Note: This post is about books for reading when you want to improve your reading skills in your target language.
First thing you need to do is to figure out what your level is. If you are a beginner or an advanced learner because the classic “choose a book you know” won’t really work for both. (well, it might, but someone will get bored at some point)
For Beginners
Books for children
They use basic vocabulary and they are also pretty short. When you are a beginner too many new words will make you tired pretty fast and also frustrated because after 10-15 minutes when you have already 1 page of new words you lost motivation to finish that book so these stories for children are perfect.
Children’s Digital Library has books in various languages so if you ever need books for kids, this is the perfect place to choose one.
Books you know
You know the story already so you can focus on learning vocabulary. If you decide to read daily 1 chapter or 1 page, it doesn’t matter too much because in the end you’ll still be learning and you will enjoy studying that book since you decided to read again.
Classics
I kept debating if i should add this or not so i added it but i’ll warn you about something. Since last year i didn’t find Danish books to read, i started to read some stories by Hans Christian Andersen and when i started to ask a friend of mine questions, he told me that no one uses those terms anymore because they are too old. And then i remembered that even in my native language people don’t talk like they do in classics so this choice is risky since you might learn vocabulary that isn’t in use anymore.
Advanced learners
I hope i’m not the only one who gets bored easily and can’t focus on books i know. I love them but after a couple of chapters i can’t focus anymore and in this case, new books are a better choice. You keep reading because you find the story interesting and you want to know what happens. However, if you are reading a serie of books, read your next book in your target language instead of the one you usually use.
How to deal with unknown words
If you are lucky, memrise might have a course about your book, if not, you have to make digital flashcards (or paper ones if you prefer them; or maybe just write in a notebook)
For verbs i’d suggest to write it down as you found it, then the translation and right next to it with another ink, the infinitive
e.g. dormirai = to sleep, dormir
Reading methods
I have 2 methods because i can’t use the first one always so, the first one.
I just read and try to guess the meaning of a word and if i can’t, then i search it. It’s easier somehow to do this and i can guess
very well the meaning. Sometimes i even highlight words and search the meaning later just to analyze them more.
The second method requires more energy because it’s for languages that you don’t “master” too well. For such languages
i have to read once the entire paragraph and then see what i understood from it. If there is a certain word that it’s unknown, i’ll search it. I tend to use HiNative to translate what seems unusual or sounds like an expression because normal online translators aren’t good for these. After i have all the unknown words, i will look over the paragraph again.
With all these unknown words, i usually make flashcards on Quizlet and practice them from time to time.
Also, if you want to be sure you understood everything, write a summary after a page/chapter and in this way you practice your writing skills too.
How to figure out what words you need
The most common question when you want to read is “do i translate everything?” and the answer is no. I have never met a single language learner who bothered to check out every single word. Usually i translate the key words or those words i see a lot. If a certain word appeared 2-3 times, then i’ll translate it. I’ll also translate it if i don’t understand the sentence because of it.
How to learn this new vocabulary
- You can be an angel and make a Memrise course for everyone.
- You can make flashcards on Quizlet.
- You can make mnemonics.
- You can use them in various sentences, maybe write a short story using as many new words as you can.
- You can write them on sticky notes and place them everywhere in your house.
- You can write them in a notebook and read them every night and every morning while staying in bed.