Why extensive reading is so effective for language learning

[@Thelinguist]

📲 The app I use to learn languages: bit.ly/3WZijI4 🆓 My 10 FREE secrets to language learning: bit.ly/3MBLf4p ❓Have you tried extensive reading before? Let me know in the comments!

[@YuzuruA]

Hi Steven you are light The número of unknown words can be mucho higher. The problema is that The study that crested that was veeeery flawed

[@cjadams7434]

I would love a follow-up with this.. on languages with alternate writing systems.. that adds a much larger learning curve.. to get into the reading… i.e Chinese japanese etc. i find with lingQ i almost want to have “romanji on ontop of the kana early on.. just like you have kana on top of kanji to help you out.. but sadly lingq only has a on / off 2 options so you lose the kana when romanji is on.. which is a crying shame.. would make the transition much better.. NOTE i agree turning the romanji off as fast as possible but at least at first it lets you start reading and hearing words.. bridging the gap much like furigana does for kanji

[@davidbrambilacervantes8233]

Excuseme, if I have an audiobook, what would be the best strategy to Read it? First listen to without follow the text? Next read without listen and finally both? Or first read, later listen? What is your advance? Regards

[@JuanMoreno-wo5yb]

A friend from República Dominicana told me yesterday that I know enough so I should just focus on pronunciation and reading a lot! So here I am to learn more about reading more!!

[@JB-qz3me]

A trick I found by accident is that reading graphic novels is really good at the early stages of a language. The pictures help you follow the story even if you know few words, and the context usually helps you understand their meaning without having to look them up.

[@gussosa]

I agree, and I have already commented to LingQ that they should work on an OCR system to allow the use of comics in the system.

[@Mamoona-fw8ty]

You are right . My three kids under sixteen non natives are amaizingly fluent english speakers and they used to read such materials. It works .

[@tohaason]

Yep. I learned Italian to an intermediate level by reading a shelf meter of Peanut books in Italian, after that I could add newspapers to what I was reading, and eventually actual books.

[@smokeAndMirrors74]

@@tohaasonSame here with Calvin & Hobbs in french.

[@tohaason]

@@smokeAndMirrors74 I also did Calvin & Hobbes books in Italian, after "graduating" from Peanuts :-) (In particular a book with not only author's comments but also translator's additional comments, explaining some cultural issues)

[@mimill7765]

In 2021, I was extremely bad in English and was still B1 after years of school; and randomly decided to start to read books in English. I have never been interested by series or film and had no one to speak English with, so it was the only support available and enjoyable for me. After two years I went up to C1 level. I know there is nothing that impressive or that fast, obviously, but knowing how bad I am in languages, I am impressed by how reading helped me. I try now to do the same with new languages, even if it is far more challenging than English since we grow up surrounded by English but no other languages !! I kinda struggle to find easy and interesting books in foreign languages, but it is so pleasant when I do !!

[@HienNguyen-io4mp]

Thanks for your experiences!

[@PilliamWilliam]

To be honest, it's quite inspirational to see you writing here. I have the good fortune of being a native English speaker. Seeing the level of your writing (I wouldn't say there are any grammatical mistakes, but there are grammatical constructs that seem "non-native", if you will), if one can get to there after a couple of years of extensive reading from B1 level, they will be doing well (which I myself hope to do), it truly is inspirational Anyways, best of luck with your future language endeavors!

[@Languageswithrob]

You would be surprised to know how many of my students have said to me: "Oh, I am so bad at languages!" over the last 10 years. It is just statistically impossible that so many people are bad at that. The problem is usually not the students, but the method that the teachers used with them! Because when we are forced to study grammar and vocabulary in a way that does not correspond to our brain capabilities and mechanisms, the results are obviously going to be negative, but that is not our fault. The fact that you reached a C1 basically all by yourself is a clear indication of the fact that you are not bad at languages at all! :)

[@anak_kucing101]

Listening is for reinforcing the words one knows. Reading is for mining new words.

[@tohaason]

I think it is important to not focus on the "for learning" part. In my experience the magic happens when you instead focus solely on the enjoyment of reading or listening, the wish to follow the story, whatever it is.

[@timothy7137]

I can't agree with you any more.

[@gabiyoutubeaccount]

This has not been my experience. I first learned English only by listening. When I tried to read in English for the first time I could recognize what it meant by reading the words out loud. English is my second language btw

[@alexokello7555]

Yes, i agree with you. Reading is a manufacturing plant whose end product is vocabulary. And what will you do with vocabulary...?

[@goranvuletic8873]

@@gabiyoutubeaccount You did not learn it just by listening because that is impossible. You had pictures, people, videos, something along with the sound, which created associations. Just by listening to a radio program gets you nowhere. I consider this now clarified.

[@jamestwigg4164]

I have about 5 months and 400 hours of comprehensible input in German. I started slow with simple text and worked my way up through graded readers. Now I am on the 3rd Harry Potter Book and I can attest that reading really does massively improve your comprehension. I would say though, that during my commute I listen to the audio book of the thing I have already read to improve pronunciation. I found that some things I was pronouncing wrong in my head when reading and going back and listening to the audio book where I have a good idea of what is going on has improved my pronunciation ability. Literally have been like "Oh, that's how you say that word."

