For one month, you try to read as much as you can. You read on your own and then tweet your page counts to a bot on twitter. At the end of the month, whoever read the most pages is the winner. There’s no prize except for bragging rights, but really the contest isn’t about winning at all. It’s about improving your literacy in your target language by reading as much as you can, and sharing your experience with other like-minded people.

The last contest was in January and it was a huge success. Ninety-nine (99!) people participated and read a combined total of 65,131 pages! That’s awesome. I placed 25th with 649.97 pages of Japanese read, which is the most Japanese I’ve ever read in such a short period of time. Said simply, the contest works.

If you are learning a foreign language, I highly recommend participating. You have nothing to lose. It doesn’t matter what your level is either. Read whatever is appropriate to your reading level, whether that be novels, comic books or children books.

It’s easy to sign up. All you have to do is tweet “@Tadokubot #reg” minus the quotes. Be sure to mention what language you will be reading in the tweet.

The contest starts at midnight on April 1st, your time. It ends April 30th at 11:59pm, your time.

The deadline to sign up is 11:59pm on March 31st! Don’t delay. Send your registration tweet!

For information about the contest, check the official blog: Read More or Die blog

Here are a couple of other blog posts I found that mention the new contest:

1. The Power Of Reading
2. Tadoku 2011, Round 2
3. Tadoku contest

Related posts:

1. January 2011 Tadoku contest will start very soon
2. Language Learning Tip #2: Read Children’s Books
3. We have hopped onto the Twitter bandwagon

What’s Tadoku?

Tadoku (多読 – Japanese for “read a lot”) is a foreign language reading contest. You try to read as much as you can in your target language in one month. You record your daily progress by tweeting your page counts to a bot on twitter. At the end of the month, the person with the most pages read is the winner. I don’t think there is a prize other than glory, but it’s a great way to motivate yourself to do more reading.

To register, you need to tweet “@TadokuBot #reg [insert hilarious quote]” (minus the quotes). You need to do so before 2011, so hurry up. Next Tadoku contest won’t be until April!

For more information, see the official blog at Read More Or Die:

• Tadoku Registration and Participant list
• About Tadoku
• How to update your page counts

Related posts:

1. Tadoku – Read More or Die – April 2011 Edition
2. Language Learning Tip #1: Start A Translation Project

In English I listen primarily to metal and hard rock, but in Spanish I’ve noticed that while I still like some metal, I’ve been leaning more towards rap, even though I can’t stand most rap in English. I’m not entirely sure why this is yet, I’m still getting a feel for what’s out there. I’ve also been listening to a couple of podcasts, these are also to practice listening to Spanish.

Here are some of the things I’ve been listening to:

• Hamlet
• Skunk DF
• Skizoo
• A.N.I.M.A.L.
• Molotov
• Control Machete
• News in Slow Spanish
• VOA en Español – Buenos Días America
• SSL4YOU

Definitely check out Pandora for yourself. (Update: Thomas tells me that Pandora only works within the US. It may be possible to get around this using a proxy.)

What have you been listening to in your target language?  Tell us in the comments!

Related posts:

1. Find music you acutally like in the language you are learning

I, the owner of this newspaper, have heard that those who purchase the Bangkok Recorder wonder, “Why are so many things reprinted? Like the article about the new dock, it’s run 2 or 3 times already. There are many other items which have been reprinted many times. What is the reason for this? Can’t they find new material?”

They wonder and complain ramblingly like this, because they don’t know the customs of newspapers. Those items which are reprinted are a type of article, the owner of which wants everyone to read and remember. Like with the story about the new dock, they pay for it to be printed every time, paying 2 dollars per time. An article that is repeated like this, in English is called ‘advertisement’.

A type of article meant to be read and remembered. What an interesting way to look at advertisements! :)

There’s a lot more, so be sure to read the full article over at Thai101.

Related posts:

1. How Many Days In Each Month: The Thai Way

Original English Text:
I want to eat apple pie.

Translated to French:
Je veux manger le pâté en croûte de pomme.

Translated back to English:
I want to eat meat pie of apple.

Translated to German:
Ich möchte Fleischtorte des Apfels essen.

Translated back to English:
I would like to eat meat cake of the apple.

Translated to Italian:
Vorrei mangiare la torta della carne della mela.

Translated back to English:
I would want to eat the cake of the meat of the apple.

Translated to Portuguese:
Eu quereria comer o bolo da carne da maçã.

Translated back to English:
I would want to eat the cake of the meat of the apple.

Translated to Spanish:
Desearía comer la torta de la carne de la manzana.

Translated back to English:
It would wish to eat the cake of the meat of the apple.

Would it now?

Give it a try and post your funny results in the comments! Multibabel

Related posts:

1. Language Learning Tip #1: Start A Translation Project