Reading is one of the major components of learning a language but all the unfamiliar words, accents, and symbols can make it seem like a challenging task especially when you first get started. In this post, I'll cover 3 tips and a list of Spanish books to check out to help out with the process!
Advice #1: Don't focus on the individual words, try to get the big picture first
100% there will always be words that you don't know but don't let that interfere with your reading flow! I like to think of it as having a "birds-eye view" of the passage, where I partially skim through the paragraph to pick up on the overall idea by piecing together the words that I do know and what makes sense in the context of the story. Essentially, try not to translate every individual word in English, but rather read through the whole sentence and formulate a coherent meaning of the text as a whole.
By doing so, you won't get stuck and frustrated on what could be a small detail and can later on go back and reread the section that you were confused on. Reading a summary of the story beforehand can also help guide you.
Advice #3: Start small and move your way up
You should aim to read books or articles near your language proficiency level. For example, if you're a beginner, try reading comics or children picture books and then as you find yourself being able to identify most of the words, progress towards young adult and then adult novels if interested (it's like choosing books from your youth all over again!)
Advice #4: How to make the most out of your reading
To make the most out of reading, try writing down sentences as well that you find interesting or have phrases or grammatical structure that seem unfamiliar to you. Not only does this practice help with familiarizing yourself to grammar that will help you be successful with writing in the future, but you can then look over it again, slowly read it, and study the way certain words and grammatical rules are used in context. So next time you come across a confusing tense like the subjunctive, you have an example in the back of your mind to use!
With the words you don't know, however, use it as a learning opportunity by underlining the words and jotting them down in a journal to later search up the translation and memorize.
Advice #5: Try finding an English copy to help guide you through the text
Warning: Don't fall into the temptation to just read in English! This strategy is more effective once you formed your own idea of the text first and then consult the English version to check with your understanding. You can also use the English copy to figure out what certain phrases or words mean if you don't want to search up in a dictionary or translator.
Advice #6: Optional challenge: Either write a short summary of what you read or say it out loud
This is so that you can exercise your writing and speaking skills while checking in on your reading comprehension and practicing incorperating certain words and phrases you remember from reading the book. You can even join a Spanish book club if there is one out there! If you use Duolingo, check out the ¨stories¨ section to find short stories with exercises to practice both listening and reading comprehension. A new update that I absolutely love is the optional section at the end that allows you to type up a summary of what you had just read.
Resources and book recommendations
Libby App- Libby allows you to access books digitally through your library card and you can filter the language to ¨spanish¨ to find all the spanish books available
You can also read online articles from news sites like BBC mundo or a topic of your interest simply by searching it in Spanish on Google like ¨crisis en Ucrania¨.
Euronews: https://es.euronews.com/
Hoy: https://www.hoy.es/
Online children books (for beginners)
The Fable Cottage: https://www.thefablecottage.com/spanish
Unite for Literacy: https://www.uniteforliteracy.com/unitemx/nuevosyfavoritos/book?BookId=1970
4. Duolingo stories
Specific books I recommend by Spanish authors
Perfectamente Tu by Mariana Atencio
Frida, el misterio del anillo del pavo real y yo by Angela Cervantes
Tu rostro mañana by Javier Marías (for advanced learners)
Dime quien soy by Julia Navaro
If none of those titles are of interest to you, remember that you can always pretty much search up or find at your library a novel by an English author that has been translated into Spanish! I also follow a Youtube channel with Raquel Bookish who recommends great Spanish novels to read so I would definitely subscribe to her if you need more recommendations!
Thanks for making it to the end and make sure to leave a like and comment!
~Claire
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