The Secret To READING In A Foreign Language | Polyglot Tips & Advice

Reading your first novel in a foreign language can be daunting and, frankly, it's difficult! But it's SO REWARDING and in today's video I share one of my best secrets to successfully reading in a new language 😄

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[xxxqwertxxx]

I’ve noticed that a lot of polyglots on YouTube say a whole lotta nothin’, but you actually give genuine, useful and practical advice and don’t try to come off as some kind of language wizard. I always identify with what you’re saying. It’s refreshing and helpful. Thank you!

[robynneblissett]

I cannot tell you how happy discovering this method has made me. I've been learning Italian for 8 months and I felt like my language learning hit a brick wall. But in the last few weeks since diving into a couple of novels, I feel this method is really moving me forward! This Robynne is grateful to you, Robin!

[MrZumo]

That's some great advice! This is actually why the first book I read in every new language is almost always Harry Potter, cause I've read it so many times by now that I know a lot of it by heart. It also has a simple language and it's been translated into so many languages, so it works almost like a modern day Rosetta stone!

[raffcummins]

I would say my biggest tip for people trying to read in another language is to read on an iPad and download that languages dictionary so you can just tap the word and see the meaning, saves so much time.
On a side note I'm currently traveling around South America and buying a book from each country.
Love the discussion videos robin

[michaeld]

Hi Robin, your approach makes a lot of sense. I am working on Spanish now and I am adopting a very similar approach. I think the reason it works is that by really studying the first chapter you learn a lot of vocabulary that will be used again and again in the following chapters.

[SaulCampo_]

*In summary*

It's a 3-step process:

1. *To read the first chapter of a book all the way through* without really stopping or pausing for a dictionary in order to see how much could I understand just off of reading it all the way thought, (this approach is commonly named extensive reading -just read without a dictionary and try to guess the meaning of things and just hope that thought lots of exposure and lots of repetition of key vocabulary, you'll eventually sort of acquire lots of words-)

2. *To go back and do an intensive approach on that first chapter*, you'll ended up with a really solid understanding of the context (characters, what was going on, setting up the story, environments, etc.). Then, when you read the chapter two the magic will take place.
_To take some notes (who's the main characters, what are their backstories that you know so far, where did they come from) that will help sort of a map you can refer back to all the way throughout the story_

3. *Then move on and sort of every now again come back and maybe review those notes* (use a highlighter to highlight words that repeated)

*Important Tip* : Whatever you, do intensive or extensive approach or some kind of combination, at least take the time to take an intensive study approach to the first chapter.

*Thank you so much Robin*

[jillustration]

Top Tip as well, especially if you're a repeat reader (eg you like reading books multiple times):
make your first novel in your target language a novel you're already read in your native language and that you really really enjoyed.
Also preferably easier material.
My personal favourite go-to first novel in a new language is Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone because A- the language used is not as difficult as it's aimed at a largely younger audience, and B- I know the story inside and out and this actually helps IMMENSELY making those all important intuitive connections and "guess" the meaning of unknown words. So even in the beginning when a lot of the time I'll be reading a sentence I don't understand, If I roughly know where I'm at in the story at least, I can figure out the meaning of a lot of the words because of my pre-knowledge of the plot and characters and place we're at within the storyline.
I promise you, you can SIGNIFICANTLY up your comprehension "percentage" and therefore enjoyment of the reading material, if you start with something you're already familiar with, and use that as your extensive reading springboard into eventually material that is new.

[academiavillage]

I am going to try this. Thank you for the tips, I am going to come back after a month with an update.

