The Secret of Reading Comprehension
As you knew already, your English teachers at Junior high schools taught English by Japanese language. You are obviously not trained in understanding English by English. Therefore, reading comprehension at Japanese public school would focus merely on English to Japanese translation. This is reason why many of you would not be able to read English written documents with a decent length.
This session is designed to change your mind-set, and let you attempt to interpret English written documents by English, rather than translating into Japanese in your mind. Through this training, you are able to learn:
a) How to read English in English
b) How to disassociate your brain with your Japanese while you are reading English documents
c) How to understand English words quickly and speed up your reading
Grammatical Difference between Japanese and English
As was reviewed briefly in the session II –grammatical review, you already knew that Japanese and English are grammatically different languages in terms of words orders.
English in general : Subject + Verbs + Objects + Explanatory Phrases (that, who which where).
Japanese in general : Subject + (Explanatory Phrases) + Objects + Verbs.
Obviously, the noticeable difference between those two languages is the location of verbs. In Japanese verbs are quite often located in the end of the sentence. This requires a very complex process in your mind especially when you first try to learn English in a proper manner, and requires additional time to process words and understand them.
Exercise 3.1
Please modify below Japanese sentences according with English sentence structure described above (S+V+O and explanatory phrases, if necessary)
私は、友達と渋谷の109に買い物に出かけ、ワンピを買いました。そして、プレゼントとして妹にあげました。
昨日、本屋に行って英語の辞書を買ったのだけれど、英和辞典では、英語は勉強できないと先生に言われ、再度本屋に今日行って、ロングマンの英英辞典を買うことにした。
Now, you are surprised of how difficult this exercise is, even though it is just a slight modification on grammatical rules of “Japanese”. You now noticed that you have to do the exactly same exercise every time you speak English in your mind, using English vocabularies. Therefore, this requires a decent amount of time for training.
Probably, the best way to let your brain accustomed to this exercise is do this exercise every time you say something in Japanese in your mind at your school or work or even with your families. I would like you to follow this exercise everyday throughout a year until you start to construct what you want to express in English in your mind.
How to read English in English
The same logic can be applied into fundamental techniques of English reading comprehension. Please skim through below. It is about the famous song called Hotel California.
#02 - "Hotel California" [1977] Eagles
The greatness of "Hotel California" lies in the wide range of interpretations the song has provoked over the years. Is it a metaphor for the music business, the mindless hedonism of California in the 1970s, Satan worship, Christian mysticism, drug addiction or simply excess in general? In an interview, Don Henley said the song was "our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles." Drug references certainly abound throughout "Hotel California," including the word "colitas, which means "little bud" in Spanish. However, some critics say the whole song actually details a descent into heroin addiction. By the way, the image used on the album cover is actually the Beverly Hills Hotel. "There she stood in the doorway/I heard the mission bell/And I was thinking to myself/This could be Heaven or this could be Hell . . ."
Exercise 3.2
After perusing above the explanation about famous Eagles song “Hotel California”, make slash marks where you feel appropriate to understand sentences.
Example
The greatness of "Hotel California"/ lies / in the wide range / of interpretations / the song / has provoked over the years /.
Is it a metaphor/ for the music business /, the mindless hedonism of California / in the 1970s /, Satan worship,/ Christian mysticism,/ drug addiction/ or simply excess / in general/? In an interview/, Don Henley said/ the song / was / "our interpretation of the high life/ in Los Angeles/." Drug references / certainly abound throughout /"Hotel California,"/ including the word "colitas,/ which means "little bud" / in Spanish./ However, some critics say /the whole song actually /details /a descent into heroin addiction/. By the way, / the image used / on the album cover / is actually the Beverly Hills Hotel./
"There she stood in the doorway / I heard the mission bell / And I was thinking to myself / This could be Heaven or this could be Hell . . ."
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Here is another article which you want to make slash mark.
A new study in the peer-reviewed science journal “Remote Sensing” has found that United Nations computer models may be incorrect in overstating the amount of global warming that will occur in the future. James M. Taylor says it would be wise for the media, elected officials and climate scientists to recognize the “huge discrepancy” between global warming predictors and NASA’s satellite data.
