If you’re a language student or interested in cultivating a new language for the sake of it (awesome!), then a great way to boost your learning is to work on reading comprehension in your target language.
Take advantage of the multilingual resources at your fingertips. And I mean, quite literally, at your fingertips – the digital editions of international newspapers. Also, if you want to stay local, there are also tons of newspapers published in the United States that cater to bilingual populations. Find these daily publications around NYC or Boston to get local news in your target language.
Reading international newspapers online is a great way to follow current events in a new language, while advancing your reading comprehension.
A couple language learning tips to get you started:
- Highlight or make a list of the words you do not recognize as you read. Don’t stop to look them up immediately. Finish the article and see how much you can understand without the dictionary. Then, look up the words, and re-read. This process may seem repetitive, but it asks your brain to work a bit more actively, and will yield results!
- Read the English version of an article before diving into the original. If you understand the gist of the article before attempting to make out unfamiliar vocabulary and syntax, you will have much easier (and enjoyable) time reading.
Here are some major international newspapers to pick from:
Any language tutor will tell you that reading is the best way to build vocabulary. Enjoy!
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