[daysandwords]

Hey Robin,
Oh man, I know I said this on your last video, but it's happened again haha - you and I are making similar videos.
So I was in the library (appropriate) writing a video about how to know whether you're going to be able to get through a whole book, and I finished writing the video and checked my phone and you had uploaded this video with those first few lines as the description, I was like "Dang it, I just wrote that video!"
In all seriousness, they are (going to be, when I come to film it) pretty different but yeah, it's sort of happened twice now (because the other thing I'm going to be doing a bit of is reading 'normal' development books and applying them to LL).
ANYWAY - about reading, yes, that's very true about the first chapter (or two, if there's a separate set-up in the second chapter, which there sometimes is). Two months ago I finished my second novel in Swedish and I 'accidentally' followed your advice here; what I did was actually read the Swedish chapters 1 to 3, and then the English (because I had a copy in both languages) and then the Swedish again... and then I went on to chapters 4, 5, 6 and suddenly I found I was on like chapter 10 or something and had not referred to the English even once. So then I just finished the book (not in one go, took about 6 days). But yeah it was SO much easier because of having all the context, like you mentioned.
I might have to try the same thing with one of the next books I want to read, by Per Anders Fogelström... that thing is tough going haha.

Great advice Robin, keep it up!

[MisAlineR]

I'm amazed by how you manage to point out your techniques in learning new languages, and it's so easy to understand. As someone who has been struggling to learn English and Spanish.your videos are always helpful

[kiwisam]

Great tip. I've started reading Olly Richard's Short Stories series and agree. If I take the time to go over the first chapter it subsequently makes the remainders easier and more enjoyable

[spindriftdrinker]

I am a native English-speaker. Reading in French was extremely easy compared to the difficulty of reading in Hebrew. The language is more difficult, the alphabet is different and the direction is right to left. I can't even imagine how difficult Japanese would be if I had the time to study that.

[Eruptor]

It takes a lot of time.
We can all agree on that.

[krolowamotyli]

Your entire "reading journey" is exacly like mine! I have been struggling with the reading since ... I don´t even remember. Thank you soooo much for that advice!

[leekspinner]

It's pain to go thoroughly through text with a dictionary and notes, but it's SO worth it! Thank you for reassuring me to continue!
Reading 10 pages of each book is a nice tip as well, thoroughly processing a bunch of small texts really boosts the vocab for the future long reads.

[vjones]

Totally agree with you. That first Chao you are also learning all the vocabulary around that subject or story. Once that’s done it’s so much easier to move forward.

[Nicofr]

I was in the same situation you described, reading the first pages and trying to understand every word, until it felt too complicated.

I'm trying a different approach now: I have bought an ebook and imported it to a website called "readlang" for which I pay a yearly subscription. (it also allows you to save webpages: news articles, blog posts....).

I can translate up to 12-words sentences just by clicking them on my screen. It's instantaneous (and it saves all the words and expressions translated into a database, from which they can be exported to spaced repetition systems like anki, if you wish).
This way, I can read, trying to understand as much as possible, and if I don't understand a sentence or a word, readlang gives me the translation, and I can move on to the next lines. If an unknown word comes up very often, I'll end up memorizing it effortlessly. The same goes with expressions and grammar structures.

It's pleasant, and you learn gradually, without feeling overwhelmed or unmotivated.
Once you've read the book once, you can come back to it later, and read it again: it will seem way easier, and the words you missed the first time will be the next you'll learn.

[sbrnAK]

I totally agree about picking the first chapter apart. Actually, as I was watching this I was cutting open a box of books that just arrived from Germany.

[jerryhall]

Reading the first novel in French was a milestone for me. I've read short stories before, in simplified form, but this was the first book in the original language, without pictures and explanations. Now I have the courage to read another book. To rest my head a little I switch between French and English. Swedish is my native Language. English isnt nearly as hard as French. It's more joy than work but I still learn new words.

[CanadaMills]

I recently discovered your channel and am gobbling up all the goodies you have produced over the years. I am near fluent in French, and am at an intermediate level in Portuguese, and a beginner-intermediate level in Bulgarian. You are now my go-to YouTuber in all things 2L acquisition, as you have lots of useful tips. (P.S. I really like videos like this one that only have background music at the beginning and/or end, as otherwise it can be quite distracting, especially if it's a track that has a 10-second loop or so.) Looking forward to watching more of your videos!