Learning through Online News Sources

Among the abundance of information you can find on the internet, one important resource ais news in a huge number of languages. Chances are that even a less-commonly taught language will have some news resources. This article will give you tips on how to make use of those news resources in your language learning.

First we should talk about some characteristics of the language used and news and why it is useful for learning a language. Consider news articles in English as an example. We’ll look at an example from BBC News:

“Theresa May has refused to promise unconditional support for her successor's Brexit plan. Asked if she would back whichever Brexit outcome the next prime minister achieves, including a no-deal Brexit, she said that amounted to agreeing to "whatever happens in future". Jeremy Hunt or Boris Johnson will be announced as the winner of the Tory Party leadership race on 23 July.”

Let’s note a couple of features of this kind of English. This will help us know what to expect from news in your target language.

1. The diction is impersonal, as if the journalist isn’t present in the story despite being the writer.
2. The author uses formal diction, participles, and more complex phrases than usual in speaking, like “Asked if she would back whichever Brexit outcome the next prime minister chooses, including a no-deal Brexit, she said…” In more relaxed speech, you might say this like, “when they asked her if she’d back whatever plan the prime minister chose, even if it’s no deal Brexit, she said…”¹

You should expect this kind of language in news you read in your target language, adjusting for the sorts of constructions and vocabulary that seems more formal in that language. It might occur to you that this is far from the language of daily conversation, and what really is the use of it? It’s not an uncommon question from students reading news articles for the first time after learning in a more communicative way. If you can’t speak this way, what’s the point?

But news articles are very important for developing your proficiency. They will acquaint you with a more formal register of speech and vocabulary without the pressure of speaking (a ‘register’ is a way of speaking a language that is used in a particular context). Not being able to at least understand the type of language used in news articles means that you will be in the dark when hearing official announcements, doing paperwork, or listening to speeches given by important figures. You need the sort of language you find in the news to discuss the big topics of the day and to learn about the goings-on in the places where your target language is spoken. It is also important so you can have high level conversations or study areas of your interest in the language.

Now that we’ve talked about the what and the why of studying news in your target language, let’s talk about how to find and target your news consumption for your needs.

Targeting Your News

When reading news, it can seem daunting to decide what to read. Maybe you don’t read much news in your own language, or you have trouble finding articles by just scrolling front pages. Here are some tips that can help you learn to enjoy and benefit from reading news in your target language:

1. Identify your interests: Write down the sorts of events you follow in English. Four or five topics will do, or less if that’s all you can think of. Look up the relevant vocabulary to describe these events. It could be things like sports, politics, video games, or any other interest you have.
2. Use a search engine: do a keyword search in the language for the topic, using the ‘news’ tab available on many search engines.
3. Try to read some of the headlines, and choose a few articles to read.

Once you have some articles to read, you just need to work through them at your own pace, taking note of and learning new vocabulary as you go with your memory system. You can also ask native speakers you know, such as a teacher or online conversation partner, to provide you with articles that you are interested in.

Understanding Bias/Slant in News Sources

Just like in English-language journalism, foreign news sites will have their own biases, especially related to controversial social or political issues. Usually these will go unstated and can be hard to detect without native-level cultural knowledge, but there are ways you can identify this bias. You don’t have to avoid reading news sites because of this. You will find, though, that discovering these cultural fault lines will help improve your own cultural literacy.

Here’s a couple of ways to explore bias and editorial slant:

1. Discuss the headlines of one of your sources with a native speaker. Ask what the reputation of the news source is, if any.
2. Read editorial opinion pieces. This is where the slant of the paper will come out the most, since there isn’t a need to filter viewpoints through the same journalistic standard as news articles.

Conclusion

We’ve covered:

1. What to expect from the language in the news.
2. How to target and find news according to your interests and learning needs.
3. How to notice editorial slants in news to aid your reading and improve cultural literacy.

Hopefully, after this you will keep reading the news in your target language and make it a core part of your language learning as you reach higher levels of proficiency.