Tadoku: I’ve already signed up. I’m not very competitive in general, but I still got a nice motivation boost out of it last time which helped me to read a bit more. And I finished first in my language, he he … first out of one. I’ve got to defend that position! See you in the contest!

Yes, I’m thinking I’ll give the tadoku contest a shot. How about you?

Are you going to join next month’s tadoku contest?

Have you tried re-reading anything? I stumbled on that particular thought then forgot about it ^^;;

I also use children’s encyclopedias for intensive reading. You know, these books with many colorful pictures and diagrams. I find them extremely helpful in acquiring more advanced vocabulary, and at the same time entertaining and interesting. I often use a monolingual dictionary when reading my encyclopedias, but when I don’t get the explanation, I just ignore it. My experience is that, given enough exposure in varying contexts, everything becomes clear sooner or later.

For extensive reading, however, rule number 1 (no dictionaries) applies to monolingual dictionaries as well, I guess. Sometimes it’s difficult to have enough trust that everything will sort itself out in its own time, but that’s exactly what will happen. And it’s much more important to have an uninterrupted reading experience and get drawn into the story than to check the meaning of this or that little word.

There’s a lot of interesting stuff on your blog (for instance your thoughts about re-reading), thanks for sharing it with us!