Why Is Reading In A New Language So Difficult?

When you start learning a new language you will probably find that reading is actually quite difficult, which may come as surprise as it is something we all find pretty easy in our native language.

While it may be a very similar skill, reading in a new language is different enough to cause you problems.

I will go through some of the main reasons why you might find it so difficult. However, you need to know that if you keep practicing it will get easier. With time and effort you will be able to read just as well in a second language as your native one.

(You can read more about – What Is The Hardest Part Of Learning A Language?)

You Are Reading Above Your Level

The biggest issue you will face is simple just not understanding what you are reading. This is to be expected when you are learning, although you may not be helping yourself.

You need to make sure you are reading at the right level, which can be hard to gauge at times. Basically you should be able to at least understand what is going on. The more you can comprehend the better.  It is totally fine to not understand everything, but being totally lost will just make things too difficult.

You really need to find that sweet spot where you can grow. This will still be difficult, but being able to understand something is certainly less difficult that being totally lost.

Too Much Slang

Part of the reason why something might be too difficult could be because there is too much slang. You need to be reading things that use clear and simple language.

While we all want to know the slang, if you don’t have a good base knowledge of the language yet, it can be too confusing .If you are reading things with too much slang you are only going to confuse yourself or pick up bad habits.

It’s not worth it, you can focus on slang later on down the line. 

You Are Translating In Your Head

One of the worst things you can do is translate in your head. It’s quite annoying as you will need to do this at the beginning, but at the same time it is very limiting and will make things difficult for you.

Going back and forth between your new language and your native one is just slow and you can’t really get any flow to your reading.

As I said this is fine at the start, but as soon as you can, you need to start thinking in your new language. It will be extremely difficult at the beginning, but as you develop this skill, you will find your general ability to read in your new language will get a lot easier. 

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

You Are Reading Word By Word

Sometimes the difficulty can come by the way you read. Some people read word by word, which we all have to do …but what I mean is you are reading a word, understanding it and then moving on to the next one.

This can make things extremely difficult as sometimes you need to read a whole sentence to get the meaning, rather than one word at a time.

If we look at this simple French sentence it will make more sense.   J’ai besoin d’eau. If you read this as 3 separate words it read as “ I have – need – water”

This is a simple sentence, so you can still sort of get what is trying to be said, even if you read word by word, but really you should be reading it as a whole phrase. You need to see the “j’ai besoin d’” as “I need some” and then of course “eau” is “water”.

If you read this whole sentence first and then try to understand it, you will actually get the meaning, rather than some slightly disjointed translation when you read word by word.

This will become more noticeable with more complex sentences or languages where the word order is completely different, but hopefully you can get what I mean from this small example.

(You can read more about – Frequently Asked Questions About – Reading In A Second Language)

Knowledge Gaps

When you take a step back and think about why reading may be difficult in your new language, it’s fairly logical to understand that it’s going to be caused by gaps in your knowledge. If you don’t know something, or understand it fully, then of course it is going to be difficult.

We can sometimes forget this as it can be easy to actually read the word, but just because our eyes recognise the shape of the letters, doesn’t make things easy. Take any romance language, you can probably read it as we use the same alphabet, but that doesn’t mean you can understand it.

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

Not Knowing Words

The biggest knowledge gap is of course going to be a lack of words. If you do not know words, your comprehension level will drop.

If it’s only one word you can probably work around it, but what if its multiple words, or what if it’s the majority of the words?

The fewer words you know, the harder you will find reading. The only way to overcome this is to simply learn more words. You can of course look up the words as you come across them, which can be beneficial since you will re-read the same material again and hopefully next time you will understand it better. 

Not Knowing How Words Are Pronounced

As well as not knowing the meaning, you may not know the pronunciation. While you may not think this is important, since you are not speaking, it still has an effect.

You still “say” the words internally, so if you come across a word you don’t recognise you have to work out how to pronounce it and if there is anything like silent letters or accents then this can trip you up.

Most people will just decide on a pronunciation and move on, so this may only slow them down for a few seconds when reading. However, it will come back to haunt them when they go to actually speak, especially if they have got it wrong. You should take the time to learn the right pronunciation, even when you are reading.   

Not Knowing Grammar

As with most things in language learning, grammar is going to get itself involved and make things difficult.

The difficulty lies in not knowing enough grammar. You are always going to come across some obscure rule or exception and it is always going to trip you up.

I would argue that the amount of grammar in reading is actually good for you, as you are exposed to it so much, but I will admit that it can be overwhelming and difficult in the beginning.

Not Knowing The Alphabet

If you are learning a language that has a different script then just your knowledge of the alphabet can make things difficult.

I find this problem all the time in Japanese. My knowledge of katakana is not strong enough. I will see a word and there will be a letter I’m not too sure about. It might be this …or it might be that.

If you are looking at a word and you are not even sure of the letters, you are definitely not going to be sure of the meaning of the word. Changing one letter could change the whole meaning of the word.

My name is Ian and if you didn’t know the difference between I and L … well maybe now you think my name is Lan? You can see how quickly a lack of knowledge around the alphabet can really make things more difficult.

You Haven’t Practiced Enough

Its sounds obvious, but people overlook the fact that they have not practiced. They just put 5 minutes of effort in and then say “this is hard” …which is of course normal.

You need to actually sit down and put some effort in. Sit for a few hours, every day for a few months and then decide if it’s difficult.

You are always going to struggle at the start, it might take half an hour to read one page and you might not even get what is going on. This is painful, but this is what happens.

The more you practice the less likely this is going to happen. You are going to get better and you will find it less difficult.

Reading is always going to be difficult until you practice enough.

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

Conclusion

As you can see there are plenty of things that are going to make reading difficult, especially as a beginner.

However, ever single difficulty you can face can also be overcome. Pretty much every problem can be put down to not knowing enough and not practicing enough. This means that is you keep working and pushing to improve, you will.

It takes time and effort, but you can make reading in a new language much easier.

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