Reading in Foreign Languages
Reading in Foreign Languages
Who would love to read more books than they do now? Who has ever wondered what books are published in other languages that never get translated? Well, if you are a language fan, here are some top tips to learning a language to a level where you can read a novel in it.
Children’s books
Get a children’s novel or Middle Grade story that you know well. Sentence structure is easier than in adult novels of course and language is easier to learn. If you know the story of Cinderella in English, then you can quickly learn quite a few words by reading it and guessing the words in Spanish for example. You already know the words that will come up – slipper, prince, ugly sister for example so learn them and write them down. Look up their opposites or words related to them – eg slipper, shoe, wellington boot….and soon you have yourself a little vocabulary list.
Words in isolation are good but as you start to read more, you will spot the words you have already read and then be able to guess new ones. Always have an online dictionary on hand to quickly look up a new word. Take Google translate etc with a pinch of salt – good for individual words though and simple sentences.
Also – puzzle books, quiz books and mangas are excellent ways to mix it up.
Get an adult novel you love – in the language you are trying to learn
Pick your favourite novel – Kate Morton’s The Secret Keeper is mine – and get this in the language you want to learn. I know this novel so well now in several languages and now use it as a test to see what the flow of my reading and understanding is in the new language. Like having a safety net.
The real test is getting a novel you haven’t read before or even better – one by a native author. I don’t know why but I set these at a different level to translated titles or novels you know well. It’s another way of absorbing text and it’s raw. If there’s not a translation, it feels a different kind of achievement. As if that magical Narnia door of translation has been opened by you and you get to step inside a world that not many non-native speakers of that language do.
Susan x
More books in foreign languages here and some more learning languages tips!
