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Poll: Did your parents encourage you to read when you were young?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
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Sep 22, 2007

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Did your parents encourage you to read when you were young?".

View the poll here

A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629


 
Reed James
Reed James
Chile
Local time: 12:48
Member (2005)
Spanish to English
Early reader Sep 23, 2007

My mother was a librarian and taught me to read before I started school. I spent many hours at the public library checking out all kinds of books. I was always reading street signs and product labels. I still do, but now in several languages.

Looking back, I am glad I got that head start because you certainly can never read or know enough in this line of business.


 
Astrid Elke Witte
Astrid Elke Witte  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 18:48
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
They deposited me at the local library every Saturday... Sep 23, 2007

... and left me there for several hours.

I would sign out a Sam Pig or Doctor Doolittle book and then sit there and read it through entirely by the time they came back for me, so that I then had to look round and choose another book. The librarian didn't like it; she told me people weren't meant to take back the book on the same day.


 
Beatriz Galiano (X)
Beatriz Galiano (X)
Argentina
Local time: 13:48
English to Spanish
+ ...
I'm still young Sep 23, 2007

I suppose the question means when you were a kid or teenager...I used to read a lot then, both my parents bought books and we had a great library. I dont like reading precisely, I like learning...

Now I don't read as much as I did when I was a child, at that time it was discovery, somewhat magic, ...

now I dont have much time and I need glasses to read...


 
Jo-Hanna Goettsche
Jo-Hanna Goettsche  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 11:48
English to Spanish
Well, they didn't have to! Sep 23, 2007

I always loved to read anything and everything that fell into my hads. Whether I was old enough to understand it, now, that's another subject!

 
Claudia Aguero
Claudia Aguero  Identity Verified
Costa Rica
Local time: 10:48
Spanish to English
+ ...
They still do Sep 23, 2007

Reading has always been very important in my family. We are constantly reading.

I remember that when I was about 8 years, I read several volumes of an encyclopedia. In fact, I first learn to read with the letters upside down while my parents were reading the newspapers.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of free time to do it now, but books are till one of my favorite gifts.


 
John Cutler
John Cutler  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 18:48
Spanish to English
+ ...
It all started with gruesome fairy tales... Sep 23, 2007

I said yes. Being read to at bedtime was definitely an encouragement to read at other times on my own. My parents would sit on the edge of our beds and read stories to us. Other times, we’d all pile into their bed and listen as my father or mother read out loud. It was a big, warm, safe place to be, and just as well; some of those old fairy tales were pretty gruesome. I still remember how scary it was to think that the old witch might have got away with cooking and eating H&G!!... See more
I said yes. Being read to at bedtime was definitely an encouragement to read at other times on my own. My parents would sit on the edge of our beds and read stories to us. Other times, we’d all pile into their bed and listen as my father or mother read out loud. It was a big, warm, safe place to be, and just as well; some of those old fairy tales were pretty gruesome. I still remember how scary it was to think that the old witch might have got away with cooking and eating H&G!!

They also made sure we had library cards from a very early age and the town librarian was even a guest for dinner from time to time.
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Lori Cirefice
Lori Cirefice  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 18:48
French to English
At the beginning yes ... Sep 23, 2007

But then I turned into such an avid reader that I was neglecting other things and staying up too late at night ... so my parents tried to put some limits on my reading

- Lori (still reading all the time)


 
M. Anna Kańduła
M. Anna Kańduła  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:48
English to Polish
No Sep 23, 2007

No, they didn't. I loved the books since I learned how to read and never needed any encouragement

Anni


 
Evi Wollinger
Evi Wollinger  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 18:48
Member (2003)
English to German
+ ...
No - the opposite... Sep 23, 2007

I loved reading from the very beginning - sometimes to the exclusion of everything else, including the consumption of food...
My parents did their best to try and get me interested in other things (work on the farm at home especially!!) and went as far as punishing me for reading. I also had a 15-min reading limit for the longest time.
I always found a way though. Maybe it was being restricted that much that made me leave the country, continent, by myself when I was 19.

... See more
I loved reading from the very beginning - sometimes to the exclusion of everything else, including the consumption of food...
My parents did their best to try and get me interested in other things (work on the farm at home especially!!) and went as far as punishing me for reading. I also had a 15-min reading limit for the longest time.
I always found a way though. Maybe it was being restricted that much that made me leave the country, continent, by myself when I was 19.

Funny thing is - I would do anything now to get my kids to read! They hardly read at all.
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Emmanuelle Moulin
Emmanuelle Moulin  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 18:48
English to French
+ ...
Other Sep 23, 2007

I started reading from a fairly early age on and nothing could stop me from that point. Staying up all night reading, reading all day, anything I could get my hands on.

My parents did think reading was good, but they obviously weren't too keen on these all-nighters and thought I should be going out more, and act my age a bit more. But well, once I'd read most of what I felt I needed to read about, I did catch up on the world eventually!

And a big thank you to whoever i
... See more
I started reading from a fairly early age on and nothing could stop me from that point. Staying up all night reading, reading all day, anything I could get my hands on.

My parents did think reading was good, but they obviously weren't too keen on these all-nighters and thought I should be going out more, and act my age a bit more. But well, once I'd read most of what I felt I needed to read about, I did catch up on the world eventually!

And a big thank you to whoever invented torches, it made my eyesight weaken but opened so many doors!