[@jamestwigg4164]

Also, I want to point out to people looking at this trying to learn a new language. Yes, I have over 400 hours studying this language. Sometimes I feel great that I can understand a lot, sometimes I feel terrible because I don't understand anything. It's an emotional rollercoaster that is normal for learning a language. There is a lot you have to learn to become truly great at a language. We're talking a couple thousand hours of work, and it is completely normal to have different feelings about your abilities based off of the content you're consuming. I think I am learning is just to continue to push through with my daily habit and eventually it will get there. Don't stress it

[@luthov]

Hi there from Germany, I always wanted to ask a native English speaker how tough it really feels like when beginning to learn German? Bei mir war es andersherum so, dass ich von der 5. Klasse an 6 Jahre relativ langweilig gestalteten Schulunterricht in Englisch hatte, wovon wir die ersten 3 Jahre noch sehr viel Deutsch in den Unterrichtsstunden sprachen, dann komplett auf Englisch gewechselt hatten. Danach dann durfte ich ein Schüleraustauschjahr an einer US-amerikanischen High School verbringen und bei einer Gastfamilie wohnen. In den ersten 3 bis 6 Wochen habe ich dann mehr Englisch gelernt als in den ganzen Jahren zuvor an meiner deutschen Schule. Insbesondere hat sich natürlich das Sprechen sofort sehr stark verbessert.

[@FearlessRefactoring]

​@@luthov the hardest thing for me learning German in the beginning, because it was also my first foreign language, was the word order. Over time and lots of reading it finally started to just make sense but having to place verbs at the very end of sentences, or word order changes in subordinate clauses is quite strange for a native English speaker. In the beginning when speaking it is especially difficult; you are trying to remember the noun, the gender, the case, the adjectives, etc and you get all the way to the end of the sentence and you've completely forgotten the verbs that are needed. As a contrast, I've been learning Italian since January of this year and besides the fact that there are many cognates between Italian and English, the word order is essentially the same. From day 1 I was able to read basic Italian sentences and have a good sense as to the meaning without a lot of mental head translation gymnastics, sozusagen :). Here is a funny video demonstrating English as spoken like German: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnTFgHmHdtOMfZo

[@luthov]

@@FearlessRefactoring Thanks! Yes, word order in the German language seems confusing and complicated. I have to admit that as a native German speaker I have never spent much time learning all the grammar and rules. You probably have a much better understanding of the German grammar than I. Most of the time I have just memorized how it's done from reading texts and listening to other people.

[@thiagoelav633]

@@luthov Brazilian with 3 weeks of studying german here, "rushed" through lingq ministories, nico weg A1 and A2 (on lingq), now reading nico weg B1 on lingq and also watching begginer comprehensible input videos on youtube(when i feel like procastinating instead of doing something else), far from remembering every words that i come across, but i do feel my comprehension slowly improving. Funny thing is that in my mind, some words i dont translate, some words i translate to english and some words i translate to portuguese, all words I dont know I look up the translation in english, but there are some words that I feel more similiarity with portuguese(some times is more a nmemonic then a direct relation), funny experience learning my second foreign language. Cant say absolutely nothing in German though, and feel that because of the declension are going to be a long time until I feel comfortable to speak, especially without studying grammar or phrases books

[@markalexander100]

As a language teacher, I always encourage my students to read, so that they can be independent of me (I'm a terrible businessman). Almost without exception, they just don't want to read. They don't read in their first language, regardless of age and intelligence.

[@tonyneel7908]

Yeah that last sentence is really what's wild to me and has been my xp. I know some very intelligent people that do not read whatsoever as an adult.

[@KnightOfEternity13]

Yes, that's what I've noticed myself and still can't understand why. The same people could be ok with doing a lot flashcards or even grammar exercises, but they somehow avoid reading like a plague. Could it be that they prefer to have some immediate feedback from their actions, or seek for gamification, or maybe reading just feels too passive and boring activity to them?

[@RogerRamos1993]

Reading can be very boring. It's hard habit to acquire as an adult. If they are reading to improve their language skills, they often see it as a waste of time, as they can't realize instantaneously how much they are learning. Were they to read for 6 months in a row, they would find out how amazing reading is. So, the way a see it is this: try to find a book you think your student will really like and have them try to read it. Just saying "Reading is awesome" to someone who doesn't read won't make a great impact.

[@Grilnid]

@@KnightOfEternity13 I'm in basically this exact situation: I will do flashcards and short exercises all day long, but until recently I really struggled with reading regularly and for "extended" periods of time (that is, 30mins at a time). I do think it comes down to feedback. It's not that I don't enjoy reading, it's that if my mind starts drifting off or I start thinking or something else, there's nothing in the book to sort of grab me by the neck and bring me back to my reading, whereas if you're watching a show, doing flashcards, short exercises, reading a graphic novel, you get this constant reminder to stay on track. For a lot of people, myself included, we can't just read like any other activity. Reading has to be made into an occasion, a habit, and we have to create appropriate circumstances for reading (computer turned off, phone at the other end of the room) in order to overcome this initial 5-10 minute hurdle before we are actually fully immersed in the book and don't need those crutches anymore. The problem is that 5-10 minutes by digital standards is an eternity and so book reading as an activity suffers from it. Hope this gives you some insight

[@cavaradossi7]

I would say all you have said regarding my experience as a teacher. I think Steve's advice works for people who have always enjoyed reading, not for the large number of people who don't. He talks to people like him. I always say to my colleagues: most of people don't want to learn, they want to be taught.

[@hollywoodslym]

I didn’t even realize how much vocabulary I knew in Spanish..then one day I’m randomly reading Spanish Facebook posts and news articles and completely understanding them…I’ve been reading in Spanish for only 3 weeks now and I’m impressed with myself

[@evelioguaperas]

After I started reading manga my japanese understanding has improved dramatically, I love reading!

