Hey everyone and welcome back to the understandable.
English podcast, today's topic is how important is reading with
learning English. So we're going to look at is it
really that important and I am going to tell you exactly what I
think from my experience teaching English, too many
students from different countries He's and of course,
from my experience learning foreign languages as well.
So to start with, I will say, yes, I think reading in another
language is essential very important to learning the
language, but it isn't so important for speaking and
understanding the language as you might think.
I always say and I will say it time and time again that you
should be speaking and listening to English as much as you can.
But reading is still important here is why to start with
reading, really helps you with vocabulary regardless of your
level reading helps with Target, Languages it helps you build and
boost your vocabulary. The number of words, you know,
whenever you read Because naturally you are going to be
exposed, you're going to see lots of different words and
expressions, especially if this content, if this text is
written, by a native speaker over time your vocabulary, So,
the amount of words in English that, you know, will expand, it
will grow and you will understand more and more
English. But one important thing to know
is that even though you learn lots of new words, it won't help
you to use them. The reason for this is that most
of these words will go into your past.
Of vocabulary. These are words that you
understand. That you recognize, but not
words that you use in your everyday speech.
When you do speaking practice, or you try to speak in English,
but there is some good news here, neither that these words
are in your passive vocabulary, you can move them to To your
active vocabulary, much easier, your active vocabulary is the
words that you use in speech. So when you're speaking and the
more you practice speaking and having conversations, the more
of these passive words, you will begin to use and it might
surprise you when I was learning Russian and I still will do.
I learned lots of words every day using applications, I tried
to learn 10 new words every single day.
And over time, I noticed that I would understand these words,
from speech, from TV, from books, news articles, but I
didn't really use these words However, with time, when I was
talking about specific topics, like specialist topics such as
politics or technology and I would try to find the right
word. Eventually, one of these words
that I had learnt would pop into my head and I would use it and I
would gradually start to use that word more and more.
Or in my speech and that is the magic of reading in another
language. When we read in another
language, we see the words in context.
So we see the words around it and how it is meant to be used,
and when you are speaking, you might find yourself coming
across some of these contexts. So similar sentences or And
environments. And at this moment, you might
find yourself using such words and never key reason, for
learning through Reading is that reading and grammar are closely
connected learning and memorizing, grammar rules can be
boring. However, grammar is, of course,
essential in learning a language because without it, it's hard to
speak quite fluently, but the good news is reading and grammar
are closely connected with reading.
You will start to see grammar patterns, you will learn
sentence structures and you will see grammar exceptions, which
you have studied, maybe in a book, or in class reading is a
perfect way to improve your grammar.
And to recap and learn over the rules that you already know a
naturally over time, the more you practice speaking.
This can only help you reading is also.
So closely connected to writing skills.
The more you read the more writing styles you will see and
understand and you can even start to copy these writings.
Styles. But there are many other grit
reasons for reading in another language, besides, simply
improving your grammar, or learning new words.
And one of these is that it is simply good for your brain when
you read in another language and you start to understand it in a
way you are thinking in that language, you're using that
language. In your brain.
You can also read anything you want.
You can choose areas that you are interested in.
If you love literature or books you can read those.
If you love news articles or science, technology politics,
anything is available to you online.
We are so lucky to have access to the the internet and the
unlimited amount of information that you can access in English,
even by going on social media like Facebook, Instagram,
YouTube, you can see so much content in English and there you
will see a lot more slang or colloquialisms, which are a
native phrases or need if words Which are maybe informal
language but words and phrases that locals and natives use
everyday. It's also quite relaxing
whenever we read I find that our brains go into quite a relaxed
State. It's not a stressful for me as
doing grammar exercises for example or even speaking about
it. A topic, I don't know so much
about, but mainly it comes down to this variety.
So, doing different things, when you are on your English
language, learning Journey, it's best to do.
Lots of different things for learning English.
This keeps it interesting for you, you won't always be doing a
course book, you won't always Learning grammar or trying to
speak all of the time, it will help you improve your level
while doing different things and staying interested and excited
about learning English. So every now and again, even
before you go to sleep, I would recommend putting down that
course book that study book stopping some grammar pick up a
book or a no. Article in English and give it a
read, of course. Keep listening to as much
English as you can. And speaking, as much as
possible, these are still far more important by reading then
than reading, but it doesn't make reading not important.
I hope that this episode was useful for you and that you got
some good. Listening practice.
Let me know. Do you read in English?
What do you like to read? Do you read books articles and
more just comments online and I look forward to seeing you in
the next episode. As always send me
recommendations of topics that you want to hear about in the
podcast, have a A great day and a fantastic week and I will
speak to you very soon. Goodbye.