The app I use to learn languages -> bit.ly/3jjQHO9 My 10 FREE secrets to language learning -> www.thelinguist.com Are extensive and intensive reading part of your language learning strategy?

I 100% agree. Being able to read a novel without recourse to the dictionary is the stage at which I feel comfortable saying that I "know" the language.

Summary: 1. do different things with using the language 2. extensive reading ( read a real book) 3. Use lingq (for reading) 4. Read a lot. 5. Import epub,pdf etc text files to lingq and study there.(short demonstration)

Reading AND Listening. Book + Audiobook. Graded readers are a great way to start because they come with the audio recording.

I read books intensively and watch shows with target language subtitles for all my extensive reading. It's a well-balanced combo.

i've been reading the last couple months and I can tell you guys I've acquired many new words and have been using them in my speaking. Reading is so powerful i wish i did that earlier.

I went from ok to fluent german by reading comic books! Asterix and Oberlix, Tim Tim... PAPER BOOKS, not e-books. I looked up every word I did not know. After I learned that new word, I'd suddenly see it in other texts and hear it all of the time. A university professor recommended picking one article (I read Die Zeit) in the paper and looking up all of the unfamilar words. Good advice.

Each new word must be memorized in the context of a sentence - this is the best way to increase vocabulary!

You always have a valuable tip to improve learning experience, Steve , thanks a lot!

I knew before clicking that this was going to be about reading, talking about both intensive and extensive… But gosh darn it, you’re right! Even most intermediate and advanced courses have students reading WAY too little, especially in terms of novels/full books. Keep up the great work, Steve! 🙌🏻

I always enjoy your insight, Steve! I also wanted to thank you for suggesting LingQ for a tutor even though I had tried in the past this time I found a fantastic tutor!

Thank you so much, Steve! Your videos are extremely motivating

In gaining fluency with Thai there is a great deal of satisfaction to break the code, so to speak. Not only is the meaning understood, but the pronunciation and tone is understood as well. Greatly enjoying the videos!

This guy is a top G. That point about reading can't be emphasized enough

Hi Steve! I adore your videos! Good luck!

Problems with looking up every unknown word: 1) it takes forever, 2) you might "guess" the wrong meaning for words with multiple definitions, and 3) it makes the entire exercise very disjointed. This is where Krashen comes in: if you have a mostly comprehensible text, context will help the student "guess" more accurately than looking up the word, and the flow is maintained. Of course, you have a limited selection that way, and if the content is not compelling enough, motivation to power through is tough to come by. Personally, I prefer a hybrid approach: I read whatever the heck I feel like reading, ignore most of the unknown vocab (many words will become clear enough with time), and only look up words used in at least five instances where I think meaning is being obscured by not knowing them. This technique worked for me in French, German, and Italian, and is working just fine in Spanish. Mandarin is more challenging; I have yet to arrive at a technique for that one.

Thank you so much Steve!!

Hi Steve. Unfortunately, I don't think You'll read this comment, but let me tell you, that I'm a blind English learner man, and I'm telling you that I'm a blind man because I've been using a lot of ebooks for acquiring English and I've been doing that with my iPhone, and you can make it read the book for you. You can choose Siri's voice and I swear you, all of Siri's voices are very realist and natural. It's not an advertisement, because they pay me nothing haha, but as a blind man this brand has really changed my life. Steve I really admire you. I send you my best wishes and my love, from Quilmes Buenos Aires.

Thank you for another inspirational talk! Reading cool stuff in a new language is so much fun. Almost two years ago, I decided to read all the books in a particular series in a particular language. Each book in the series is great (some are fantastic), but it's especially nice to notice that every new book is a little easier to read. I'm almost at the end of the series and reading is practically effortless now, whereas at the beginning, I had to re-read and think a lot (looking up words I've avoided from the outset). So in a way, I want to read the whole series again!

Thank you! You are absolutely correct! I started learning Spanish a few weeks ago. I will try this app. I haven’t built a large enough vocabulary to read a book, but hope to learn by reading 📖. I’ve learned English the same way. Reading really helps. My first books was Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon. At first, I had to look in the dictionary every single word, then I’ve got tired of that and just kept going trying to understand at least main meaning of the paragraphs. By the time the book was finished, I felt as I’ve watched a movie. Really interesting one 😊! When I asked myself what new words I’ve learned, I could recall only one word - “darling”. Sure, I’ve learned a lot. Our mind does amazing things!