[@themistake8904]

What kind of Manga do you read? I'm learning korean, but have heard reading manhwa isn't as useful as straight learning because there is a lot of words that aren't necessary outside of the manhwa (magic, portals, etc). With Manga, however, is there greater potential for more common words? Obviously though, reading something, especially something that you like, is better than nothing.

[@M4th3u]

Are you Brazilian?

[@qwlea]

⁠@@themistake8904Not the original poster, but I'm also learning Japanese. I think the concept can apply to any form of content, but just like Steve says in the video, fiction will contain a lot more lesser-used vocabulary. In essence, I don't think it is the medium that matters, it is how closely related the medium is to reality. Shoujo Romance Manga/Anime generally have much easier vocabulary than Shounen Fantasies. Similarly, reading a Drama manwha will probably bestow much more useful vocabulary than a Fantasy-based manwha would. I've never read a manwha in my life, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. I can only speak from my experience with Japanese.

[@evelioguaperas]

@@M4th3u I'm spanish

[@evelioguaperas]

@@themistake8904 I'm reading DanDaDan. I don't know if it's as useful as straight learning but I don't think I could have progressed as fast that way. The first volume took me about two months to reads. I finished the third volume in a week, now there are sentences I just don't need to look up. Also, I think the best approach is mixing your learning up. Now I'm into reading manga, before I was spending a lot of time writing kanji, some other time I was watching some comprehensible input videos. That way you keep it interesting. Stop worrying about how useful this things are and enjoy them! You know words like portals and magic in english as well anyway, might as well learn them in korean!

[@swanee22]

As a long time Spanish teacher, I would also recommend reading aloud. This can make a tremendous difference when a person engages in conversation in the L2.

[@mustaphameharich9175]

Thanks to my dad who didn’t fix TV when I was very young about 7 Since then I have started reading voraciously

[@Alltagundso]

@@mustaphameharich9175 ❤️❤️❤️

[@Kujiranoai]

I passed the Japanese language proficiency test at the top level on one attempt after about 15 years of study. It’s the only Japanese language exam I ever took. During the period I was studying the most, which is about fifteen to twenty years ago, and before the techniques we now have thanks to the Internet, I pretty much came across by myself the same approach that Steve advocates. Since then I have studied Spanish for about 5 years, and am now reading Game of Thrones onto the fourth book - Festin de Cuervos. I just finished reading Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Marquez in Spanish. I’ve got a lot further a lot quicker thanks consistently adopting the techniques and approaches Steve talks about. For what it’s worth, in my opinion Steve speaks more sense than anyone I have ever come across about language learning. This is based on my own experience. I’m assuming he makes a good living off LingQ but he 100% deserves to. I’m starting German next - I failed my German O level when I was young with a ‘U’ grade, but now I’m absolutely confident I can go as far with the language as I want if I put in the time and effort and the Steve’s approach will make the learning efficient and enjoyable at the same time.

[@andromilk2634]

Any suggestion to anyone who wants to learn Japanese? How would one go on about undetaking this language?

[@deelynn8611]

Yes. Having a mother who read to us and promoted the library to us as young kids, all added to that.

[@狸貓-z9d]

I like to open the subtitle while listen to your video. Because I can understand 98% of the content, but sometimes,there are still some unknown words. Subtitle can help to identify the word, the spelling, look up to the meaning, and listen to your pronunciation of the word. Which is usually enjoyable and helpful.🎉

[@nalberthreis]

As for four words per page: I agree with you, it depends much more on who you are; I've spent over a month reading books not knowing 20 to 40 words per page when I was at the beginning of one of my journeys to learning a language, and nevertheless I was happy to finish it when the time came. Over the months, I was getting better and eventually achieved the moment that I read, for example, the Luther King's biography (an over a thousand-page book) not knowing from 0 to at most 3 words per page. Overall, I presume that I wouldn't reach such level if I wasn't ready to suffer a bit.

[@RogerRamos1993]

The way I see it is: you will have to sacrifice the enjoyment of 4 or 5 books to achieve a large vocabulary. After that, reading becomes amazing. I found that out by sacrificing my enjoyment of Les misérables by reading it in French. It has over 2000 pages. But I became a fluent French reader after that. I still find many unknown words, but reading in French is not tiring anymore. For that reason, I choose a book about the effects of television on the brain to read in Romanian. It's a book I'm just slightly interested in reading (almost 600 pages, on page 80 now), but by the end of it I'm positive I'll be able to read a detective novel at least without much suffering.

[@leaanc]

My method is to read materials only a little more difficult than my competences. Now is Japanese..

[@lizberezin2919]

After reading books in Italian when I have almost no Italian, it was difficult going back to reading books in the languages I already know. They challenge wasn't there, it was just to easy. 😂

[@MrShikaga]

I want to provide a cautionary tale though. I spent a lot of time doing comprehensive reading early on during my journey to fluency in Spanish, and by the time I had finished the Harry Potter and Carlos Zuis Rafon series as both books and audiobooks, and spent a lot of time doing language exchanges, I thought I was pretty fluent. Imagine my shock when I moved to Madrid and couldn’t understand a single sentence anyone said to me, it was like they were speaking another language. If you spend most of your time reading and listening to the crystal clear enunciated reading of a professional voice actor, you will not be prepared for the rapidity and accent of native conversation. I wish I had spent way more time early on watching movies and series where people speak rapidly and mumble and run their words together which I have since done. By all means, read a lot in a language in which you are already fluent (able to speak with natives) to improve your vocabulary, but it be aware that it won’t prepare you for speaking with natives which is what I consider to be the true goal of language learning.

