5 Ways to Improve Your Spanish Reading Skills for Classes and Homework

People who love to read feel relaxed when they are lost into the pages of a book. It takes them to a land of imagination and inspiration where they travel through time. When you are learning Spanish, you double your choice of books that you can read. Going through the assigned readings for homework might not sound like so much fun, but it can be if you give it a chance and do it the right way.

Reading Spanish for your assignments can help your language learning skills to a great extent. There are websites like Homeworkmarket.com that provide assistance with online tutoring and assignments. If you feel that you are lagging, you can always find homework help in Spanish on this site. Try not to compete or race with anyone, especially when you have just started. It will help you to increase your Spanish vocabulary, especially with idioms and phrases. Spanish reading will also help you become familiar with repetitive words and the correct use of grammar while speaking. The flow of sentences are often quite different from English, and reading will help identify these and make your speaking and writing better. If you find that reading Spanish is not as much fun as you thought it would be, here are a few simple ways to get better at it.

Start Small

If you have just started learning Spanish, or still feeling new to it, pick up something small. If you start with a 900-page book, things might look pretty scary. Instead, start with a newspaper or magazine article. Business and media writing always use formal speech in Spanish, which makes it great for academic purposes. You can also keep up with the use of the language since they will use the trendy ways of using the Spanish language. Blog posts, on the other hand, can teach you the casual way of speaking Spanish. It will help you differentiate between the two styles of writing and know when to use them. Casual language is also great for conversations, and you will not feel awkward talking to your Spanish speaking friends.

Read Something Familiar

We all have our favorite books that have been translated into many languages. Pick up a Spanish edition of your favorite book. You will find more interest in reading it since you are familiar with the story and the characters. You will also look forward to the Spanish version of your favorite parts and dialogues. It will also help you understand things better. You will be able to find out the differences in writing English and Spanish. It will also help you expand your vocabulary because you will find it easier to remember the Spanish words for your favorite parts. Reading something familiar will reduce your intimidation towards the language.

You can also use both the English and Spanish versions of the book together to help you understand the parts or words where you feel stuck. Cross-referencing the sentences can be useful to learn new words without the need to fish out a dictionary all the time. But keep in mind that not all translational is literal, so it is necessary to understand the differences and make a note of them.

Maintain a Word Log

After you have finished reading a part of an article or a book, make a note of all the new words you have learned. In the beginning, you might have to stop at every new word that you come across. But try to remember the new words and note them after completing a portion of what you are reading. Pausing every time can make things tedious, and you can start to lose interest. Try to increase the amount of reading every time you stop to note unfamiliar words and their meanings. You can also underline new words you come across and find out their meaning afterward.

Read Practical Things

Reading everyday things can prove to be useful in learning casual speech in Spanish. You can go through reviews of your favorite movie written in Spanish. Or you can go through Facebook or Twitter posts that are in Spanish. It will pique your interest in learning new things about the language. You can also add plugins on your web browser that randomly translates words into Spanish so that it broadens your vocabulary in the language.

Listen to What You Read

Many people find that reading things aloud helps them to retain more information. It can make reading interesting and interactive. You can download an audio version of what you are reading so that you can understand the correct pronunciation of the Spanish words. You can also compare it with what you hear in movies or series to perfect your way of speaking Spanish.

Learning a new language can unlock a wide set of rewards. You already made the right choice of adding a widely spoken language to your curriculum. You need to be patient and make the right efforts.

Rishabh Rajvanshi
Technical writer with relevant experience of one year, Rishabh has co-founded TeCake.com. He has written several reviews, latest technology news articles and high-level documentation. You can contact Rishabh at rishabh[at]tecake.com