This is so important! I remember reading Herman Hesse in Italian when I was not yet 17. My Italian was limited at the beginning... but by the end of the book I had learnt SOOOO much!. Without ever looking at a dictionary-- mainly because I was too lazy.

Wow! Thanks for advice. I've never read book intensively. I definitely wanna try this.

This is the only video you need for “How to Learn a New Language”. I’ve watched your videos for a years now as well as many other polyglot videos and this is by far the best one. I love how you break down the difference between active and passive vocabulary, and explain what each language activity does to improve our language ability. The biggest mistake I think I’ve made for years with my Japanese learning is being afraid to read. Many other Japanese language learners stated that doing so ruins your accent so I refrained from reading except via subtitles on anime. That process is very slow I think with acquiring new vocabulary. Every time I make huge comprehension gains it is through quickly reading a few points from a grammar guide and intensive reading of some novel online with an online dictionary. Thanks for another great video Steve!

Excellent advice. I failed all throughout school. It wasn't until I dropped out and started reading, that I began to actually learn. It worked out so well, that I got a GED and graduated from several trade schools, several colleges and several Universities. Ironically, public school wasn't able to teach me, but I was able to teach myself and publish several books, several songs, three patent inventions and an award 🏆 winning 🎥 movie 🍿 script. Every bit was a struggle and no one helped even a little. But I was resolved to succeed and piss everyone off that said I would never amount to anything. 👅

Thank you! This is really great advice and gives me more motivation 👍

Ok, Steve. Thank you for your suggestion. Really, it is exciting reading and looking up vocabulary in the context. The exact words in different contexts. English is rich in words and synonymous and precise words in paragraphs with diverse objectives. Thanks for your indications.

You're telling the absolute truth. Recently i read my first full novel in french and finished. The difference in my ability from before and AFTER is HUGE! I can only imagine what will happen once i've read 10 books! Or 20 and so on. It's a journey for life and reading really feels like the key. You learn the language, you learn the history, you learn the culture, you learn so incredibly much. Ariane - La jeune fille russe. Incredible book and it really was a huge achievement.

Ведущий так красиво говорит по английски ,что я просто в восторге .С переводом на русский я уже этот ролик смотрю десяток раз.

Eres el mejor,gracias por tus consejos

The best way for acquire more vocabulary! Even if i forget everything, i´m taking action. Nice recommendation🔑

Reading is the most effective and amazing way to acquire a language. There is no such a joy and sense of the accomplishment like reading a novel of your favourite writer in the target language. 😍 This is probably the most important reason that's pushing me to get to the intermediate level in some of the languages in which I am a total beginner. 😊

I've just been reading graded reader and just 100 pages in I feel stronger in my vocabulary that I already know. Like I forget common words much less and I've picked up new phrases

I agree with you about the importance of reading. I learnt French by translating three books using my dictionary. Ten years later I had bought 1500 French books. I read about 3 three books in a week. These means about 156 books in a year. So to read all of them takes 9.6 years. Until now I have read many of them twice and some thrice. This is one example of a man’s life. Happy upcoming New Year!

Years ago there was an exchange program between the city I live, in The Netherlands, and Sri Lanka. The man that learned the Sri Lankan Dutch used comic books. He was remarkably successful. So I bought French comic books, to practice my French. Reading in another language on an iPad is so easy nowadays. You just click on the words you don’t know. Nowadays I only read on my iPad because it’s easier to adapt the layout, without the ‘book’ getting heavier.

I discovered your channel few years ago. Since that time my English has improved tremendously. At least in my view. Thanks to you I started to listen and read in English on a daily basis, also using LingQ. Today I am a big proponent of using comprehensible input as the best way to acquire words in target language. Currently I can basically read non fiction books but still struggle with novels (excluding graded readers, easy ones and so forth). Your content also keeps me motivated on my way to fluency. Often it happens that you just make my day better. Greetings from Poland! Thank you Steve! You are definitely the best polyglot in the universe.

I use the same technique, 1st I read it on iPad and mark the words to understand the meaning and pronunciation, later if I love the book I re-read it in paperback.