Paraphrase
Obviously, you would not memorize all words in a certain book when you read something in Japanese. When you read something 100 pages in Japanese, you would unconsciously wrap up the meaning of the paragraph and sometimes paraphrase them in order for you to read it forward.
Similarly, when you read a decent amount of English documents, you need to have an ability to paraphrase each paragraphs or pages so as to go on to the next page. Therefore, an ability to paraphrasing is critical skill when you read something in English. In this section, you would be also trained how to paraphrase English passage to passage precisely and quickly.
Example 1 – Politics
Two months into the job, Rumsfeld drafted a three page memo called “Guidelines When Considering Committing U.S. Forces.” He took the fourth revision to the president and went over it in detail.
It was a series of questions to be addressed: “Is a proposed action truly necessary? “ “Is the proposed action achievable?”
Rumsfeld argued for being clear eyed. One passage foreshadowed problems to come: “In fashioning a clear statement of the underpinning for action, avoid arguments. And he added “It is a great deal easier to get into something than it is to get out of it.
Answer Example
Points
a. Rumsfeld drafted guideline for committing U.S. Force
b. The content is somewhat coercive with a lack of thorough planning and strategies
In the Guidelines when considering committing US forces. Rumsfeld made an effort to be persuasive toward the president with his aggressive manner in order for Bush to be responsive.
Example 2 – Internet
They set to work on the News Feed. “For the next eight months, it was our labor of love” said Cox, a tall, laconic and Stanford grad who had studied computer science, psychology and linguistics. The idea was audaciously ambitious: to write a set of software algorithms to dissect the information being produced by Facebook users, select the actions and profile changes that would be most interesting to their friends and then present them to those friends in reverse chronological order. It was the biggest technology challenge the company had ever faced.
Answer Example
Points :
a. Facebook news feeds required a special technology requiring a unique set of algorism
b. Algorism requires because of massive amount of information came from Facebook users
Paraphrase
The functionality of Facebook News feed is the biggest technological challenges for the company, in which requires a set of complex programming algorithm how to represent in the Facebook about a modification of users information.
Exercise 3.3 – Economics
Paraphrase below paragraphs
The contingency theory of company behavior suggests that the optimal solutions to organizational problem are derived from matching the internal structure and processes of the firm with its external environment. However, the external environment is constantly changing as industrial markets become more complex, so that the optimum strategy for a firm will change as the prevailing environmental influence changes.
The result of this is that firms may not have a single goal such as the maximization of profits or sales, but will have to vary their goals and strategies as the environment changes around them. It has been argued by some economists that there may be as many as two thousand different strategic behavior patterns, depending on the nature the firm and its environment (Ansoff 1984)
In today’s rapidly changing world market it is not easy for a company to maintain one overall goal and the contingency theory helps us to understand why firms will not always be able to follow a single optimizing course through time.
Exercise 3.4 – Economics
The economic doctrine known as mercantilism appeared between the Middle Ages and the period of the triumph of laissez-faire. Mercantilism can be dated roughly from 1500 to 1776. These dates vary, however, in different countries and regions.
The historical Background of the Mercantilist School
The self sufficiency of the feudal community slowly gave way to the new system of merchant capitalism. Cities, which had been growing gradually during the Middle Ages, become increasingly important. Trade flourished both within each country and between countries, and the use of money expanded. The discovery of gold in the Western Hemisphere facilitated the growing volume of commerce and stimulated theorizing about precious metals. Great geographical discoveries, based in part on the development of navigation were extending the sphere of commerce. Production was small scale, but increasingly the merchant interceded between the producer and the consumers. Although they remained tradesmen in the eyes of the landed aristocracy, the merchant capitalist were becoming key figures in the world of business.
National states were rising, and the most powerful of them were acquiring colonies and spheres of influence. Economic rivalries between nations were intensified. It is not surprising then that a body of doctrine emerged which superseded feudal concepts, promoted nationalist gave new dignity and importance to the merchant, and justified a policy of economic and military expansion. This body of doctrine became the mercantilist school.
Words
Doctrine : a particular principle, position or policy taught or advocated as of religion
Intercede : act or interpose on behalf of someone who has trouble or difficult to deal with
Laissez-faire: the theory of government that upholds the autonomous character of the economic order, believing that government should intervene as little as possible in the direction of economic affairs
