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ruthio
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05-01-2016, 07:55 PM
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Is listening to the word equivalent to reading the word?

In your opinion is listening to an audio book an equivalent experience to reading the book?

There's a very heated discussion going on in my family over this!

After all, seeing the film or the TV adaptation isn't the same as reading the book, so what's different with an audio book?

BUT with an unabridged audio book nothing is left out that you wouldn't have read...so isn't the experience equivalent?

What does the team think?
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05-01-2016, 08:13 PM
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Re: Is listening to the word equivalent to reading the word?

Oooh no! You've got to hold a book and turn the pages! Smell the smell of the book.

And anyway, I know I'd be picking holes in the person's accent or pronunciation instead of listening to the story...
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05-01-2016, 08:19 PM
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Re: Is listening to the word equivalent to reading the word?

In your opinion is listening to an audio book an equivalent experience to reading the book?
I have never heard an audio book Ruthio but it must be the same as having someone read to you .

Both reading and being read to have a place but are different.

If you are reading a book you can pause to absorb some point and ponder over it, go back and check on something , adjust your pace of reading as the content dictates.

I don't believe you can do these things to the same degree when listening to someone read

I also 'imagine' different voices/accents when reading a book, the characters are all different. I don't know if you have lots of voices in an audio book or not.
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05-01-2016, 08:58 PM
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Re: Is listening to the word equivalent to reading the word?

I like a book, I tend to think about other stuff if I'm listening to something.
It's probably something to do with being a visual person or listening person.
Yes, it's the smell of the book too, old book smell especially and using your imagination. It's great when the film or T.V. series choose actors which co-inside with your mental picture.
"Ladies No.1 Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith was cast exactly as I imagined the characters.
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05-01-2016, 09:08 PM
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Re: Is listening to the word equivalent to reading the word?

Yes Meg it's exactly like someone reading to you.
Sometimes I think it can be like a play, but with a narrator. That would be the BBC audio books on CDs I think.

Amazon do a site called Audible where you download the book and it's read...http://www.audible.co.uk/mt/free_tri...r_mt_at?bp_ua=

My daughter's bf listens to dozens of books this way, mostly while he's running.
He says for example with Pride and Prejudice. "I thought it was mostly waffle with a light story. I wonder if I had read all of the words I may have been so impressed with the wonderful vocabulary used."

So having it read to him brought it alive.

Having trawled through War and Peace long ago, I tried to read it again recently because it's a fabulous story, and failed miserably.
Then having watched the 1st episode of the magnificent BBC serial the other evening I've decided I'd love to listen to a good audio recording.
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06-01-2016, 12:44 AM
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Re: Is listening to the word equivalent to reading the word?

I think reading a book is better than the audio version. By reading the words they come alive in your head. Its your inner voice telling you what the book is about. Whereas the audio is superficial and the words you hear do not make that much of an impact
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06-01-2016, 12:53 AM
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Re: Is listening to the word equivalent to reading the word?

The other disadvantage of an audio book is that you can't as easily flip the pages back to re-read something and also I find I lose concentration with an audio book and find myself thinking of something else and realising I haven't been taking it in.

Some people are better at listening and others better at reading print. I'm the same with poetry - I need to see it on the page rather than just listening to it.
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06-01-2016, 12:56 AM
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Re: Is listening to the word equivalent to reading the word?

I used to listen to audio books when ironing & found the time passed very quickly. These days I do very little ironing so don't bother. I do mean to upload some to my iPod as I find the gym very boring & I hope to lose myself in a book lol! I like audio books for these specific purposes. I think it is definitely different as imagination draws the characters both in appearance & accent & audio books do part of that. There is also the emphasis placed on different things by the reader/speaker. Swings & roundabouts I expect.
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06-01-2016, 01:51 AM
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Re: Is listening to the word equivalent to reading the word?

I rejected audio books years ago, the regional accents got on my nerves. I may have to reconsider in due course because I cant hold the books easily and my eyes get tired & out of focus


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
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06-01-2016, 06:59 AM
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Re: Is listening to the word equivalent to reading the word?

Originally Posted by Pesta ->
Oooh no! You've got to hold a book and turn the pages! Smell the smell of the book.
See this is how I feel about books its not just the printed words its the whole feel.

I suppose audio books could be enjoyable but like Pesta the persons voice would distract me from the story..
 
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