Is Reading The Best Way To Learn A Language?

There are a number of different ways to learn a language and one of those is through doing a lot of reading, which could be argued as the best way to learn.   

While I would suggest that you should use a number of different approaches to learn, if you just wanted to just use reading, you would be able to make significant progress.

Reading is extremely important and it has a lot of benefits. I will go through some of the reasons why it could be considered the best method for learning so you can make your own mind up, but whatever you think, you need to be reading, it will help you learn your target language.

Reading Is Input

The real reason why reading is one of the best methods for language learning is because it is a form of input.

When you are first starting out you don’t know any of the language and the only way you can start to know things is if you in-put them. You literally need to get the language inside of you so that you can start making sense of it and more importantly you can begin to build your database of knowledge so that you can use the language yourself.

Reading is one of the best ways to get this input. The more you read and immerse yourself with the language, the more of it you will be exposed to it and can potentially learn.

Every word that has ever existed will have been written down and is right there for you to read and learn from.

(You can read more about – The Input vs Output Language Learning Methods)

Reading Shows You The Language

Reading is wonderful as it will show you the language. The more you read, the more you will be exposed to which is why it really is one of the best ways you can learn.

(You can read more about – Can You Avoid Reading When Learning A New Language?)

Reading Shows You New Words

You are going to comes across a whole lot of new words while reading and it really is one of the best ways to expand your vocabulary. 

You will even find this is true in your own language, even though you already know so many words, so you can just imagine how powerful this is in a different language.  

You Will See The Most Common Words

Reading will also show you the most common words. They are just going to keep appearing and you will very quickly start to notice them. I’m sure if you went through this very article you are reading now you will see some words repeated a crazy amount of times.

These words are usually the words that glue everything together, so they are actually important and make you sounds like you know how to actually use the language. 

They are just so easy to spot when written as they are right there in front of you to see.

Reading Shows You Grammar

Grammar is also going to be present in every sentence you read, making it one of the best ways to learn it.

You are going to be exposed to so much grammar that you will slowly start to really understand how it works. Of course if you study the theory of how it works it will speed things up, but whenever you learn a new grammar point you are going to see it immediately in action through your reading.

Being able to see the grammar actually working in real sentences is just going to solidify your understanding and help you remember it.

Reading Shows You Everything Is In Context

I think that one of the best things about reading is that it pulls everything above together to give it context.

You can easily just learn grammar rules or lists of words and this can be helpful, but when you are reading, everything is sort of in its natural environment.  You are going to see how the common words glue the other vocabulary together and how grammar makes everything make sense.  

Having this context just makes everything so much easier to understand and learn. It is the language in action, not just some theory. 

Often we have to see the language in this way to make sense of it, which is what reading is perfect for.  

Reading Shows You Culture

Reading is also a gateway into culture. Everything you read is potentially some form of culture. Of course you can also experience culture though other means, but there is also so much that is exclusively found in writing.

If you want to really get into a language and its culture, reading is going to be one of the best ways to do this.

It’s also a lot of fun and interesting, which alone makes it a worthwhile thing to do.  

You Can Take Your Time When Reading

Reading is an activity you can do at your own pace, which makes it one of the best ways to learn. Language learning is stressful and your brain will often need to go a bit slower to work out what is going on and reading allows for this.

You can just take your time and read at the pace you want, you can even take a step back and go over sentences again or pause on words. You really are in control of things.

This is the total opposite of listening where you are very much not in control and are at the mercy of the speaker. If they are going too fast you will need to keep up or you will be left behind. This of course has its benefits, but it is much more stressful.

Reading just allows you to go at your own pace and just being able to do this really is a blessing; it really does make a difference.

You Are Seeing The Language When Reading

Saying you can see the language may sound kind of strange, but it is what you are doing.

Reading allows you to see the words in front of you and for some people having this physical visualisation of the language can really help make sense of thing and also help them retain it in their memory.

I do think this is very powerful, especially if you pair it with audio. This way you can see it and hear it at the same time.

Reading certainly plays its role in this and even just reading out loud to yourself can give you this effect too.

(You can read more about – Should You Focus On Reading In A New Language)

Reading Is Easy To Do

Reading is also one of the best ways to learn a language as it is just easy to do.  It can of course be difficult as a beginner, but really it is something you can do right from the start.

It is much easier than listening as you can take time your time and go over things as many times as you want. It is also something that doesn’t take a lot of time. You can just look at few lines and that is still good for you, you don’t need to sit and read for 3 hours straight (although if you did do that you would see some insane progress)

It’s just easy to pop on social media and see a line or two and get a quick little bit of practice in.

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

It Is Easy To Find Reading Resources

It is also very easy to find things to read. Now that we all have the internet you can very quickly find endless things to read which really makes it one of the best ways to learn a language.

You do not need a lot of resources to find a lot. You should really be spoiled for choice and should be able to always find something you think is interesting or enjoy.

You have no excuse. It is easy to find material, you just have to take the time to sit and read it.

It is even easy to find physical books too, since ordering things online to get delivered to your house is extremely easy.

If someone tells you that they can’t find anything to read, they are clearly just avoiding reading. 

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

Reading Helps Other Area Of Language Learning

It’s also important to remember that when you practice your reading, you are also improving other areas of your language.

You are going to be seeing words and then when you next hear them, when listening, you will recognise them.

Seeing the words and the grammar will also help you with speaking and writing, as you are basically reading how the language should be and it is a blueprint for what you need to be doing when you want to produce it yourself.

You really will see an increase in the other areas of your language from just reading, it is quite fascinating how they are all interlinked and can benefit each other.

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

Still Focus On Other Areas Of The Language

Although reading will help your other areas of the language, you should still focus on the other areas too.

You will actually find they all help each other. So your writing, speaking and listening practice will all help with your reading ability and vice versa.

Basically focus on everything and you will see the most progress. It can be hard work, but it is totally achievable and worth the effort.

Language learning is a bit of a battle, but the more you put in, the more you will get out of it. 

Conclusion

As you can see there are plenty of reasons to suggest that reading may actually be the best way to learn a language. It really is beneficial for you and something you need to be doing. If you avoid it, you are only denying yourself progress.

It can really be worth while putting some focus on reading, but of course don’t neglect the other areas. You will see results, its slow, but you will get there. Just keep pushing yourself.

(You can read more about – Common Mistakes When Reading In A New Language