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Getting Over the Fear of Reading Foreign Novels to Improve Foreign Language Skills

How Reading Foreign Novels Improved my Foreign Language Skills

People often ask me if Polish is my native language, and for a long time, I wanted to believe that it was. I was born and raised in Canada, but Polish was my first language. My parents immigrated to Canada from Poland when my mother was 7 months pregnant with me, not knowing a word of English. In fact, when the nurses cheered and announced, “It’s a girl!” my mother didn’t know what they were talking about until they placed me in her arms.

Growing up in Canada, I attended Polish school on Saturday mornings for 3 years. I remember thinking it was a waste of time because I was living in Canada, so what use would I get from it, right? Later, (a lot later) I understood that reading in Polish would be the thing that immensely helped me improve my language skills. 

My parents made me practice at home by reading the Polish newspaper out loud. Although they had good intentions, reading Polish politics at the age of 14 was way beyond my level of fluency and comprehension. I felt so self-conscious and discouraged because I had a hard time reading through the paper without tripping on the words. 

After graduating from Polish school, I stopped reading and writing in Polish. I was entering high school and practicing Polish just wasn’t my idea of fun. I only picked up reading again when I moved to Poland 3 years ago and realized my Polish wasn’t so fluent after all. Reading has significantly helped me improve my pronunciation, fluency, and understanding of the language. 

In this post, I will be sharing with you how I got over the fear of reading foreign novels, and how it has improved my language skills. Based on my experience and studies carried out by Stephen Krashen (an expert in the field of linguistics), you will learn the importance of reading in a foreign language, tips for reading effectively including Idyoma, and how to incorporate reading into your language learning plan. 

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Getting over the Fear of Reading Foreign Novels

My journey of reading foreign novels started out with reading art and culture magazines and repeatedly reading the same articles over and over again until eventually, I moved on to poetry and creative nonfiction. The gradual transition to reading in Polish has influenced not only my foreign language skills but my passion and interests in Polish culture.  

To be honest, Polish book cover art is what drove me to pick up reading again. You know how people window shop for clothes, shoes, and jewelry? I was window shopping for books! But the one thing standing in the way was my fear of being able to read the books. I desperately wanted to know what was behind the beautiful book covers. 

I’ve always been a fan of art and culture magazines, and I know Poland has a strong history of influential writers, poets, and artists. My friends recommended I start with a local magazine called Zwykłe Życie which translates to Ordinary Life. It was a perfect icebreaker for getting back into reading in Polish because the content was about simple pleasures and simple living among people, places, and things. It also covered the works of local Polish illustrators, photographers, and writers.

The keyword was simple. I was able to understand the content I was reading, unlike the political Polish newspapers I was reading as a kid. Understanding the content and reading about something that interests me, is what encouraged me to continue reading and transition to poetry and creative nonfiction. 

The first creative nonfiction I read, titled Nobody Leaves by Ryszard Kapuściński, was the book that encouraged me to learn more about Poland’s history and culture. Ryszard was a Polish journalist, photographer, poet, and author. I first read Nobody Leaves in English, but when I read it again in Polish, I felt deeply connected to Poland because the intimacy of the original text did not translate into English. It’s ironic that I went back to reading very personal accounts of political and social disruption in Poland.

Why Reading Foreign Novels is Important

If we are speaking about learning to be proficient in another language, reading will be the driver for acquiring proficiency in the target language. In a webinar for Master of Arts in Teaching (teaching English to students of other languages) Stephen Krashen notes, “we acquire language when we understand what people tell us, and understand what we read.”

Storytelling is one of humankind’s oldest learning methods, and reading foreign novels gives you a unique persepctive into how stories transcend language barriers. Seeing the symbols of new words on the page can visually help to reinforce our memory of the words and concepts. The collection of stored symbols will translate into comprehensible content. 

Similar thoughts were shared by Cambridge University Press in the publication of Studies in Second Language Acquisition where they discovered that when we store memories of foreign words, we’re better able to understand them in a new context. Eventually, the reader can interpret its core meaning fluently, with minimal effort. 

Tips for Effectively Reading in a Different Language

Narrow reading

Sticking to one genre or topic can be a good starting point for reading in your target language, this is called narrow reading. It’s a good place to start because it allows you to familiarize yourself with one topic or genre, where you can smoothly process the text. Over time, you will gain familiarity with the background knowledge of that topic or genre, which will enhance comprehension.

One would think that reading a wide range of topics will expose you to a more diverse vocabulary, but if you’re learning a new language, it’s not recommended. Krashen said that if you go that route, reading turns into an “exercise of deliberate decoding” since you have to check the dictionary for every other word. 

Read something that sparks joy (Marie Kondo style)

Speaking from my experience, start with reading content that is relevant and interesting to you, and most importantly, aligned to your language level. Reading foreign novels might not be the best first step for you. Try reading about something you enjoy and it will be the driving force for continuing the reading process, which will eventually lead to more fluent verbal communication.

Read aloud

Around 4,000 years ago, commonly used words like “to read” literally meant “to cry out” or “to listen.” So go ahead, cry out those lines while you read!  Colin MacLeod, a psychologist at the University of Waterloo, has extensively researched the impact of reading aloud on memory. Reinforcing our memory of new words and concepts can help to acquire new languages. 

MacLeod says one reason why reading aloud works is that the words are distinctive when read aloud, which helps you better remember the words. Researchers concluded that listening to text read aloud can lead to a more intense understanding and processing of the words

Read over, and over, and over 

S.J. Samuels originated the concept of repeated reading in 1979. Re-reading a short passage silently or orally until a reader can read it with ease is the idea behind repeated reading. 

In my experience, reading the same content over and over again helped me gain a clear understanding of what I was reading, and gave me the confidence to continue reading. When I first picked up reading in Polish again, I repeatedly read the same magazine until I could fluently communicate to a friend what I was reading about. 

Incorporate Reading Foreign Novels in your Language Learning Plan

If you’re learning a new language, chances are you are using one or more learning tools to help you achieve your goals. When it comes to reading, how can you track your progress? 

Creating a checklist to manage the workflow of your reading process can help you keep track of your progression. Process Street is one of many workflow tools that can provide process management. 

For example, a checklist can ensure you are checking off books that are aligned with your level, keeping in mind narrow reading (sticking to the same genre, topic, or author). You can also track the number of pages you’ve read, and how many times it takes you to read the content before understanding and moving on to new genres.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when working with multiple language learning tools, so I suggest trying different productivity apps like Google Tasks or Toggl. Or simply take a break for a few days and get back into it when you’re ready! 
If you’re already reading foreign novels, I recommend using other language learning tools to optimize your language learning plan. Idyoma is a great tool for conversational practice, where you can meet new people and talk about the books you’re reading! Another useful tool that is based on visually comprehending words is Brainscape, which gives you access to thousands of foreign language flashcards to try out and supplment your learning.

.You can download the Idyoma language exchange mobile app for free here:

You can download the Idyoma language exchange mobile app for free here:

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Author: Karolina Lasocki
I have a background in executive search, a passion for the visual arts, and I strongly value diversity & inclusion. Today, I am the marketing coordinator at Process Street, working from Warsaw, Poland.