The language learner's bestie: Extensive Reading
Are you struggling with reading in your target language? Is it too slow? Too hard? Too boring? Too, dare I say it, incomprehensible?
Well, that ends today. Or whenever your next reading session is.
Do or do not
Here's an easy DO NOT table.
| DO NOT | What | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Read only your textbook | Grammar / Other coursebook | |
| Read only children's books | Books for pre-teens | |
| Read only hard, adult, prestige books | Books you can't wait to read in the original |
Note, I am not saying ignore textbooks (at all!), or books for children OR adults. Here's what I am saying, in a helpful and easy DO table:
| DO |
|---|
| Extensive reading |
What is Extensive Reading
Extensive reading is where you understand >98% of all words you are reading. It is a form of comprehensible input. The benefits of this approach include:
- faster reading (since you are not stopping to check the dictionary for every other word)
- greater quantity of media consumption (since you do more with the same time)
- faster improvements (you retain vocabulary better, with multiple meanings, since you read more and ingest it within context for more effective time)
- magical comprehension (you just get it, since you read it 35x in various contexts. Now YOU, just like a native speaker, can't explain it to others because it's too complicated)
- actual sustained progress (NOT at a glacial pace)
- guilt-free abandonment of flasscards and SRS (don't worry, you can still do it if you really want to)
The side effects of this approach include:
- consuming (relatively) more boring content
- giving up all feel-good illusions of how good you actually are (no more khushfehmiyan)
The case for 98%
I came across this article at HackingChinese which is a more detailed dive into this whole extensive reading business. Read it! But read on for a summary.
In it, there's mention of a Marco Benevides and his presentation, where he compares comprehension at various known-vocabulary rates.
| % | Text | Reaction |
|---|---|---|
| 98% | You live and work in Tokyo. Tokyo is a big city. More than 13 million people live around you. You are never borgle, but you are always lonely. Every morning, you get up and take the train to work. Every night, you take the train again to go home. The train is always crowded. When people ask about your work, you tell them, “I move papers around.” It’s a joke, but it’s also true. You don’t like your work. Tonight you are returning home. It’s late at night. No one is shnooling. Sometimes you don’t see a shnool all day. You are tired. You are so tired… | Not bad. I get it |
| 95% | In the morning, you start again. You shower, get dressed, and walk pocklent. You move slowly, half- awake. Then, suddenly, you stop. Something is different. The streets are fossit. Really fossit. There are no people. No cars. Nothing. “Where is dowargle?” you ask yourself. Suddenly, there is a loud quapen—a police car. It speeds by and almost hits you. It crashes into a store across the street! Then, another police car farfoofles. The police officer sees you. “Off the street!” he shouts. “Go home, lock your door!” “What? Why?” you shout back. But it’s too late. He is gone. | Not that bad, can guess some/most words |
| 90% | “What’s prippy fy?” you ask yourself. Suddenly, a man runs by. He is viggling toward the crawn kofoon. There is blood all over his shirt. “Baboot!” you shout, but he doesn’t stop. You follow him. Outside the kofoon, you stop. A loopity is lying on the ground. She is not moving. “Hey!” you shout. “Are you OK?” She doesn’t answer. Her nawies are closed. Chay her fingers are moving. Open, close; open, close. “She’s alive!” you say to yourself. “No! Don’t gleep her!” someone frickles. You look up. Three people are waving at you from across the street | What?? |
| 80% | “Bingle for help!” you shout. “This loopity is dying!” You put your fingers on her neck. Nothing. Her flid is not weafling. You take out your joople and bingle 119, the emergency number in Japan. There’s no answer! Then you muchy that you have a new befourn assengle. It’s from your gutring, Evie. She hunwres at Tokyo University. You play the assengle. “…if you get this…” Evie says. “…I can’t vickarn now… the important passit is…” Suddenly, she looks around, dingle. “Oh no, they’re here! Cripett… the frib! Wasple them ON THE FRIB!…” BEEP! the assengle parantles. Then you gratoon something behind you… | Wtf? |
Extensive reading actually works
I've personally seen the benefits of extensive reading for all the languages I speak (Urdu, English, French, Spanish, Chinese). There's no one key thing here. It all builds on top of each other in a virtuous cycle. The easier vocabulary improves your reading speed. The faster reading speed helps you read more in the same amount of time. Reading more reinforces past lessons, introduces more vocabulary in context, and improves your instinctual understanding of grammar. Better vocabulay and better grammar helps you read faster. And on and on it goes, until you can read native level stuff. And then the real fun starts.
Where to look for extensive reading
So, you've realized that your past language learning efforts have been sabotaged before they could even begin, sabotaged by your high hopes and great expectations. Now what?
Graded readers! These can be books, apps, articles, or any other written media that purposefully uses a certain (limited) level of vocabulary and grammar patterns. They may introduce new vocabulary but would generally define it on the page it first occurs and then repeat it a few times for maximum exposure. Google 'graded readers + your target language' and if your target language is relatively popular, you'll find a lot of resources.
Chinese
Chinese graded readers are my current specialty. If you are looking, just go to Chinese: Heavenly Path Also - Du Chinese and Chinese Breeze get a special shoutout.
Urdu
I improved my Urdu from a pretty low level. I'm a native speaker but growing up I just read English, I studied in English, I wrote in English, you get the picture. Around grade 8 I realized this was highly idiotic behaviour. But by then my Urdu was pretty weak. I didn't have an accent but my vocabulary was very very limited and my reading speed was worse than that of an 8 year old child.
I had no idea graded readers were a thing. So I read Shafiq ur Rehman's short stories. They were pretty light and easy to read. I did need lots of handholding and live language support from my family though. That helped me not give up and persevere to the point where I've written a few stories myself (which at least my mom loved, and she has a pretty critical eye for this sort of stuff).
Alternate to graded readers
If you are allergic to graded readers, or if your target language suffers from a shortage of adequate quality ones, you can try translations or brute force.
Translations
If graded reader's aren't your thing - here's one alternative. Do you have a book you've read more times than you can count? Enough that you practically remember each page? Does it have a translation in your target language? Yes? Read the translation.
I've read Harry Potter in both French and Spanish and the Name of the Wind in French. I attempted reading it in Chinese but I think that's a step too far at this moment in time.
Brute-force extensive reading
There's three ways of brute-forcing extensive reading.
One, you memorize each word you don't understand as you go along, and you reread till you've crossed the 98% barrier.
Two, using online pop-up dictionaries. I'm not a fan of this approach.
Three, you get a family member, friend, language exchange buddy, or tutor to sit with you and act as your immediate dictionary. You get stuck at a word, they tell you what it is, you move on.
Conclusion
Extensive reading will up your game, in very little time. Well, very little time compared to the methods most people follow of incomprehensible input with a side helping of hope.