IWTYAL 040: What kind of books should I read?

One reader asks: “I want to try my hand at reading a book and wondered what you would recommend?”

In this episode:

The problem with children's books…

• Intended for children
• Low-frequency vocabulary

What kind of books are best to read…

1. Graded readers (not parallel texts)
2. Short, non-fiction books on a topic that interests you (e.g. biographies, how-to books)
3. Any book you've already read, translated into your target language
4. If you have a book store close by with a good foreign book section – go and browse!
5. If you don't like books, try Project Syndicate

Judith Meyer from learnlangs.com mentioned:

1. Crime stories, romance stories, autobiographies, travel stories.
2. Translated books are easier than original ones.
3. The Little Prince

Resources mentioned in todays episode:

Project Syndicate – opinion pieces from the world's newspapers

How to read effectively in a foreign language – my article on reading

Matching Methods and Goals in Language Learning – A great talk from Judith Meyer at the Polyglot Gathering in Berlin in 2014.

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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.