IWTYAL 289: Should you use translations when reading?

In this episode, Olly discusses whether you should use translations when reading.

In Today's Episode:

Should you use translations when reading?

• Translation is inevitable (in your head)
• Translations can be useful
• Activities relying on translation can be powerful
• But you always need to think about the point of the activity and what you’re trying to achieve

Translation can be useful to help you:

• Get a piece of important information (e.g. official document)
• Understand a difficult piece of text (above your level, e.g. many parallel texts)

Translation as an activity can be useful to:

• Practise expressing tricky concepts from L1 (e.g. reverse translation)

Translation can be damaging for:

• Aiming for immersion (e.g. extensive reading/listening)
• Focusing on fluency
• Improving ability to cope with and operate in the language

Why I chose not to include translations in Grammar Hero

Resources Mentioned:

Reverse translation:

Start Speaking Today:

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Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.