A round of applause for everyone who has learned to read in their target language. If learning foreign words was all there was to it, our jobs would be relatively simple. But instead, you get extremely disoriented. At least I did.
All of a sudden, you can't automatically recognize/distinguish:
- which words are nouns, verbs, verb phrases, etc.
- the connection to an older language that helps you determine meaning (e.g., Latin roots)
- numbers when they're spelled out compared to normal words
- normal words in ALL CAPS vs. particular acronyms that are capitalized
- whether a particular combination of letters is texting slang or genuinely a word you don't recognize
- a given name from a family name
- sketchy-sounding website domains from reputable website domains
- brands of medicines vs. brands of cleaning supplies
This may sound trivial, but it's really disorienting the first time you encounter it. So much of communication is grabbing the context as it floats past you and anticipating what will naturally follow. But even that skill is taken for granted, almost invisible, until you suddenly don't have it anymore.
Headline image by thoughtcatalog on Unsplash
5
I agree 100%! The thing is that in our native language, we don't really "read" in the sense of sounding out words; we actually recognize the form of the entire word as a whole and so we're able to just fly through a long complex sentence almost at a glance. It takes time to develop that skill in a target language, to say nothing of one that doesn't use the same writing system of your native language. I'm at that point now with Russian, but it took a good decade. It was actually easier for me in Japanese because the writing system is basically made up of "pictures," so it's inevitable for them to become instantly recognizable in a very short time.
Really interesting point. And that is why I don't think people should rely so much on online translating tools for everything. Sure, they evolve and are each day more capable of capturing these nuances that depend on the context, but we need to be prepared to face these challenges in real communication situations, and that comes with time and effort.
@thaisbr Language learning is a beautiful mental exercise. If you outsource it to machines, you're not becoming the big brain you were always meant to be lol
@CocoPop Automatic decoding of graphemes/graphs is fascinating, I agree. D1d y0u kno3 no5 ev3n 4andom #berz will tHr9w o77 a deadcaited raedre? But it's only half the battle when you have to decide what each decoded sentence means instead of realizing, "Oh, this is a bank statement," and adjusting your expectations accordingly.