How to learn a language by reading: a practical guide
Reading is one of the most reliable ways to grow vocabulary in a new language. What to read, how often to look words up, how to review, and how to keep going.
The short answer: read something a little above your level every day, in a language you are learning, about things you actually care about. Look up only the words that block understanding, choose the meaning that fits the sentence, and review those words later in their sentences. Do it for months, not days. Reading will not teach you to speak, but it will give you the vocabulary you need for everything else.
Why reading works
Most of the words a fluent speaker knows are not common enough to learn from a course. You meet them by reading, again and again, in different sentences. Studies on text coverage show that comfortable reading needs about 98 percent of the words on the page to be known (Hu and Nation, 2000), and that reaching that in English takes thousands of word families (Nation, 2006). There is no shortcut through that many words except a lot of input, and reading is the fastest input there is: you set the pace, and you can stop and look.
What to read
- Something you want to read. Interest carries you through the hard pages. News on topics you follow, a novel in a genre you like, articles from your field.
- At the right difficulty. If you need to look up more than one word in every line or two, it is too hard for now. If you never look anything up, it is too easy to teach you much.
- Short before long. Articles first, then short stories, then books. Finishing things keeps you going.
How to handle unknown words
- Read the whole sentence before stopping.
- Guess from context. Often you will be right, or right enough.
- Look up the word if the sentence still does not make sense, or if you have seen it several times.
- Make sure you take the meaning that fits this sentence, not the first one a dictionary gives.
- Save it with its sentence.
Each step should be quick. If a lookup takes thirty seconds, you will avoid looking things up, or stop reading.
How to review
Words looked up once are mostly forgotten. Spaced repetition, reviewing a word just before you would forget it at longer and longer gaps, is a well-tested way to keep them. Review words in the sentence where you met them: the sentence reminds you how the word is used.
A weekly rhythm
- Daily: one article or a few pages. Fifteen to thirty minutes.
- Daily: a few minutes of review.
- Weekly: one longer piece, or a chapter.
- Monthly: try something a step harder.
How ContextCat helps
ContextCat is an iPhone app for exactly this routine. Today brings real news in your reading language every day; the Store has books; you can import your own PDFs, links and text. Tap any word and a note under the sentence explains what it means there, in your language. Every word you tap becomes a review card with its sentence. Listen reads texts aloud, so you can also hear them.
Questions
Can you learn a language just by reading?
- Reading builds vocabulary, grammar sense and speed very well, but on its own it does not train speaking or listening to fast speech. Combine it with listening and some speaking practice.
Should I look up every word I don't know?
- No. Look up the words that stop you understanding the sentence, and the ones that keep coming back. Guess the rest from context and keep going.
How long should I read each day?
- Consistency matters more than length. Fifteen to thirty minutes a day at the right level beats a long session once a week.