[@mypov9790]

I couldn't agree more

[@musashidanmcgrath]

I came to live in Spain in a town in Murcia where nobody speaks English. I had very basic Spanish when I arrived and was just doing self-study before seeking out a language school. There are none in my town teaching Spanish as everyone already knows it. 😂 The funny part is that when I did eventually start learning officially in a school, the teacher noted that I had very good pronunciation and a natural way of speaking 'la lengua de las calles', even though I was only about about basic B1. I had picked up the 'Murcianico' dialect (which is notoriously difficult) from hearing it all the time and speaking with neighbours. Other students in the school live in towns where a lot of 'guiris' live so the only Spanish they are learning is through classrooms, so it's all very robotic and unnatural 'guiri Spanish'. I have since left the classes and switched to private lessons so that I'm always interacting with natives and not other 'guiris' speaking that robotic Spanish. I'm at the difficult stage now of trying to read 'like a native', to develop that very distinctive rhythm that Spanish has. It's not just the pronunciation, but the rhythm. The rhythm is the key to sounding more natural. Once you begin to really study the rhythm you open up another level of connection with the language. Of course you have to already be at a good reading level and with good pronunciation before you worry about that. I did start reading early on and I think it has helped me tremendously, but even more important for me from the beginning is that I ALWAYS have the local Murcian radio station playing in the house and it's talk radio, so no music. The radio is great because you have a wide variety of speakers and dialects and accents and variations in speed and clarity. The point you make is great because I see so many people posting online that they are 'fluent in Spanish after X hours of watching Dreaming Spanish'...... wow, are they in for a shock if they ever come to a part of Spain with ZERO English speakers and get hit with 'la lengua de las calles'. 😀

[@PainReaverX2]

Being someone who had to do book reports starting in grade 4 I 100% agree with that. I loved reading until I had to do book reports. I only rediscovered my love of reading over the past several years or so.

[@MundBloxsd]

Olá steve comecei a usar a sua plataforma lingq para aprender idiomas e estou amando, é incrível o poder dessa plataforma, estou exportando vários vídeos de ciencia e historia em ingles, e em 4 semanas de plataforma já estou lendo e entendo varias frases no idioma muito obrigado!

[@theofeitosa7841]

As a Brazilian folllower of yours, I feel very glad with the reference made to the great Rubem Alves. Extensive reading is a really interesting tool I discovered today. I'll try to implement with some of your tips. Thank you very much.

[@silvia_pimentel5890]

Pois então, que maravilha né?

[@RafaelTorquato]

Really nice tips Steve, yesterday I said to my English teacher that when I read more it really facilitates my speech skills. I was too focused on speech, and I felt that I had achieved a plato. I will restart my extensive reading today!!

[@aSnailCyclopsNamedSteve]

Beautiful. That is exactly how I learned Lithuanian and how I teach languages. I taught for one year at a school and started with that precise project, i.e., reading, and the result - after a few weeks the children complained to the parents so much that the parents went in force to the director (principal) and insisted that I stop. The director did not talk this over with me; he just ordered me to stop, period. I suspect this is the biggest obstacle to reading in schools, i.e., teachers know the resistance of students. The second obstacle is that progress cannot be measured easily. With standard testing over right/wrong questions like what is the accusative singular of x, slacking is immediately obvious. Reading can hide a lack of effort and learning a language takes a lot of effort. Thus, a student seems to be doing well until suddenly he or she is not. As to level, that is a different question. I start with real language written by one person (fiction authors individually often use limited vocabulary.). It has a steep learning curve, but it gives me the real vocabulary and grammar used by real people. (Grammar I do not memorise, just review as needed.) For example, words with no easy translation are usually avoided from all instructional material. In the US, one talks about isobars and high/low pressure, in Lithuania, about cyclones and anticyclones. But instructional texts talk about clouds and rain, which is not much help understanding a real weather forecast. The really steep learning curve lasts only a brief period, a month or two, and then reading becomes pleasurable with your 20-30 percent unknown level. Thanks for the link. It should be a great help in convincing skeptics as it is properly referenced, not just an opinion piece.

[@Jopan471]

I went to link but my bank told me it’s fraud. I think a criminal has hijacked the video. Be careful

[@vilmorneto]

Mr. Steve, thanks for the tip. I am a Brazilian English student trying to improve my conversational skills and I signed up for Cambly to chat with native tutors. Some tutors told me that reading is better than just watching TV shows, KZbin videos or even listening to podcasts. I will try to spend more time reading than listening to improve my vocabulary and improve my English.

[@paulwalther5237]

Nice video to watch before I sit down to read something in Korean on LingQ. It really helps not just being able to look up words I don't know but the highlighted words alert me to lookup certain words right away making it a smoother process.

[@Over50andMe]

True. I am learning a new language too in my 50s. Italian 🇮🇹. I find the more I read about INSTRUCTIONS the more I get discouraged. However when I do it freely I enjoy my own learning strategies and experiences. I’m doing this for personal development not professional or academic purposes.

[@addiohk5644]

多謝分享，很有用！ Hello from Hong Kong! 😊😊

[@kenmammel7748]

Very good tip. I'm gonna start reading the vocabulary list before and after the reading. Thank you.

[@skeryss]

This last quote got me hanging for a bit to also think of what that supposed to mean. In class context I got to agree. Some of these questions aren't as valuable to the language learning and more to 'paying attention to details' however I always tend to create these little stories about the books or topics I've read in order to be able to tell it to someone. On other hand, I have a friend who was a firm book reader, but after a question of what was the book about, he could barely say a thing. I guess moral of the story is (imo) that reading shouldn't just be about 'enjoying yourself', you should get something from it too. (still can be enjoyable)

[@DonaldPotter_ReadingZone]

I was an elementary billingual teacher in a Texas' school system for 15 years. We used the 1987 Riverside Basal Reading Program to teach spoken and written English. The readers were perfect because the new vocabulary was taught BEFORE each lesson. The word frequency was also controlled to assure adequate exposure to each word in varying context. Every story was available on cassettes for the kids to hear. It worked like a charm.