Dear Steve, this is Apina (& Gordon Li) from Taiwan (previously Vancouver). I'm so surprised and delighted to find your KZfaq channel popped up on my screen this morning. I hope you get to see this message eventually. We've been back in Taiwan since 2005. I started my painting business from scratch in Taipei and have been doing well. We still remember your kindness in helping people and enthusiasm for languages. And we remember your bold action of calling in Chinese radio program speaking Cantonese in disagreement with the host. Those good old days! If you ever visit Taipei please do let us known. We would really love to see you and catch up on almost 20 years of missing time. I'm on my 4th attempt to learn French now. Finally made some progress with Duolingo after 500 days. The program helps with reading but falls short on speaking and listening ability. Anyways I'm going to start watching your channel diligently. I know you definitely have so much to offer in this field!

Hello, Steve!!!🙂 I very much agree with you that reading helps to learn language. That´s how I widened my vocabulary and my English grew and I became very confident in it. Now I am doing the same with Portuguese. Thanks that you have such an interesting channel with inspirational videos. Wishing you all the best!!!

how to remember vocabulary when you need it? like right now I was writing romantically with a girl I got to know... I could sense clearly what I wanted to say, but as English is not my mother tongue and I am not yet that great of a writer I had to look for other words of the word that first came to mind to find the right atmosphere and romance of our dialogue.. she replied me "I do appreciate Your careful treatment of me as a flower 🌻".... I really like to study vocabulary and I see how important is when you can communicate and touch another person in need of some carrying and well chosen words a late night after a long day of her being in distress having fled from Ukraine... But as a Swede is really a nagging bad habit that I always have to look things up in the moment I need to write fluidly and realise how limited my English vocabulary really is... thanks for a great channel! 👌

Thanks for your valuable sharing to inspire the people in the world for a better view and language learning...Best Regards, Donald at Suzhou, China

Hi dear professor Thank you so much for your help and advice. I really appreciate your job. I wish you peace and happiness under the sky of prosperity. All the best. Take care and have a good time. Your follower from Algeria not Nigeria. تحياتي الحارة إليكم يا حضرة الأستاذ الكريم. ألف شكر لكم على الدروس القيمة التي تقدمونها والتحليل الممتاز والنصائح المفيدة. أتمنى لكم التوفيق والنجاح ودوام الصحة والعافية. ختاما تقبلوا مني كل التقدير والاحترام. متابعكم من الجزائر.

I find reading interesting modern novels and noting down any words you don't know is very helpful.

Very useful informative video. Thanks alot sir.

Thank you very much, Steve

hi Steve! thank you for sharing all that wonderful knowledge with us！I tried to click on the links a few times. but it fails to open i wonder why?

Vary intensive and extensive. Good idea. Thank you.

I've been learning my target language for 4 years. I started reading after 1 year and although it was initially difficult, I immediately saw the benefits. I started picking up words but I also internalized grammar patterns. With hindsight, I should have started a lot earlier. I'm probably at an advanced level in my reading now.

I've found that combination of intensive and extensive reading effective as well. In addition, I do something partway in between I think of as targeted reading. If there is a particular aspect of the language that is frustrating me when I run across it, I target it each time I encounter it until it is not frustrating. The first time I tried it, I had hit a plateau in Ancient Greek in my extensive reading. I had improved quite a bit, but just seemed to not get any better. Intensive reading wasn't effectively fixing this either. It was an issue of internalizing grammar to the point it was automatic. I don't remember why, but I decided to fix one problem at a time. The first obvious problem was that I hadn't internalized verb endings of the indicative cases to the point they were completely automatic. To fix this, during extensive reading, I paused at each indicative (and subjunctive verb), thought about it intentionally for a bit, then picked up again with extensive reading at the beginning of that sentence. I found that quick emphasis on a particular aspect of the language helped internalize it. Within a few days, the verb endings were not much of a problem so I stopped focusing on them. I've found that this targeting of the aspect of grammar that is most annoying and frustrating applies the Pareto Principle to clearing out the worst stumbling blocks to comfortable extensive reading. I don't stay on one aspect until I have it perfect, but rather until it's not a noticeable impediment to smooth extensive reading. This is something that is much like what using parallel texts, interlinears, or computer click-for-definition functions is for vocabulary when extended reading, except it's for grammar. It's a momentary distraction to the reading, but gives a quick review on what is needed. I found targeted reading a great addition to both intensive and extensive reading. It's a minor temporary slowdown to extended reading that gives a permanent bump up in skills. I've found that this targeting usually clears most stumbling blocks in a few days or at most a week without turning all my reading time into intensive reading.

