# Do you read or listen to the news in a second language? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 8, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589 "2004-11-08T04:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/1 "2004-11-08T04:47:29Z")
Who here regularly reads a newspaper or listens to news broadcasts in a language other than their first language? I regularly read the Web editions of [_La Presse_](http://www.cyberpresse.ca/) and the Montreal edition of [_Metro_](http://www.metropoint.com/) online, and I read the schlocky [_Journal de Montréal_](http://www2.canoe.com/jdem/abonnement/archives.html) if it’s put in front of me. I also peruse [_ABC_](http://www.abc.es/), [_Avui_](http://www.avui.es/), and the Madrid and Barcelona editions of _Metro_ from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/2 "2004-11-08T04:58:35Z")
I tend to read news in English (my first langauge), but most TV news I watch in Japanese. I should start reading more in Japanese for language practice. ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/3 "2004-11-08T06:11:05Z")
Keeping up with the news in more than one language has been a goal of mine for quite a while. I can’t say yet that I read/watch the news in multiple languages on a regular basis, but I try to peruse the local Spanish-language free newspapers whenever I go by a newspaper stand. I find it quite interesting how the importance of various news issues is so different, and how the issues are presented so differently, simply by virtue of a change in language. I really need to watch the news in Spanish more, as I’m getting to the point where I know what the words mean, but I can’t put them together fast enough to keep up with conversation anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/4 "2004-11-08T06:14:33Z")
I read [_Le Monde_](http://www.lemonde.fr) on-line every day to practise my French reading skills. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/5 "2004-11-08T06:55:11Z")
When I’m skimming the news channels, I usually go CBC-CTV-RadioCanada-CNN, and repeat. Whether I stop or not to listen to the French depends on the story. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/6 "2004-11-08T11:13:39Z")
My first language is Spanish, but considering I’ve been living in mainland US for the last 3 years, almost every bit of news that I see or read is in English. But I’ve been reading BBCNews even before I left home. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/7 "2004-11-08T13:05:51Z")
I like to read books in Portuguese for both the language improvement aspect as well as the coolness of reading something from another land that I would never ordinarily see as a typical American. For example, several months ago I read Dom Cosmurro by Machado de Assis and was treated to an interesting snapshot of life in Rio de Janeiro in the era of the American Civil War. There really was life beyond the North and the South in the 1860s!. Of course, since Portuguese is not my first language, it’s slow going. I brought a hard-core Portuguese-English dictionary home from Rio a couple of years ago, and I have one of those thick bound record books with about 150 pages of my hand-written Portuguese word definitions, annotated by page (e.g. “Dom Cosmurro p129”) so that I could reread the book some day and have all of the hard words already defined in my notebook. Some days I read only a page or two, bogging down in the poetic literary language that writers love to employ, but one rarely encounters in a conversation with one’s spouse. A year or so ago I had to enlist the help of some Brazilians on the SDMB to [help me understand some Brazilian slang](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=216427) in Cidade de Deus (City of God). I’m lucky if I read four books a year at this rate 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/8 "2004-11-08T13:08:49Z")
I don’t have much option but to listen to the evening news in Cantonese. Must admit, though, the mind tends to wander until the sports news comes on. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/9 "2004-11-08T13:49:52Z")
I’m bilingual, but I’m not exactly sure what my first language is. I get most of my news online, form [cnn.com](http://cnn.com) and [nytimes.com](http://nytimes.com), as well as www.ynet.co.il and www.walla.co.il. On TV I watch the local news programs (generally Channel 2) and ocasionally CNN or Fox, which are greatly inferior. I read all three major newspapers on Friday, as well as Time Magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/10 "2004-11-08T15:13:24Z")
I do listen to the BBC News to get a different (non-USA) slant on things. I have a book printed in Germany that consists of world newspaper front pages from the week of September 11, 2001. Fascinating read. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/11 "2004-11-08T16:04:45Z")
Get most of my news from [The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk) (English) and the [NRC](http://www.nrc.nl/) (Dutch). Practically all the books I read are in English as they’re easier to get here and there’s more of them in general. If they’re are by a Dutch author I will get them in Dutch, though. Once in a while I will try a German book in German but that’s a lot tougher. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/12 "2004-11-08T17:26:45Z")
