For context I am horribly incompetent at it. I can barely get by reading short texts inclusive of some abbreviations or text slang. It is all informal. I have never studied it in school. I speak it brokenly. sometimes can't keep up with conversations OR use a horribly wrong word that changes the meaning/tone because my vocabulary is too basic.
I struggle to read the embassy webpage or do the mandatory immigration list you get on planes when travelling.
Soooo should I go for a book that I actually like and have already read? So at least I know what is going on. Was thinking Crime and Punishment. Or do I go for a book that I've never read in English before?
by NommingFood
10 Comments
I think you need to start small. Something with easy words that you will enjoy.
Trying to read crime and punishment when you struggle with a website is like trying to do gardening with a nuclear weapon.
Start reading kids books and work your way up. Don’t try to translate it word for word, just gist read and only google ones that come up often and you’re unsure of
Read with a kindle or kindle apps or any e-reader that got a dictionary.
It’s insanely powerful as a non-native reader. You’ll learn so much, but don’t expect to ever master all words. It’s lifelong learning!
Start with something you either know and read before or something relatively easy. We have books where one page is in English and translation is on the other side so you can compare so I am sure something like that exists almost everywhere.
My first book in English was Harry Potter. I was about 15 when book 5 was out and it took a few months to get translated version and also, spoilers were everywhere so I did not want to wait. They even said who would die in the book on TV news like a few hours after the book was out. I was in the middle of reading it and was pissed.
In any case, that is an example of a relatively easy book to read. I was surprised how much I understood, I found what the new invented words meant (like within HP world – Quidditch, that had our own word – kudos to the translator who is one of our best) but struggled a bit with not so common words (like I could not figure out what “Couldron” meant, it was not in any dictionary I had 😀 )
But otherwise, it was relatively easy read because it was still aimed at children and young adult. Lots of “He said”, “She said:”….
And I went from there.
So I recommend to start with something relatively easy, have a dictionary at hand and it will help you to get through it and you learn new words.
I tried that with a couple of German books as well but my German got very rusty since high school and I am constantly kicking myself to read and talk in German but I am struggling and failing 😀
(I am Czech, btw.)
I started with graded readers, which are books for learners of the language. Olly Richards is an example. You can sometimes find classics rewritten in A1-B2 for learners.
I also read bilingual books, English on the left and French on the right.
If you have an ebook version of a book in your target language you can use apps like Kindle or Smart Book to help translate words you don’t know.
Start with dialogue-heavy simple stuff. Like comics, comics are a fine way to start. Children / young adult books, also. Things you’ve already read in your native tongue.
Asimov, for example, and specifically the Foundation series, I had found to be easier to read than most other books, when I first started reading in english.
Books you’ve liked can be helpful, *buuut* heavy classics like Crime and Punishment runs a good risk of just make things worse. Like synaps4 said, gardening with nuclear weapons.
Children, middle grade, and YA litt is awesome because it’s meant to be more available for a younger target audience, so the language isn’t necessarily going to be *the* most difficult thing you gotta deal with. Heck, there’s some pretty good picture books out there that you could use to boost your confidence if you need the odd break. I know some family friends who used comics to help with the language learning, and have a book club friend who’s using books with shorter chapters to have that morale boost as she’s trying to get more into the language.
Main point: take easy, gentle steps as your introductory point, then it’ll be easier to try to get to those heftier texts down the line e.g. when you feel like a government web page ain’t such a struggle. There’s a bunch of different ways of doing it, and guaranteed literature that’s enjoyable to read while you’re doing it. Could also ask a librarian if they got something that could help (guaranteed easy access point, cause there’ll be others who’s trying to get better at the language with the help of the magic of the ✨library✨).
Flashcards to learn common words and reading everyday however much you can at the moment. Modern books first.
You can supplement this with tv shows or something similar you enjoy.
Start with an easy book that you will enjoy, maybe like a childhood favourite. This is the tedious bit: look up everything you don’t know that you can’t derive from context. That way you’ll learn new words, sentence structures, etc.
English is my second language I started reading English fiction books starting of this year and now I can read heavy classic from authors like dostoyevsky, Albert Camus