i love this dude. i LOVE. this dude.

reading is great for vocabulary , It's true

It encourages me a lot when I found I can read Harry Potter after I had already learnt 10000+ words in my senior high school. The number of words is abstract but the ability of reading an English book is palpable🎉

Great thanks 🙏 Love from 🇮🇳

I had started using the Bible. First, I read the English passages and then the Spanish passages. I also wanted Visual Politick in Spanish.

I've recently started playing through Final Fantasy 14 in Japanese and after watching this video I think it will work really well for both kinds of reading. For the main story quests and the more important side content, I can do intensive reading. For extensive reading, there are hundreds of other side quests. They aren't really connected to the main story so it doesn't really matter if there are a lot of things I don't understand.

Thanks for your assistance

Thank you for your tips, Steve! Your passion on language learning has inspired me and a legion of people. A question which always takes me is how do you manage to switch from one language to another without messing up ...

Trying to learn Polish, reading children's books. Way more difficult than it is implied here to improve my vocab by just reading the books. There's such a wide variety of possibilities in terms of translation of certain words. And yes, I can UNDERSTAND what is being said. Because in the end it does not matter for the story if they say word x word y or word z, as long as they are in the same ballpark and mean roughly the same. But if you want to start using that word yourself in conversations, it's a bit more important that you use it the right way. So I read the book, write down all words that I don't understand, read the book again, make a guess for their meaning and then look them up and create a flashcard. Few days later I read the book one more time and see if this time I understand everything. Passively picking up vocab is bullsh*t, and I speak from experience. I've been living for 10 years in Poland, am married to a Polish wife, and yet speak barely better than A2 level.

Thanks for your useful tips.

Hi Steve, Thanks for the videos. I do want to say one thing however. It is quite obvious that you have a phenomenal memory and a gift from the universe of a brain/mind that is quite rare among humans. You must have been wired at birth to have a gift to pick up languages which most of us do not have. I wish we did but we don't.

سپاس فراوان

Sir thanks!

One weird tip that I find helps learn new vocab fast is ask if it is positive or negative, and remember that. I believe when I tested it, I recalled 60% (for new English words). It was the best out of I think 12 methods I tried, and is among the fastest.

I always tell my students that reading novels is better than reading non-narrative texts, because in novels they'll find dialogues.

Thanks steve

how about Chinese, how to best handle that one, I bloody hate that pinyin, so any advice for Chinese reading would be great. Thank you sir for your great videos and work

Thank you for useful advice. In the Persian book in this video, in 3rd line, the word تالشی is not correct. The correct word is تلاشی

Biblia Bilingue... really broadened my vocab. So many cognates that just pop out.

good method, thank you

Excellent

Reading could be very difficult in the beginning. I read few paragraphs and then gave up. Cause.. I didn't get what sentences meant. Sometimes even if I knew almost every word. But listening to audiobook same time while reading text helped me a lot. I did that and after few chapters I started to read without help of audiobook. It's like children learning to ride bicycle with a hard of a parent. So now I get this skill to read book even without knowing some words. While reading in foreign language. Don't give too much attention on unknown words, take a meaning of whole sentence or even a paragraph

Anyone have some good book recommendations? I’m not really that into reading but I really do wanna start spending more time in reading.

Thanks

Bravo Steve pour votre accent français. C'est à s'y méprendre. Vous pourriez être un espion.😄 Vos conseils sont précieux et judicieux pour élargir son vocabulaire. J'ai remarqué que quand je lisais Jane Austen en anglais, le vocabulaire était très daté mais c'est un style si agréable. J'ai connu une jeune étudiante américaine qui lisait Marcel Proust en français. Ce n'est pas facile comme lecture, mais elle me disait qu'elle appréciait beaucoup la poésie du style de cet auteur. C'est tellement magique! Merci pour vos vidéos.😀

Are you able to import novels into LingQ? I'm reading some short "learner" books in addition to the stories in LingQ, but certainly reading a "real" book designed for natives would be exciting! *edited to add* I wasn't patient enough. You talked about being able to import an eBook into LingQ. This is fantastic. I'll have to see if I can do this with one of the Egyptian Arabic eBooks that I have.

you can google lends a paper book page that you read - copy text - paste in a txt file and importe

Some time ago you mentioned you were working on Vietnamese in LingQ. I know the release date was delayed. Is there any update?