[@Garow-ur7gz]

Reading is powerful way to learn whatever guys , unfortunately people don't know

[@Sawaedo]

Your comment looks useful, but I won't read it, sorry :v

[@gabrielito4289]

Most underrated comment

[@catcat4653]

fact

[@yulianaguillermo1350]

Absolutely 👍🏻 Reading is the best way for learning English ❤

[@CavensleyGuibert-u6m]

Yes my friend b

[@RogerRamos1993]

I do the following: I read my books with the ReadEra app. I can use the Google translate app to find out the meaning of a word or a sentence. All without leaving the book. I can also click on a word and do a web search or a dictionary search. Both take me to Google. Then, back to the book. My main current target language is Romanian. If I were reading on paper, my progress would be ridiculously smaller.

[@Jopan471]

Yes I found same. It’s great

[@jacobpast5437]

I use the _@Voice Aloud Reader_ for the same purpose - reading and listening at the same time.

[@RogerRamos1993]

@@jacobpast5437 ReadEra has that feature, too, but I only use it sporadically. I try to read aloud as much as I can.

[@JoacoPiña-k6s]

I'm begin in the English language , but i difficult listening.. I going to listen your idea fot the correct way to learning... I'm going to start My reading... Thank's for your Good idea...

[@GoranTether]

I once read a book in Portuguese, and about halfway through, I realized I did not know any Portuguese... I am kidding, of course. But the point is that if you come from an alphabetic system, you can learn to read any language in a short period of time by simply reading. For example, even after 5 years of learning Japanese, I still struggle to read every single kanji. As a result, reading benefits each language at various levels.

[@justinwr092]

I still haven't heard you say a single thing I disagree with. Thank you for imparting so much wisdom. I'm so glad I found this channel and LingQ. I'm on a 585-day streak in Spanish and about 16k known words, and I'm loving it every day. My plan is to get to 40k in one continuous streak.

[@33interzona]

El castellano es mi lengua materna y entiendo bastante bien el inglés y estoy estudiando alemán y ya tengo un "Sehr gut erfüllt" en las tres áreas del B1. Ahora estoy estudiando el B2 de alemán y vi su video con subtitulos en alemán ohne Problem. Opino igual: leer enriquece el conocimiento del idioma más allá de lo que se suele requerir en las escuelas de idioma - al menos aquí en Alemania en donde las escuelas están enfocadas en el Berufsprache. Vielen Dank für ihre Hilfe !

[@ldg1414]

It's a lot easier to find things to read on my level than stuff to listen to. Listening often involves very intimate knowledge of the way words flow together unless words are enunciated very clearly it can be frustrating trying to pull words apart.

[@Firestream96]

Ich habe 10 Percy Jackson Bücher auf Deutsch gelesen und es hat mir wirklich geholfen (und jetzt bin ich auch eine Fan der Bücher)

[@Firestream96]

Ich muss allerdings hinzugefügen, dass die Sprachlern Funktionen des Kindle mir enorm geholfen haben

[@jackbombay1423]

I'm a video guy, and I deliberately chose that way not because I don't like reading (like the vast majority of students, I'm a high school teacher so I know that for a fact). It's that my main goal was to understand what people say in their native tongue. So, reading can be not optimal for that matter. Even though I fully agree reading is the best way to improve your vocabulary and your speech, in terms of use of the language. Audiobook maybe the solution for me, because now I feel I'm trapped in the 'intermediate stage'.

[@BlackCodeMath]

Watching video and listening to an audiobook are more passive ways to learn a language, but conversation and/or reading in a new language forces the brain to work harder. As with any other workout, more intense work over time leads to higher levels of strength/fitness of whatever muscle or system is being worked, in this case it's the language brain. Many of us lack the conversation partners to do the conversation piece, which is why we are relying on video, audio, and reading in the first place. That leaves reading in your target language as the fastest way to get through that intermediate stage. At least that's the logic I'm hearing, because I'm still in the Intermediate Stage too 🤣🤣🤣. I'm reading like crazy though while still listening and I'm feeling the gains.

[@BlackCodeMath]

Don't mean to spam but let me also add that reading really helps you practice processing the sentence structure of the spoken target language and adds words to your vocab bag that you need while listening.

[@jackbombay1423]

@@BlackCodeMath I don't think I need any partner to learn a language. The amount of time that I've spoken English in the last 20 years must be like full 20 minutes, including the test that I took to receive a fluency diploma. So, in my mind, you don't need a partner to be able to speak the language, even though It looks obvious that had I practiced the speaking I would be much better by now. But, to me you can go around that if you are able to read and write the language. I have the feeling that everytime you read or write, your brain is 'mimmicking' the conversation in your head and that's enough practice to become fluent.

[@jackbombay1423]

@@BlackCodeMath Yeah, I fully agree reading is the best way to elaborate a good speech, even in your own mother tongue. I have no doubt in that. My only downside is that my main goal is to understand the spoken language that's why I invest all my time watching videos.

[@BlackCodeMath]

@@jackbombay1423Oh I'm not saying you must have a partner to become fluent, I'm saying conversation and/or reading in the target language is going to move you much faster through the intermediate stage you discussed and into fluency. This is demonstrated in everyday life- nothing beats immersion (for kids or adults) for learning a new language, where listening and speaking to conversation partners goes hand in hand. But, it has been demonstrated that mute individuals can have full understanding of spoken language. And really? As a non-native speaker only 20 minutes total speaking English in 20 years (including the test) and you're fluent? I honestly must confess I am a bit skeptical, can you elaborate on that test?