I read online newspapers on occasion in Spanish and Russian, partly for balance and a different slant, and partly for language practice. I ramp it up if something big is going on in a country where those languages are spoken. (For example, during the Moscow theater siege Russian sites were updating much more frequently and in much more detail, and provided a great deal of background and interviews with people involved who were not mentioned in the English-language press.) We also get TV and radio news here in Spanish, which I check out on occasion. And once in a while I look at a French newspaper online (particularly if someone posts a link here on the SDMB as part of a thread). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/13 "2004-11-08T18:46:13Z")
[Yes](http://www.gxangalo.com/). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/14 "2004-11-08T18:54:17Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > I like to read books in Portuguese for both the language improvement aspect as well as the coolness of reading something from another land that I would never ordinarily see as a typical American. > > A year or so ago I had to enlist the help of some Brazilians on the SDMB to [help me understand some Brazilian slang](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=216427) in Cidade de Deus (City of God). Nice to know your still alive and reading Brazilian stuff ! Feel free to ask for more slang anytime ! I follow world and US news through all sorts of online newspapers… from the brits BBC and Economist up to CNN and Christian Science Monitor. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/15 "2004-11-08T21:35:41Z")
I’m learning Spanish this year, so I watch Noticiero Univision (national) and Noticiero Univision Tampa (local) every couple of days, and I also read BBC news en Español when I have time. On occasion, I’ve been known to read the BBC news auf Deutsch, just for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/16 "2004-11-08T21:53:10Z")
I look at _Le Monde_ online from time to time, but not as often as I used to. I also used to watch the French news (“Le Journal”) at 7pm pretty regularly, but haven’t done so in a while. I should start watching it again. I spent the 2003-2004 school year studying French, going to school 6 hours a week for two consecutive semesters, because I needed the credits for graduate school. I’d studied the language off and on from junior high through my undergrad years, but when I finished up this past May I knew and understood more French than I’d ever known at any other point in my life. Unfortunately, it is very much a skill that needs to be exercised, and even though it’s only been 6 months I have already forgotten some of the grammar and vocab we learned. ☹ I was somewhat heartened yesterday, though, when I watched [_The Dreamers_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309987/) and didn’t need to rely on the subtitles for the bits in French…well, I didn’t need to rely on _most_ of them, anyway. {grin} I wish I had more time/means to practice my oral, aural, and written French. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/17 "2004-11-09T04:30:22Z")
My mother tongue is French and appart from the already linked-to Le Monde and Cyberpresse I also read and listen to news in English. I pretty much live daily life in Japanese and watch the news on tv or listen on the radio every day. I also read Asahi Shinbun and Nippon Keizai Shinbun, I might also check out Mainichi or Chuunichi if there happens to be one around. I also read Spanish and when I have time I sometimes check out some news sources in Spanish. For language practice I also manage to read news stories in Chinese every so often but my listening skills are virtually inexistant. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/18 "2004-11-09T05:18:14Z")
I used to get Swedish language news (both National and International) on my “My Yahoo” page, but the module is no longer available. Now I go to [Dagens Nyheter](http://www.dn.se/) to read the news, but not nearly as often as I should. I listen to [Sveriges Radio](http://www.sr.se/) over the web too, but honestly that’s more for my daughter’s language skills (she’s 9 months) than for actual content. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2004, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/19 "2004-11-09T06:56:34Z")
Yep. I get about half of my news in Spanish, just to maintain my reading skills - I figure I worked my ass off for five years to get to where I am, why stop? ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589/20 "2004-11-10T02:53:52Z")
> [@Rashak Mani](#): > > Nice to know your still alive and reading Brazilian stuff ! Feel free to ask for more slang anytime ! It’s not so bad these days – I’m slowly chipping away at _Memórias Póstumas de Bras Cubas_ (Machado de Assis). Two pages a day is good progress at times; I suspect that this is how a non-native speaker of English would feel reading The Great Gatsby and trying to understand each word. I’m glad to know that the Brazilian connection is still going strong and ready should I encounter more culteral mysteries! Oh yes, more for the OP… Whenever there is some significant international event I look toward O Globo and Jornal do Brasil for a different viewpoint. I kind of wish I could watch Brazilian TV news here since it has its own special flare. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-read-or-listen-to-the-news-in-a-second-language/273589.md?page=2)