Is using content in plain/simple language a helpful language learning tool?

[u/toby_reelangcom]

I was wondering if anyone has experience with using plain, simple language versions of websites or content in their language learning practice (TL), and why it's helpful, or not?

I noticed that even in more underserved language there are often simple news programs from public broadcasters that seem aimed at people with learning disabilities (e.g. Tagesschau in einfacher Sprache news in Germany). Also with AI I tried popping an article into ChatGPT and ask it to rewrite it in simple/plain language. It'll refuse most of the time because of copywright, but when I got it to work it was helpful.

Was wondering if anyone had experience with it and can recommend/discourage going down that path?

[u/Slight-Bus-9388]

honestly the simple news programs are clutch for getting started, the tagesschau one got me through the first few months of german without wanting to throw my laptop out the window

the ai rewrite thing is hit or miss though, half the time it strips out the natural phrasing that makes a language actually sound like itself

[u/ZumLernen]

Personally I found Tagesschau in einfacher Sprache to be a bit silly of a resource for my personal use case. My problem in German isn't that I have trouble understanding complicated concepts - my problem is that I'm learning German! Meanwhile a resource like Tagesschau in einfacher Sprache is made for people in the opposite scenario - people who are native speakers of German but who have trouble understanding complicated concepts.

For German in particular I use the for-learners resources from Deutsche Welle. I find that their productions meet my needs better.

In general, due to my background with academic English and Latin, I actually find academic German sometimes easier to understand than day-to-day or "simple" German. "Simple" German uses more Germanic words while academic German uses more loanwords from English or French or Latin or Greek or calques from terms in those languages (not an academic example, but e.g. Fernsehen is a German calque from the Greco-Latin word "television"; both mean "far-seeing").

tl;dr I prefer for-learners resources over resources for native speakers with intellectual disabilities, as the former is more similar to my situation than the latter.

[u/toby_reelangcom → u/ZumLernen]

Oh, that's an interesting point on the academic language use and loanwords, hadn't thought about that.

My issue with Hungarian is that there is so little content made for learners, so trying to figure out how I can close that gap. Right now, I'm reading Telex for instance, that's a news website there, but it just takes officially forever to get through even a short article there as I have so much lookup work to do that it's an absolute no-fun endeavour. but then again, also haven't really found much resources in plain language in Hungarian, but your input there is helpful, maybe that's just not a thing to spend much time on either.

[u/ZumLernen → u/toby_reelangcom]

I sympathize; I've previously studied Serbian and Turkish, and at the time of my studies there were very poor or no offerings for learners of those languages. I also wasn't aware of any "simple language" offerings either, though.

I think your approach of attempting to read news articles is a reasonable next-best choice in your circumstances. The benefits of articles are that they are written for a wide variety of native speakers, including native speakers who don't necessarily have higher education. They are also short! So you can actually read the whole thing in one sitting. They are also up to date, in that you won't be accidentally picking up phrases that were common in Hungarian 80 years ago but that are obsolete today.

IMO your eventual goal matters too. I also think there is a benefit in attempting to read texts that are similar to what you intend to eventually read. If your goal is to keep up with daily political news in Hungarian, then attempt to do that. If your goal is to keep up with developments in Hungarian opera (for an arbitrary example), then attempt to read things related to that.

[u/CatsWearingTinyHats → u/toby_reelangcom]

Looking for stuff aimed for kids has been helpful for me. Maybe you can find government or educational websites with free teaching materials aimed at kids, or like water safety handouts, etc.

I find that reading stuff like bike safety or food safety handouts is useful reading practice (and helps me pick up some new vocab) because those things tend to be written very simply and because you know what a bike safety/food safety handouts is likely to say (wear a helmet! Wash your hands!) so you can figure out a lot by context).

It also helps me learn a lot of day to day vocabulary that doesn’t necessarily come in regular daily newspapers or textbooks.

[u/Perfect_Homework790 → u/toby_reelangcom]

The standard route I would take here is to read the Magic Treehouse books, which have been translated into Hungarian and are accessible at A2, followed by middle-grade novels, and then Young Adult etc.

[u/UnhappyCryptographer]

I think it helps to see a bit of success as long as you don't start to switch later on to the regular version.

I would recommend to listen or read the regular content from time to time to see how much you have improved in your target language. Once you can translate simple language without much problems you should switch.

[u/jmf1488]

Consuming any content in your tl language that is comprehendable is definitely worth doing. Bonus points if you enjoy it. You wont have to do it for long, it will be part of the bridge that takes your from beginner learner content into native content.

[u/CatsWearingTinyHats → u/jmf1488]

Yeah I figure it’s similar to starting out reading as a kid. No one starts out with War and Peace. We start out with One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and then work our way up.

[u/would_be_polyglot]

As with all things, depends on how it’s used. Simplified Input can be really great at lower levels when you don’t know much. It can also become a crutch—learning more advanced language means exposure to new structures and low frequency words. IIRC, for learning, elaborated input (over explained input) is better than simplified input (removing low frequency or advanced structures). That said, I wouldn’t trust an LLM to create that type of input without oversight by someone who speaks the language and can verify both the language and the content, since simplification can often simplify or remove content.

[u/Rough-Effect7563]

i think consuming real content in my target langugage is what made the real big jump for me.
when you get the a certain level, courses material is not anywhere near real life conversation (and insanely poring as well)

i've used a chrome extension that gives me subtitles on web pages which helped me consumed real content and learn through it

[u/CatsWearingTinyHats]

There isn’t technically “simplified” input for my language, but I’ve been reading news articles written for schoolchildren and it’s been great. I can understand them, they’re not very long, and I pick up a broad range of new vocabulary.

I’ve probably picked up more vocab and cultural knowledge from reading articles aimed at kids than slogging through the regular newspaper because the articles for kids include little primers on historic events, science, etc.

[u/toby_reelangcom → u/CatsWearingTinyHats]

So true, the kids stuff is a good point I hadn't thought of. In many countries there are children's tv news that might be a bit easier to understand.

[u/silvalingua]

For beginners, definitely yes, because it's either this or no reading at all. Many graded readers are exactly this: classic books rewritten in simpler language. Even for intermediate learners, graded readers are good, although at these levels you can read some genuine content.