Get Lost in a Good Book – 7 Tips
Why should you read books in English?
Do you want to become better at English as quickly as possible? Of course you do! Do you know that one of the best ways to do this is to study and use English outside class? Of course you do! Do you have lots of time and energy to study grammar books and do exercises? Of course you don’t!
One common suggestion is to read novels in English. This has the major advantage that you don’t have to be sitting at a table studying. You can do it on the bus to work, in a cafe, on the sofa or in bed before going to sleep.
They are also quite easy to find nowadays. Many larger towns have bookshops with English sections or foreign language bookshops and if not there is always Amazon!
How can it help me?
There are several ways in which reading books can help your English.
- It helps you learn new vocabulary by seeing and understanding them in context.
- It helps you subconsciously learn new grammatical structures.
- It helps you subconsciously absorb how native speakers express themselves which stops you translating word for word from your own language.
- Your ability to read quickly and in quantity will improve.
- Your ability to write in English will improve.
- Your general confidence will increase.
- As a result of all of the above your motivation to learn English will also shoot up.
So the next time you want to are too tired to study English but want to improve, go and buy a book. It’s magic!
Posted by Barney on Jan 14 2011. Filed under English Tips.
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Barney, thank you for the article. My mother tongue is Russian; English is a second language for me. So, I always tried to find a method that could help me to acquire the language. And I started reading…devouring books on English. Now I read only English literature and try not only extract some information and knowledge but also to pay attention to a combination of words, idioms, collocations etc. and use them in my daily life.
That’s a really good way of doing it, Ekaterina! Your English is clearly excellent. How much is that down to learning in the classroom and how much is it about independent learning, like reading books, I wonder?