Emmanuelle
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Trinh Do
Trinh Do  Identity Verified
Australia
Member (2007)
English to Vietnamese
+ ...
Enid Blyton got me onto reading Sep 23, 2007

Believe it or not, my parents bought tons of English books written by Enid Blyton and other writers in India. "Water Babies" was one favourite, as well as "The Incredible Journey". I also read American books too, and lately poetry is my favourite. I devoured them so much, and took the torch to bed as they were so exciting. I have to thank EB for that encouragement.
I still remember my step-grandma complaining how my sisters and I delay going down to meals - because we were hooked onto boo
... See more
Believe it or not, my parents bought tons of English books written by Enid Blyton and other writers in India. "Water Babies" was one favourite, as well as "The Incredible Journey". I also read American books too, and lately poetry is my favourite. I devoured them so much, and took the torch to bed as they were so exciting. I have to thank EB for that encouragement.
I still remember my step-grandma complaining how my sisters and I delay going down to meals - because we were hooked onto books. At my grandpa's place, I would rummage the whole bookcase for English books, I love them, and my grandma had to lock it up.
Reading is still my hobby, and I can read at least 100 pages per day. Fairy tales are great too; nowadays really good biographies, novels, etc. I'd love to have more time reading good literature and the like.
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Özden Arıkan
Özden Arıkan  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 18:48
Member
English to Turkish
+ ...
And how! Sep 23, 2007

Books were not only bought and stacked in ever-expanding shelves and read and encouraged all the time in bold bold letters, but my parents also kept discussing books, reciting poems, talking literary stuff and also trivia about authors, etc. As the prevailing education trend of the day, I was also discouraged to read comics - my Turkish teacher did that, too. They probably had a point, tough: they said since the expression was completed with visuals in comics, reading them wouldn't help me furth... See more
Books were not only bought and stacked in ever-expanding shelves and read and encouraged all the time in bold bold letters, but my parents also kept discussing books, reciting poems, talking literary stuff and also trivia about authors, etc. As the prevailing education trend of the day, I was also discouraged to read comics - my Turkish teacher did that, too. They probably had a point, tough: they said since the expression was completed with visuals in comics, reading them wouldn't help me further my language and sentence-construction skills. So, trusting that comics were exempt from the sacred protection and worshipping books received, I felt free to cut out the pics of my favorite hero one day (Karaoğlan, for my compatriots ) My dad gave the most unexpected reaction and said that whatever its content, hey, it was still a book! If I cropped pics from it, one day I would cut out books proper, too

So, what happened? I ended up hating books and all sorts of non-manual job prospects for the future. I was fantasizing about becoming an ignoramus wood chopper. I'd somehow developed a strong urge to hit the wood with an axe That was just a phase, though, and enough with portnoying now, right? Anyway, I myself never pushed my child to read. But she doesn't seem to be falling far from the apple tree. She is quite a reader especially for a teenie of the cyber age! Who cares if she read the whole unabridged Odysseia out of her fondness for Brad Pitt
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Amy Duncan (X)
Amy Duncan (X)  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 13:48
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Yes, they did... and now I'm an addict Sep 23, 2007

Both my mother and father encouraged me and my sister to read. I read so much when I was a kid that I actually became addicted to it. I read all the Wizard of Oz series, the Nancy Drew mysteries, the Bobbsey Twins series, the Mary Poppins series and many, many other books. These books were so real to me that I lost myself in them.

Later on in life I found that I was so addicted to reading that when I start to read an interesting book I literally can't put it down. The effect is almo
... See more
Both my mother and father encouraged me and my sister to read. I read so much when I was a kid that I actually became addicted to it. I read all the Wizard of Oz series, the Nancy Drew mysteries, the Bobbsey Twins series, the Mary Poppins series and many, many other books. These books were so real to me that I lost myself in them.

Later on in life I found that I was so addicted to reading that when I start to read an interesting book I literally can't put it down. The effect is almost mesmerizing, and I often have to force myself to put the book down so I can do other things. This is why I don't read as much as I used to...I'm just too addicted. I guess nowadays some people have the same problem with the TV, although I'm not one of them.


Amy
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Jennifer Forbes
Jennifer Forbes  Identity Verified
Local time: 17:48
French to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Yes, always. The house was full of books. Sep 23, 2007

Yes, indeed, and I and my siblings were encouraged to read and were constantly reading. My parents' house was full of books - in every room - as mine is now. We were nuts about Blyton's "Famous Five", and Arthur Ransome's adventures and so on. My father read aloud to us, Dickens's Pickwick Papers and David Copperfield, and my mother read us C. S. Lewis, the Alice books, Rider Haggard's "She" - what a thrilling adventure that is! Well, it is when you're 13 years old. My father was a scientis... See more
Yes, indeed, and I and my siblings were encouraged to read and were constantly reading. My parents' house was full of books - in every room - as mine is now. We were nuts about Blyton's "Famous Five", and Arthur Ransome's adventures and so on. My father read aloud to us, Dickens's Pickwick Papers and David Copperfield, and my mother read us C. S. Lewis, the Alice books, Rider Haggard's "She" - what a thrilling adventure that is! Well, it is when you're 13 years old. My father was a scientist and my mother an artist - and both were part-time writers and translators. They took us to museums, the cinema, theatre, ballet. Gosh, I was a lucky child! I didn't realise how lucky at the time.
These days I mostly read history - can't get enough of it.
I'm heartened that the Harry Potter series seems to be bringing modern children back to reading.
Bookishly,
Jenny.
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Poll: Did your parents encourage you to read when you were young?






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