2022-02-18

Parallel Texts for Language Study

In one of my last visits to Moscow - probably sometime in 2016 - I got acquainted with a genre of texts called parallel texts. This genre seems very popular for language learners in Russia. You can see the original text in the source language and its translation in the target language side by side on every page.

The first parallel text I bought during that visit is Россия: Иллюстрированная энциклопедия / Russia: The Illustrated Encyclopedia. But I bought it not because it's a parallel text but because its content interested me. Since then I read it through a few times. Since a couple of months ago I've been reading it for the third time to improve my Russian.

Having realized some benefits of parallel texts for language study, I've decided to add two more parallel texts to my daily study of Russian: Reading Crime and Punishment in Russian; װען לאַכט אַ ייִד / Когда евреи смеются.

Since I don't have any other genuine parallel text with interesting contents, I've come up with the idea of using sets of originals and translations as quasi-parallel texts to improve my Russian in many other areas of knowledge. I open two books side by side - one in English, Hebrew or Yiddish original, and the other in Russian translation. I started my first experiement with להבין חסידות and Учение Хасидизма several months ago. This method also works very well.

I've already prepared the following sets to read in the next one or two years: גוט שבת מוסקבה and Гут шабес Москва; דער בעל-תּשובֿה and Раскаявшийся; צמח אַטלאַס 1 / צמח אַטלאַס 2 and Цемах Атлас; A New Earth and Новая земля; The Fall and Скачок; Five Regrests of the Dying and Пять откровений о жизни; Helping People Change and Как помочь людям измениться; How to Change and Как меняться; Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway and Бойся... но действуй; Getting Things Done and Как привести дела в порядок; No Self, No Problem and Нет Эго, нет проблем; Man's Search for Meaning and Сказать жизни «Да!»; The 100-Year Life and Эпоха долголетия; Nonviolent Communication and Ненасильственное общение.

The greatest benefit of using parallel texts for language study is that I'm provided with context-specific equivalents of the Russian words in English, Hebrew or Yiddish. I still have to consult dictionaries, but these equivalents can do far more that conventional dictionaries can do. Another benefit is that I pay far more attention to the contents of each book than I read it in English, Hebrew and Yiddish since each word still matters in Russian as I'm not so fluent in it yet. I also feel that I'm studying through Russian rather than studying Russian. The first Russian book I read from cover to cover - Как перестать учить иностранный язык и начать на нем жить - promotes this very idea.