How To Improve Your Reading Skills In A New Language

When you start reading in a new language you will every quickly find out that you are not that good at it. Reading in a new language is difficult, so it is only normal to ask how you can improve.

Luckily it is quite easy to get better, you just need to put a lot of practice in and over time you will see improvements.

There is no shortcut, it really just takes hard work but it is totally achievable for any one. You will see improvements if you put the effort in and also follow the suggestions I give below. They will make sure you are doing things in the most efficient way.

Read More

Of course the most obvious and simple way to improve your reading skills in your new language is to just do more of it. The more you practice anything in life the better you will become, so really you just need to read more.

You should try and read quite a lot and you should try and do it often. This can be quite a large commitment, but that is language learning. If you can just sit down every day and put some time in, you will see results.

(You can read more about – Is Reading The Best Way To Learn A Language?)

Read At The Right Level

One of the most important aspects of your reading practice should be your comprehension level. Basically this means you need to reading at the right level or you are wasting your time.  

If you are reading something and understand absolutely zero, it’s too hard for you. You can read this 100 times and it will not benefit you, you understand nothing and it is always going stay that way.

However the complete opposite situation is also a problem. If you read something and you can understand 100% of it, this isn’t ideal too. While it is not harmful and can be good practice, you are not going to improve.

Really you need to be reading material that is just above your level. It’s okay to not fully understand everything. This grey area is where you grow. The idea is that you can understand most of what is going on and can then work out the rest from the context.

You may find that when you are starting out you may only understand 10% and it will be a real struggle, but as you progress you might end up the other way round and realise that there is only about 10% that you don’t understand.

Where exactly you lie on that scale of comprehension is going to depend on what you are reading along with your skill, so it’s hard to give an exact figure of what you should understand, but so long as you can get a grasp of what you are reading you are in the right area.

(You can read more about – How To Practice Your Reading Skills In A New Language)

Don’t Be Constantly Looking Up Words

It can be tempting to constantly look up words. It makes sense, the more you look up the more you will be able to comprehend.

I am not saying that you should never do this; every now and again it can be pretty important to look up a word. Looking up a word could unlock the meaning of a whole paragraph for you, so do it if you feel you need to. It could also be a word that appears like 10 times on the page, which would suggest it is kind of important and it would be worth looking up.

I am just saying; don’t be doing it for every other word. If you are feeling like you have to do this a lot then the text you are reading is too difficult for you now. You need to find something a little easier where you can struggle through and still get a basic idea of what you are reading.

Try and Think In The Language

If you really want to improve and reach the next level then you need to start thinking in your language. This can be difficult to do, but if you work your way up slowly you can get there.

Thinking in your language basically means that you stop translating back and forth. You just see the words in the new language and know what they mean.

Getting rid of the translating is going to make you improve so much, you can just read as intended, rather than having to think about it.

It will take time and it will be gradual, maybe a couple of words at time, but you can reach this level and it really does make a huge difference.    

(You can read more about – How to Stop Translating In Your Head)

Stay Focused On What You Are Reading

I am sure you have read a page before and realised when you got to the bottom that you have no idea what you just read. We are all guilty of this, especially back in school.

This basically means you are not focusing and you brain is elsewhere, even if your eyes are still scrolling past the words.

This can happen extremely easily in a new language. You might only get half way through a sentence before you realise you didn’t even register what you read. 

You really need to watch out for this and you really need to make sure it doesn’t happen. You are just wasting your time reading this like, you will get nowhere.

Take your time and stay focused.

Re-read Things

A simple way to make sure you improve is to re-read everything, multiple times. This may seem stupid, but it’s actually very sensible.

When you are learning something you need to be exposed to it multiple times for it to start to stick and for your brain to get comfortable with it.

This means you need to read the same word a number of times. You can do this by reading a lot and hoping the word shows up along the way …or you can re-read the same stuff over and over again, guaranteeing that the word will show up, as you know it’s there.

While it may be boring at times to re-read things, at least it is efficient and you are going to get the exposure you need.

Read Aloud

Reading aloud is usually something that is associated with helping your speaking, but it can also help improve your reading ability. 

Reading out loud is just a difference experience, you are still reading, but it feels different. I think the fact that you have to multitask and speak at the same time makes it feel strange.

However, this is not a bad thing. You will find that it is awkward at first and slowly you will get faster. You will also find that when you stop speaking out loud and just go back to reading normally, this will seem much easier.

I’m not actually sure if you improve your reading skills, or if it is just perceived to be, but even if it is just that, feeling like you are doing better is often helpful enough. The little boost of confidence you get form feeling faster is never a bad thing.

Read Things You Are Interested In

Reading things you are interested in is not really going to improve your reading directly, but it will keep you more engaged and make you want to read more often, which will of course improve your reading ability.

There are so many things that you can read that you should always be able to find something you enjoy or find interesting.

I know this can be difficult at first as you probably can’t understand everything, but as soon as you can you need to start looking for things you are interested in. You will make the effort to try and comprehend it if something you actually want to read.

(You can read more about – Reading Resources For Language Learning)

Make Friends With People Who Speak The Language

You need to make friends with natives and you can easily do this through language exchanges.

 When you actually have someone to communicate with it can make all the difference. They can send you messages and you will want to actually read them and engage with them.

You are also going to get to improvement in the other areas of your language, but you will be reading a lot too.

It really doesn’t feel like you are learning when you are doing this, probably because you are just using the language, rather than studying it.

(You can read more about – Language Exchange Partners)

Read Physical Books

It’s easy to do just sit and stare at the screen, which is not always the most enjoyable way of reading. If you can get hold of some physical books it can really make a difference.

There is something very pleasant about holding a book and it just feels better on your eyes. You are just going to enjoy the whole experience a whole lot more and this can help you improve.

There is nothing different in what you would be reading compared to reading a screen, but just the use of a book can keep you engaged longer than a screen, this little change can make a big difference.

(You can read more about – What Are The Benefits Of Reading In A Second Language?)

Remember To Focus On Other Areas Of The Language Too

While it is important to try and improve your reading you should not neglect the other areas of language learning.

You should still try and push yourself in listening, speaking and writing. All of these areas are all interlinked, so focusing on them all, helps the others out. Your overall language ability will go up a lot faster if you do it this way, rather than only trying to improve one area.

(You can read more about – How Can Reading In A Second Language Improve Your Overall Language Skills?)

Conclusion

As you can see there are plenty of different things you can do to improve your reading skills, but really it all comes down to doing more practice.

As long as you can roughly comprehend what you are reading and you do a lot of it, you will see results. It takes time and effort, but it will happen. It might be difficult for you now, but if you put the effort in, things will get easier. 

(You can read more about – Why Is Reading In A New Language So Difficult?)