You’ve heard it – reading is one of the four pillars of language learning (alongside speaking, listening and writing).
So you’ve picked up a book.
Or you’re planning on doing so.
Amazing!
But what now? How do you read in a language you don’t understand yet…
Here are my best tips on how to read in French!
So my first tip for you is REALLY to pick something you WANT to read.
Do not pick something you think will be easy, or something you think is your level.
If you’re going to stick with a book, let it be a book you enjoy.
Short but sweet
With languages, the key is really to practice often. And if you’re a beginner, this is very important to remember.
I can’t stress this enough. Often is better than longer.
So shoot for short reading sessions every day rather than an hour long one every week.
Come back to it, and don’t be afraid to put the book down
As watching movies, reading in another language is tough, especially if you’re a beginner.
Chances are, after your second or third reading session, you’ll start to notice how tired you are after you read.
This is normal. Your brain is literally creating new connections in another language. And it is tiring.
But don’t take it as a failure. It’s not. It means you’re getting there. The more you do it, the easier it’ll get.
If you feel tired, just put the book down. And come back to it another day.
Avoid bilingual books
Unless you can stay away from reading the entire book on the English side, stay away from bilingual books. They won’t help you make sense of the sentence structures much.
I should probably write an entire article on the subject but translating is not an effective way to learn a language.
Have a notebook next to you
You can use this notebook two ways: take notes of the recurring French vocabulary, phrases,… you don’t know, and take notes about the story in French.
This will help you keep track of the story and you will get an extra exercice from it.
You can also use The Bank Method.
What to do when it's too hard?
- Try to read several times before you put your nose in a dictionary.
- Have a good dictionary (or dictionaries) next to you. You won’t know every word, or if you do, pick a new book (a harder one). I recommend WordReference.com
- It’s ok to have several sessions on the same chapter.
- Hell, it’s even ok to read the same book several times!
- Try a translated version of one of your favourite books : Harry Potter is a good choice because, as the English version, the vocabulary increase in difficulty as the story goes. But you could also go with an Agatha Christie, or the Twilight series.
- Why not pick up the corresponding audiobook, to listen to it at the same time. Make a listening session out of your readings. I promise it’s nice. Plus it gets your ears accustomed to French. – I recommend you still have the paperback version (over an ebook) though, just so you can scribble on top if you need to. Plus it’s harder to ignore a book
BEWARE – reading in French is awesome, BUT it’s not going to help you SPEAKING French. It’s going to help with your French vocabulary, French grammar, French culture knowledge,… but your pronunciation is not going to improve drastically if you only read.
