Reading in Spanish
One of the most effective ways to improve your overall fluency and vocabulary in Spanish is READING. Whether you're a beginner or advanced Spanish student, you can benefit from adding some literature to your study routine.
Try a variety of reading materials
Short stories
Passages designed for Spanish learners
Bilingual readers / Dual-language readers
Children's books
Short novels
How to choose a text for your level
Start with simple texts designed for Spanish learners or children's books. It can be overwhelming at times to start reading in another language, but trust me, it's worth the work! Even if you have to look up every other word, your comprehension and ability to construct sentences will improve as you are exposed to more variety of writing.
Beginner
Find a topic that interests you. Whether it's fantasy or reading the news, you'll be more likely to finish the piece if you like what you're reading. Start with something simple to boost your confidence and motivation to read more challenging texts at the intermediate and advanced level.
Intermediate
Choose a text that is slightly above your level. Now, this doesn't mean you have to read a novel written in verse, but select something that challenges you. If you have to look up one word every sentence or two, but you can understand the meaning of what you're reading, that should be an appropriate level of difficulty of you, even if you have to read it 2 or 3 times to understand it.
Advanced
Read a variety of short stories, articles, and books by different authors about different topics. Challenge yourself with a "project read" by choosing a text above your level that you work on gradually a couple times a week. Ideas:
Choose a short novel and read a chapter a week
Find a few different short stories
Use this strategy to develop and maintain your skills and expose yourself to different writing styles and vocabulary. Here's a video with some additional reading strategies to help you improve your Spanish:
If you have any questions or anything to add, I’d love to hear it in the comments below😊
