What strategies do we use when reading in a second language?

EDRG 604 Blog #4

Imagine that you read a text in another language in which you aren't yet fluent.  What strategies would you use to decode it?  This is exactly what I am reflecting on in this blog.  I am fluent in English and Spanish and I have always wanted to learn Italian, but I only know a few words and phrases in Italian.  (I am probably a level one terms of fluency (out of five) in Italian.)  I dove into reading in my unfamiliar language.  I read college level text designed for language learners and I turned open to an article in lesson 20.  It was entitled "Sciopero Generale." 

In retrospect the strategies that I used to gain meaning from this article were:
1)  Use picture cues
2)  Utilize cognates to transfer knowledge from Spanish or English to Italian. 
3)  Make hypothesis and confirm those or reject them as I read.
4)  Finally,  to seek a fluent speaker of the language to help me. 

 Now, I had no idea what the first word in the title meant. The second word is a good cognate for "general" in Spanish or English, so I assume that it had the same meaning.  I looked up at the picture above the title and I saw adults holding flags and a banner that appeared to be from a union or organization.  They were in front of a building that could have been a government building or university with classical arquitecture.  It appeared to be some kind of demonstration.  This photo was helpful to give me some background knowledge about what the article.  I saw some acroynms "CGIL", "CISL" and "UIL" on the banner which further reinforced my idea that this was a demonstration advocating for some unions, professions or universities.  So, at this point, because of a cognate in the title and the photo, my conclusion is that the article is about something general which provoked a demonstration by an organization.

As I read through the article, I immediately recognized other cognates.  Some of them were "secondo," ""mese," "governo," "decisa,"  "protesta" and "lavoratori."  I assumed their meaning because I my understanding of Spanish to be "second," "month," government," "decision or decisive," "protest" and "laboratory."  This confirmed my idea that the picture captured some kind of protest and maybe it had something to do with the government and something to do with a laboratory.  Laboratory might also refer to some kind of a practical experience in a class.  The strategy I was relying upon at this point was primarily my understanding of cognantes.  None-the-less, there were only enough cognates to give me a vague gist of the meaning of the article. 

The next strategy that I employed to gain understanding was to make hyphothesis and to confirm or reject those hypothesis based upon further reading.  Here were some of my hypothesis mid-way through the three paragraph article:
*Are these university students and professors protesting about something?
* If so, are they protesting to the government? 
* What are they asking for? 
*Does it have something to do with a laboratory or classes? 
* What do they want to gain from this protest?

While continuing to read the article, I still relying almost exclusively on my understanding of cognates to gain meaning from it.  It appeared to be talking about chaos ("caos") and alot of people (multa gente).  This confirmed my idea about a protest.  Then it took a twist which added new information using words like "trasporto" and "automobili."  Was it talking about transportation and cars?  Did this protest have something to do with transportation? 

The final paragraph didn't answer my questions or appear to clarify the situation.  It seems that the author went to a "bar" and had a "caffe" which I understood to mean to go to a cafe and have a cup of coffee.  It mentioned "emergenza" which I assumed to be an emergency and "confusione" which I interpreted as confusion.  So, I decided that my next strategy would be to find a fluent Italian speaker to clarify the article for me.

While leaving you hanging about the meaning of this article, let me say that I did learn a few things as a language learner.  First, it is an advantage to have some language transference in the form of cognates.  It helped that English and Spanish have many latin-based words.  These could be tranferred to similar words in Italian.  Second, it was nice to have a photo.  There was only one and more photos would have even aided in my understanding.  At the adult level, it is unlikely outside of television or a language acquisiton to get more visual information, but that certainly would have helped me confirm or reject my conclusions.  Third, it was a good idea at the beginning and mid-way through the reading to make educated guesses in the form of questions.  With more information, I might have been able to confirm or refute them better.  My final conclusion is that discussions with a fluent speaker of the language are essential for developing understanding.