do not rush through but give time to enjoy the text and the content on the same level. I hope this will be a good practice with the daily journal. If it helps than I can write a list of foreigner books to read (outside of my daily need :) ) and go through them.
I know the struggle Attila. I have the same experience with reading in Spanish since I understand everything well enough to grasp the content without focusing on every single detail.
There are different benefits to extensive and intensive reading so perhaps you should try doing a mix of both by occasionally studying a text more in depth and highlighting certain verb conjugations or idiomatic expressions. I still think extensive reading is very beneficial though so just keep going! :)
I have a similar problem as well when I read in a foreign language. I personally think that because I did my Bachelor of Arts in French Studies and I became accustomed to just consuming content without really absorbing the meaning because in the end, I would either end up finding out what the important parts were through class discussions or through finishing assignments for the sake of getting a good grade. This has been extremely harmful to my language learning habits and I need to learn to stop myself when I've either stopped paying attention to what I'm reading or I've lost the flow of the story due to unknown vocabulary. I'm thinking that joining a book club or something might inspire me to look for the deeper meanings in the books I read rather than counting down the pages until I finish my next book. Happy reading!
Yes, I do this too sometimes! Especially when the more advanced I get in the language.
What helps me to slow down, is when I pretend to be like a translator - I try to translate each sentence into my Native language as closely as possible. I often learn interesting new vocabulary that way!
Thank for sharing this! I've experienced the same feeling but I think that what @OlgaMazur advices works pretty well for me. I also have great results with the "Podcast Interview" method of Robin Mac Pherson. Doing this my May as he explains in his video about his "pequeñito projecto en español" : leyendo un libro para nativos y haciendo una pequeña revista en español". It's all about looking for the best way to sum up the story and picking up some relevant key words of the original Text. It implies digging up the meaning, rewriting the same phrase with different words. It really helps me to memorizing and metabolising New vocabulary, insisting on it and unveiling New nuances.
Thanks for the comments guys! All of the ideas are great. I think I will try all of them. We will see witch will stick with me.