Hello Guys,
What are your thoughts on this? I have come across a few language learners on Youtube who are advocating Amazon kindle for a language learning purpose. For example, they say that there is a built-in function of a dictionary that you can use easily in order to look up an unknown word while reading the book on it. Moreover, it can store all your searched words in a database and in the real context in which they are used. So for a later review of vocabulary encountered, one can do so. That’s basically the selling point from a language learning point of view.
I am very much interested in reading books in German and if somehow I can find a neat way of looking up unknown words in a dictionary while reading, my life will be headache-free.
Right now all my learning is done infront of my laptop.
Your thoughts.
I’m not sure the capabilities in the kindle itself (maybe I should fire up my old one and see if it still works). I’ve mostly been using the app on the phone or tablet and to some degree the PC. I will point out that, I prefer to load what I can into LingQ as I have a lot more options on looking up words and phrases from various dictionaries, but the app can do in a pinch, or if you simply don’t want to hassle all the time with loading something into LingQ.
For the app you can download the dictionary for the language and you can get translations as well. It can translate words and I think phrases to some extent. You can also, for longer phrases, copy and paste into google translate app.
Translation is not available on Kindle for Desktop, if I recall.
I’d say, if you are wanting to do some casual reading and/or only need to look up a word or small phrase every so often, kindle makes sense. If you are trying to tackle something difficult or where you need to look up words fairly frequently, you’ll be much better off inside of LingQ where it’s actually geared towards that.
I do all my second language reading (including books) on the LingQ phone app. If you’re able to import books into LingQ in a reasonable format, it’s a much better tool than Kindle.
Yes, the Kindle is great for language learning. I originally started reading foreign language books on it, using the dictionary feature, before I figured out how to import the same books to LingQ. Word look up on LingQ is a lot faster and of course LingQ keeps track of your known words etc.
But the Kindle of course is nicer to read on, so after I get to the advanced stages, I usually combine Kindle and LingQ – I developed a habit of reading a couple of pages of text on the Kindle, then just swiping through the same text on LingQ, only to mark words as needed. That kinda gives me the best of both worlds.
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Well, my main purpose of thinking about buying the Kindle device is basically three folds.
- How to maximize my commute time.
- I would like to do the reading in a lazy way like on bed and if I can look up a word without using any other gadget tool for example using a dictionary app on my iphone so that I can enjoy distraction-free reading. Additionally, sitting in front of my laptop for hours especially doing reading online is very demanding on my back. I feel excruciating pain.
- Kindle books comparatively speaking are cheaper than paper books and there are a few free giveaways by Amazon at no cost that you can download some free kindle books.
These are some of the reasons that I have that are forcing me to give it a try.
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Hello Asad, I am a big fan of the kindle. I have the paperwhite kindle. It has no sound but I can read kindle books and listen along on the audible.com audio version on my iPhone. I have many modern books now that are available in unabridged version that match the book perfectly. Paperwhite is very easy on the eyes and has no glare outdoors or in a sunny cafe is seated by a window. I don’t use the translate feature much but you can use the dictionary, or the translate feature if you like. That breaks up the reading too much for me, but sometimes it is handy for a few words. I don’t store a lot of highlights or words and notes, I’m not sure if it slows things down or not, I just don’t want the clutter but you can do it. I have read books in French, Spanish, German and Dutch. It is so nice with the professional formatting, customized fonts and so portable. You can carry hundreds of books in your hand and just a click away to add new ones if you can afford it! Good luck, I hope you try it!
I ordered one today and let’s see how it goes. Thanks