[@batoolbaba-ln2nn]

ممنون از نکات آموزنده‌ای که همیشه یادمون می‌دی❤

[@luciavfrobinson]

I had a class with Ruben Alves during my graduation in Brasil. Really enjoyable…

[@henrykg]

Didn't knew that this method has own name. My hobby is bookbinding and a few weeks ago I decided to make a few books in Spanish and German with simple novels just for "getting used to those languages". I've made them in A6 format to have a pocket version I can take with me everywhere.

[@AfghanGril-c3r]

I have been studying English by myself and I don't have any coach or teacher because in my country girls can't continue thier education unfortunately when started learning I didn't know even one word in English and and I have studied one book English and it help so much I don't know which level iam in English but I can understand you and others as well but I can't very well

[@SJ-le7ok]

As a beginer I write and read song' s lyrics. At this point it is easier than other material and of course I sing. It s good for prononciation. 🎼 and of course it a powerful way to remenber new words.

[@EnglishReadyLife]

This is wonderful, so thankful to get the fruit of your research.

[@mazenHaddad-ck5qd]

When I listen to you , you let us enjoy the learning processthe 😍 makes it more enjoyable , easier , and more effort like a journey that never ends🎉.. love you ❤

[@David-os9ej]

I’m learning Spanish and subscribed to the LA Times. They have good reporting in Spanish in their En Espanol section. I read on my iPhone so that I can highlight unknown vocabulary look it up without breaking the flow too much, listen to the pronunciation, and save the words and phrases to my google translate vocabulary list. I generally try to read the article twice to etch the vocabulary into my neural pathways. I am also trying to include reading out loud to similarly work on my pronunciation and improve the flow of my speech. So far this seems to be a good adjunct to my pimsleur work.

[@ClaudiaEhrhardt]

I'm learning Russian and subscribed to BBC Russian (App). Another app I like to use is BeelinguApp, they haven't dozens of languages, but you can choose your level and interests. Not everything is for free, but the basic version is very good. You get a bilingual text and also audio for it.

[@carlosmalcon4137]

Learning speeds up.... Greetings from Honduras.

[@wakajawaka44]

Reading is a very time consuming business and anti social, even in retirement! We are told by the experts that reading is necessary for a healthy brain so I must keep reading! And walking!

[@sherezadeetchebarne7043]

I have read 18 novels in english (my native language is spanish). It was very difficult at first but now it's amazing how my comprehension and vocabulary have improved. Now I'm reading Dune, it's kinda difficult but I can handle it and I'm very proud of myself. Most of the time I look for the meaning of words I don't know and I high light them and jot down their meaning. After finishing the book, I go back to see the new words and I remember their meaning because of the context or the sentences where they are. Also I have found new words from any other book I have read and I can remember in which part of which book I saw that word. It's just amazing.

[@yb2349]

I have a question. Did reading help you writeing because I don't know how to write in English, and I don't have much vocabulary in the institute where I study English. We learn how to write eassy and I can't write anything. Sorry, if there are mistakes in writing, I use a translation book.

[@rheinknie]

Recommend using Google books with the online translator. Lots of material available, even in less popular languages--I am currently reading a book in Catalan with minimal prior study (although knowledge of other Romance languages). My strategy is to start exclusively with Google books and then move over to the traditional book versions with time. Done this with many languages, including German, Italian, Russian, Czech, Norwegian, Ukrainian. More planned!

[@naturalobserver]

Great idea!

[@fabiofaria4243]

Great video! Thank you for posting it!

[@Samanbeachhikkaduwa]

Great... Always respect Reading and research, As well as music language model. That Always bringing Brightness feature. 🙋‍♂️🤳🎵

[@siamakalaei1148]

Thanks for your tips. Best wishes 😍😍😍

[@lewjames6688]

How sad that in an age where literacy is approaching 100% worldwide, more and more people choose film instead. Read, folks. Read!

[@omarvillegas6973]

Excelente y muy de acuerdo.

[@StasShyshko-n6x]

Speed of reading it's interesting Book 800 pages I did in 2 days

[@sonderexpeditions]

I agree and use apps to read short articles.

[@erturtemirbaev5207]

Вы правы: чтение помогает в изучении языков

[@BarefootShaman]

Thank you, Steve Kaufmann! 🤩

[@ppingtom251]

Truly, your points are certainly right if anyone wants to expand their ability in reading. Unfortunately, in my place, things cannot go on that way. Time is always not enough for students to tackle many academic subjects, except for English reading.

[@viniciusgoncalves6213]

In fact the reading is a powerful alternative for to increase the vocabulary in a new language.

[@BRStormysea]

I like reading about subjects that I already know. I read some wikipedia articles in the target language because they are kind of similar having the same structure and there are many languages avalailable including Latin.

[@StasShyshko-n6x]

Victor Hugo of this Time ❤

[@GamingWorld-t6g]

Please add subtitles to the videos at the bottom of the videos

[@pasangtsering876]

Very very very true. I say reading is magic.

[@rayray2615]

In learning a new language there is no such thing as " ONE SIZE FITS ALL" . Everyone learn new language or for that matter other subjects in their own and unique way. In my opinion, while learning a new language you have to utilize all of your senses. Put on your head phones and LISTEN a lot, WRITE a lot and READ a lot. Or any other way that may help you. And if you can travel to the country of your TARGET LANGUAGE, take classes there and immerse yourself in the language you are learning you can make an amazing progress in a very short time.