Could anyone explain to me what Steve was talking about between 4:18 ~ 4:43?

I love reading and look forward to doing it extensively in my target language (Japanese) but I’ve heard from many sources that reading a lot without doing a lot of listening upfront can harm your pronunciation. With Japanese this particularly important because if you develop bad habits with regard to pitch accent, as well as general pronunciation, it will be difficult to correct later on. Also, reading tends to be easier than listening, so there will be a comprehension gap unless you do a lot more listening than reading. I’m currently focusing on doing intensive listening for a year before I really jump into reading. I’d be curious to hear others’ thoughts on this.

Reading fiction is much more challenging than non-fiction for me... A lot of words that I know in my mother language by instinct are pretty hard to understand in other languages

Mister Steve tengo una pregunta. Usted tiene algún método de aprender inglés en poco tiempo???

how about watching a movie, or tv show, in your target language WITH sub titles in that language?

I love reading because you can pick anything of any level and go nuts. When you rely on speaking the person you’re talking to will always grade their language to accommodate you where appropriate. At least that was my experience in Japan. I even got mad at them for not speaking naturally like they do to other Japanese people but obviously that’s silly.

It's not clear what sites you are using to get that ability to highlight words. Do I need an app, or are you just going to Gutenberg to find books? It appears you got to Gutenberg by googling the name of a book. Where would I go to find a bunch of books to read with the word selection built in?

Does anyone have an e-book in Spanish that is good for the beginner??

Hello Steve

The only thing LingQ lack is awareness for grammar words. Other than that, it is a great way to read and learn vocabualry at the same time.

I can read a novel in English but I can't understand oral english well. I think I pronounce words wrongly ..

Hi! I am 57 years old and retired. My native language is Turkish. I have already little English but i desire to enhenge it. I have started listening your videos for incresing my compheration level and learning useful knowledges about imorove my second language. My listenning takes about 30-60 minutes everday. I have writen a book in Turkish. I try to translate it in Englih. I establish sentences with my words and than ask chatgpt to correct my mistakes. Than i listen the due a readining program in voice with corrected situation my pharagraps. I do these everyday and if i can find opportunaty containius to listen. Will you please criticize my studing way method?

Do you offer European Portuguese yet on LingQ?!

I was interested in watching this but gave up after the second advert

That function for making the sentence is no longer on my version. It was before Xmas but not now. Why is that?

Hello Mr. Kaufmann. Is it ok to use your videos for non-profit occasions other than KZfaq?

I think the reason why people struggle to understand the spoken language despite doing a lot of reading is because they read with the wrong pronunciation, i.e. moulded upon their native language. I know a lot of people who have this problem. They might be excellent at writing and grammar, often better than native people, but they speak hence read with a thick accent and can’t understand the words they know if those are uttered by native speakers

J”aime la approche de ca

Fist time I learnt english I only knew "yes" and "no" then increased a bit then confused..

First I want to thank you for the video, but I disagree with the point that listening only improves your passive vocabulary. I learn a lot of new vocabulary by listening and finding the meaning of the words through the context.

Hi please could you explain or show how to import a csv file as vocabulary into LingQ? It only says I need to label columns as this snd that, but it’s a bit unclear. I’d appreciate you if you could show us how to do it exactly. Many thanks.

Do you have any advice on approaching a listening exercise with no subtitles to export? ( most of the audio we get in our Chinese class is without subtitles, and I have a lot of difficulty listening to those because they usually are about a topic where I do not know most of the vocabulary.

But can you jump into reading when you’re only a beginner in the language? For instance I just started learning Turkish a few months ago and I would be totally lost if I read a full blown novel in Turkish. Don’t you need a base knowledge first?

Hi İ have a question When i am reading a book i cant look up the words because i get distracted and when i read a book on telephone İ don't want to go on either but there are a lot of words that i dont understand in a book what should i do then should i just go on reading and look up just a few words or something else Thanks in advance