How many times have we been told by foreigners that they would like to read Dostoevsky, Chekhov, and Tolstoy in Russian — hasn't it felt like a pride to hear? Similarly, English learners often want to enjoy Shakespeare's or Dickens' masterpieces in the original. Although you may have a plan to master a foreign language - a more down-to-earth and pragmatic goal - if you do not read fiction books you have no chances to advance your knowledge of the language.
Why reading books in English is good for everyone who wants to reach an advanced level of the language? Here is the top 3 reasons:
Expanding thesaurus
Inevitable upon exposure to fiction books. To ensure that the process is more effective adopt a more deliberate approach to this task by choosing the right books and writing down new words to learn.
More grammar insights
As part of a conscious-level automatic process, the images of words stick in your memory when you are reading. No secret that English spelling can be surprising and, in many cases, it is a good idea to recall rather than using logic or analogies.
Extensive knowledge-making
Even now, when the contemporaries have at hand multiple news web-sites, exuberant communications across various social networks.
Further, when you start reading books in English you make yourself look better. Having discovered the motivation (as we can see the expected outcomes of our efforts are significant) we shall make a good selection of books.
Most modern book stores offer books in English but generally, these are very hard to understand classics or best-selling books — stories or narratives for blockbusters and TV episodes.
Well, this is not the best choice of books in English to read for a beginner, especially when it comes to children. The best place to begin is simple stories and then gradually shift to more complex pieces up to the scientific papers with a professional thesaurus (if applicable).
So that the first attempt would not end up discouraging you from taking a book in a foreign language in your hand in the future, begin with adapted editions (generally, these are marked for language proficiency). For example, for elementary level, reading books with less than 1,100 keywords is generally advisable.
To ensure that reading books written in a foreign language becomes much more than just a useful pastime but also brings some fun, follow these simple and worthwhile tips.
Life-hacks for Beginners:
Read more frequently and at least half an hour a day. A good basis to improve your phonetics is taking every opportunity to listen to the audiobook.
The experts believe that the right choice of books to read generally shall ensure that the reader understands approximately 70% of words (100% of known words doesn't give you the desired advantage).
Established schools where the study is in English usually have proprietary libraries available to readers of any age to choose from a great range of books. For instance, in Russia, such type of educational organization is CIS International School that offers study programs with native English-speaking teachers (please call to learn more on offered kindergarten and school campus services in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Tashkent).
To help you plan your reading in the best way, please use the following list of recommended books.
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