[@jessegonmei5565]

Amazing! so beneficial

[@hadlaigamez]

I am reading Little Women, I love this book. I read it in Spanish

[@Ivy_1057]

Thank you!

[@dennystextilemachinetv6511]

Thank you Steve.🎉

[@stephencindrich135]

The auditory component is critical in my experience.

[@barryhoffman9956]

I love to turn on the subtitles and watch these videos in the target language I'm trying to learn. However, lately the subtitles don't seem to line up with the audio. Please fix!

[@shutterchick79]

My Spanish comprehension has definitely improved by reading the Harry Potter books and listening to them at the same time....

[@orlandosalazar9295]

Teachers do mainly intensive reading due to time constraints and textbook design. There is barely time for Extensive Reading within a school year curriculum.

[@mustaphameharich9175]

My experience I dealt with larger number of unknown words when I started. It is kind of top to bottom strategy. Started with novels difficulty even now I read classics like the Brothers Karamazov, Robert browning my last duchess…

[@timdenny1991]

Readers are leaders❤

[@thiagoelav633]

9:35 yeah, as a Brazilian, about what Rubem Alves said, I dont really know all the uses of the word "vagabond" in english, the dicitonary says its somewhat like a "homeless person who wanders", maybe the word "vagabundo" in portuguese can have the same meaning but the more common meaning would be a person who doesnt like to work and just do things he enjoys to do without carying for anything, usually in a bad way, its somewhat commom for mothers use the expression "Vai arrumar um emprego, seu vagabundo"/"Go get a job, you vagabond" or "Para de ficar vagabundando e vai fazer alguma coisa de bom"/ "Stop being a vagabond(vagabonding*🤣) and go do something good". "Vagabundo" can also means a Unfaithfull person, but the intented meaning of Rubem Alves is what i said before, could be translated (i think) to "Slacker", so the joy of reading is a "slacker experience". please, some native answer me if "Slacker" its a better translation

[@ThalonRamacorn]

Im basically doing this with chinese now. I ask chatgpt to generate stories with repeating context (so main vocab remains the same) 5-6 times a day and it gives me a lot of good new words to learn. My only problem is with this language is the prononciation...

[@IlianaGeorgieva-k7s]

It is a Sweet spot🎉

[@sethcoast]

Huge proponent of reading for language acquisition. I literally learned Brazilian Portuguese from reading the harry potter series (but fuck JK Rowling). My spouse's family is Brazilian. I spent probably 2 years on duolingo, which was really helpful for giving me a base understanding of the language/vocabulary, but progress was really slow, and I couldn't speak in conversation. I began devoting all of my language study time to reading, and not only was it more enjoyable, but it completely unlocked the language for me. I read all 7 books, but reached "conversational fluency" sometime around the fourth or fifth book. I am currently at a B2 level (upper intermediate), and I can totally hang in conversation now.

[@benw3135]

Thank you very much for sharing. May I ask if there are any websites for finding books? After reading Sydney Sheldon and Carl Sagan, are there any other captivating books you would recommend? Thank you!

[@Manchainsaw]

Hi Steve! I think you left out the "compelling" aspect of it.. I feel this is sooo fundamental, in my experience I can be reading something with 30% unknown words yet I can't put the book down and I just want to know what happens next (and it also feels like a mind hack to spend more time with the language)

[@tohaason]

That's exactly it.. if you can get the story to hook into your brain then you don't care about words you don't understand, you get enough of the story to keep wanting to read. In that particular mood the brain is in its optimal setting for acquiring language, unlike when consciously trying to study or learn.

[@jacobpast5437]

Listening to podcasts in a language you learn shows you if you are really interested in the topic. If you get hooked, as you say (which is the exact way to describe it), your language comprehension suddenly goes through the roof. It is as if the brain puts on its superman outfit. The "getting hooked" depends on the topic, the speaking skills of the speaker, the character of the speaker (if you like him or her), and his or her personal engagement with the topic. (On the last criterion: There is a set of French podcasts by the same podcaster on various topics, well presented, but they are not quite as easy to "get hooked on" for me, since the personal engagement part seems to be missing somehow or is at least not presented in the podcasts.)

[@0_Danilo]

I'm all for it, I've learned english at an exponential rate after being able to read a full book. But as someone trying to learn japanese, I have to say that learning characters is a whole other ball game, I'm struggling at katakana let alone kanji 😆

[@David-tk7yo]

Wouldn't you need to learn first pronunciation before you read? Whether its reading to yourself or reading aloud? What good would reading be without proper pronunciation?

[@quantus5875]

I'm curious at one point is reading considered "intensive reading", when you don't know 50% or more of the words? Big fan of Extensive reading and using it more than intensive reading, but I feel "intensive" reading has it's place. Split probably depends on the person but maybe 80% extensive and 20% intensive reading? On extensive reading I like trying to choose material where I don't know around 10% of the words. 30% to 40% unknown words to me is a middle ground between extensive and intensive reading. Just me -- but I also found intensive reading more useful when I was first starting -- and then extensive reading became more useful after I had a vocab of 1200-1500 words. Hard to estimate my vocab now -- but I think I have a vocab of around 5000 words in Portuguese -- and extended reading works extremely well now and is very enjoyable.

[@rose-kp4lf]

thanks for suggesting this channel

[@eldentanis1268]

maybe you should recommend some easyand intresting books

[@batnkr]

Kolay gelsin Steve.

[@8773999]

Hi Mr. kaufmann. A question. It is nesessary to read aloud or not? Bless yoo.

