Reading: One of the best ways of learning Spanish
Reading can dramatically improve your language proficiency (even in your own language!).
If you are learning Spanish, reading should be in your every day to-do list.
Why is reading in Spanish helpful for learning?
You can do it at your own pace. You can look for the words that you don’t know and write them down and learn them. You can do it for five minutes or an hour, depending on how deep you want to go. You can read everywhere, in your phone or Kindle: in the subway, waiting for the doctor, before going to bed. These stories will open new worlds to you, and not only your Spanish will be better, but you’ll be having a good time while learning about the world and other people’s ideas.
It’s one of my personal favorite ways of learning a language.
Best Reading practice for learning Spanish – Beginner
When you still don’t control all the grammatical nuances and most of the vocabulary, embarking in reading a novel can be too challenging. Lower your expectations and achieve more sense of success with these language-affordable resources.
1. Online Resources
Here you can find over 20 readings for beginners, together with audio recordings. Very diverse topics, so you get plenty of new words. Very recommended.
Children books in pdf, quite cute, that you can read and understand easily while you get used to the language.
More children/teenagers books that you can download.
Best Reading practice for learning Spanish – Intermediate
In this stage, you can read some easy texts and understand them mostly. But you want to get also some excitement, some adventure, some aesthetics from your reading (otherwise, you’d just read textbooks).
I chose these specific books so you don’t have to look for many words. But if you were patient enough, you could also try any novel, having with a good dictionary on the side – and navigate through a world of amazement.
2. Young reader’s book
Usually, these books are complex enough to provide entertainment, but they consciously avoid being snob (unlike many “adult” books), so you’ll find easier vocabulary and grammar constructions.
- El Príncipe de la Niebla, Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
A mystery story about a young boy that moves next to the ocean.
- Manolito Gafotas, Elvira Lindo.
Everybody knows this kid in Spain. It’s a great portrait of what we Spanish kids of the 90’s were. It might be a bit difficult to understand in its very colloquial language. But, at the same time, it’s very colloquial! So you could use it in many daily life situations. It applies only in Spain, not Latin America, though.
- Jordi Serra i Fabra.
This very prolific author writes about teenager’s modern problems. You can find books about drugs, like Campos de Fresas, or major decisions in life, El último set.
3. Translations
Most of the time, translations have a more clear, less over-elaborated language than books in native Spanish. If you choose also young reader’s books amongst them, it becomes easier while having an enjoyable reading experience.
- Harry Potter Saga
The most famous young magician is a common choice when attempting to read a long novel in a foreign language. - El Principito (The Little Prince)
This worldwide best seller has moved many with its simple but disruptive wisdom. And its beautiful drawings. - Roahl Dahl. Las Brujas, El Gran Gigante Bonachón.
With one of his books just about to hit the cinema screens, it’s a good moment to read some of the charming stories from this powerful author.
Best Reading practice for learning Spanish – Advanced
4. Cookbooks
They are full of usable words and VERBS for daily actions we all do: “stir,” “mix,” “boil,” plus lots of imperative tense! It’s also a great look into the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world through its cuisines and its attitudes towards making food.
5. Daily life books
Some books talk about our daily life, and how we can improve it. This is especially useful when learning a language, because you will be able to learn and see in use words and concepts that you are constantly in contact with.
6. Self-help Books
Helping they to improve your life or not, they can be useful in order to learn how to speak about feelings or personal problems. Again, you can read any book in this category. But this selection will make it simpler for you.
- Cuentos de Jorge Bucay
This famous Argentinian therapist translates his findings from helping thousand of people, to short and powerful stories. They are beautiful examples about situations that most of us encounter at least once in our lives. - Paulo Coehlo: El Alquimista
This book has spoken to millions of souls around the world. It’s not too complicated to follow either. A sound option for something bigger.
7. Realismo Mágico
This is the most specific Spanish-speaking literature genre. And it’s worth it to read in its original language. Nevertheless, most of the times the language it’s too complicated, full with regionalism, and not very actionable in your everyday conversation. I’ve selected the most accessible texts in this category for a first approach.
- Isabel Allende: Cuentos de Eva Luna
A good starting point. These short stories can take you to a new world without having to stop in the dictionary every three words. - Laura Esquivel: Como agua para chocolate
A very well known book from Mexico. It combines delicious food and love in a very entertaining story, very easy to read (I finished it just waiting for my plane + flying to Europe once).
- Gabriel García Márquez: Cien años de soledad
The masterpiece in Realismo Mágico. One of the best books ever written. The complex and stimulating tale of a family across generations that takes place in Macondo, a little village that could be anywhere in Latin America.
8. Graphic Novels
If you are one of those than enjoy words + pictures, you can try this Spanish editorial of very modern comic stories. The language is very lively, very urban, and reflects everyday communication in Spain nowadays.
They even have free chapters of their digital comics for peeking out a bit!
9. Online Resources
You can find unlimited content in Spanish on the Internet. I’ll leave you with three special examples:
- Newsela: Read about recent news in a very easy style. Graded text for different levels about an interesting variety of topics.
https://newsela.com/text-sets/#/spanish - The New York Times en Español: Spanish versions of the news from the most acclaimed newspaper in the world.
http://www.nytimes.com/es/ - Medium en Español: This new media site covers every kind of story – go find the one for you!
https://medium.com/espanol
Hello! This post could not be written any better! Reading through this post reminds
me of my good old room mate! He always kept talking about this.
I will forward this write-up to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read.
Many thanks for sharing!
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