[@BlackCodeMath]

My unscientific 2 cents on this: the order of mastery for those unable to do second language immersion is Reading fluency --> Writing fluency --> Listening fluency --> Speaking FLUENTLY. An unscientific take, I'll admit that, and surely people can do/have done it differently. When reading one does have the requirement to learn the symbols, grammar, and syntax needed to comprehend. This isn't easy. But you don't have the additional pressure of in-the-moment formulating comprehensible and appropriate outputs. You're only processing inputs and you can "cheat" with translation tools and dictionaries. Lowest cognitive load for a mature learner and the lowest (social) pressure. While writing one DOES have to create output, but you DON'T have to process second language inputs. You will need to have practiced the rules for making and ordering symbols, while adding enough words to your usable vocabulary. Not saying it's easy but when writing you can take your time, revise in real time, do a draft then return and polish it, and only then share your output. Added pressure of not sounding foolish, but still a low-ish cognitive load. Listening to native foreign language speakers is significantly harder because real speech is constantly moving away from the small set of formal language rules you learn while mastering a language. Common slang, "eating words/syllables", regional accents, etc. become real barriers. However, this is somewhat offset by the fact that you don't have to make any outputs while listening. Cognitive load is still one sided, and here as with the above only an input OR an output is required. No pressure but a higher cognitive load. But when conversing you have the highest cognitive load AND the highest pressure. You have to understand formal and casual input while simultaneously creating timely, comprehensible, appropriate outputs. And often you must do it in that everyday language that you often haven't had a chance to practice. Many long-time learners after years of practice can read, write, properly pronounce words, and construct strings of sentences in the target language but can not hold a true conversation with a native speaker. The combination of processing non-formal audio and producing it is the last thing to be mastered. This logic makes sense to me and it's what I'm experiencing on my language journey but maybe you folks will correct me. BTW the above order would be a terrible (if not impossible) way to learn a first language. I think that best order is what you get with native immersion: Listening --> Speaking --> Writing --> Reading FLUENTLY. My anecdotal evidence for this is working with younger native language (American English speaking) students that can hold great conversations and write their thoughts down clearly but cannot truly comprehend what they read at an appropriate level. They often can nicely "read" aloud through a passage and not understand what they read, as reading comprehension is the last part to arrive. Surely there is some research that would support that take.

[@marcosantoniodasilva4100]

Can you make a video talking about IPA? If you think it's necessary to learn English, for example.

[@Thelinguist]

I never use IPA

[@StasShyshko-n6x]

My Father ❤

[@Yore297]

I had no idea he could speak English so well 😮

[@vividua]

The only question is if while we are reading we are speaking with a bad pronunciation. But I agree.

[@Powerphail]

Listening to the audio book concurrently while reading addresses this! Steve always promotes this, and it's a big feature of Linq too!

[@OlenasEnglishWordsland]

Brilliant

[@Arabic_Flashcards]

أنا تائه في القراءة I'm so lost on the reading part!!

[@JosueAngelVazquez]

Hi Steve, thanks so much for share your knowledge, what book do you recommended to read in English and for a beginner Japanese student, what book do you recommend to read in Japanese.

[@Thelinguist]

Whatever you are interested in.

[@fabouwes9240]

I would love to learn Indonesian but with 500 words of voc under my belt I find it hard to find books for beginners. Do you have any books to advise me ? 🙏

[@tohaason]

It's interesting (and disappointing) that some teachers are resistant to learners reading on their own. A friend of mine who teaches German and English in junior high, with excellent results (unlike when *I* was in school.. that was a 100% waste back then) encourages the students to find reading material, anything they enjoy reading, and doing lots of that. It's a central part of my friend's method. I personally couldn't agree more, as that's how I learned English: Constantly reading. As for "how many unknown words should there be per page", I never tried to check that when I was reading English. 4? 40? Don't know. I was most definitely an adult (in my thirties when I started reading non-technical material, i.e. novels), and there was definitely a lot of words I didn't understand. But I simply let that go by, no stopping, no looking anything up, because if I managed to get a grasp of the story I would want to continue reading. Never mind if I didn't understand what one person was giving to another, or whatever it was they were eating (or what they were doing.. I didn't, for example, know that "grub" was referring to actual food). As long as I grasped something then my mind would "see" a story, and THAT is what's important. The mind must see something, and that should *not* be words on a page. Then just ingest, ingest, acquire, input, and the mind *will* figure it out, eventually, without conscious thought.

[@placebo_7505]

So how is your speech? How did you handle the speaking part?

[@tohaason]

@@placebo_7505 In my job most of my customers are from other countries, so whenever there was a meeting I would have to speak English. Pronunciation I got from TV and movies (fortunately there's no dubbing of movies etc in my country) and of course those I met through my job. When I was younger (before I started to read English outside of tech manuals) my English was considered not particularly good (by people I met who I knew well enough that they could be upfront about it. After going through massive input through reading (NB: Reading for enjoyment, not for learning English) and other input it all changed (and rather quickly). Of course, with the huge vocabulary I acquired that way I didn't necessarily get the pronunciation.. some words are pretty rarely used in actual speech. So to this day I still occasionally get a surprise when I hear how certain words are actually pronounced.. :-)

[@StasShyshko-n6x]

Doktor StiVe❤

[@endalkachewtesfaye2419]

Great!

[@daniloimparato]

How would that pan out for Chinese, which is largely non-phonetic? Extensive reading (without audio) feels way less useful when you can't be sure how words are pronounced, even if you're able to infer meaning from context. That is, there is no clear way to subvocalize nor recognize words from audio later.