The Second Skill Every Language Learner Should Develop

Why reading creates the foundation for better speaking and writing

If you have read my previous article about developing your listening skills and are wondering what to do next, then this article is for you!

I will talk you through the second step I would take to make significant progress in a target language.

This time, we will focus on reading.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Why should reading be the second skill developed rather than speaking?
• What should you read?
• What are realistic timeframes for development?

As I mentioned in the previous article, listening should come before reading.

By listening first, you become familiar with the sounds, rhythm and pronunciation of the language. This reduces interference from your mother tongue in terms of pronunciation and mental translation.

[embed]The Most Powerful Language Learning Skill Nobody Talks About How focusing on listening first can transform the way you learn, understand, and speak a foreign languagemedium.com

Reading comes next because it allows you to connect the sounds you already know with their written forms.

Remember that you are no longer trying to learn the meaning of individual words. You already have a foundation. You are building on it.

But what about speaking?

Speaking is a skill that requires two things:

1. A well-stocked brain

2. Trained facial muscles.

While most people focus only on the second part, both are essential.

In order to speak, your brain must coordinate your mouth, tongue, lips, jaw and facial muscles to produce sounds accurately and fluently.

This requires lots of practice and repetition. However, physical training alone is not enough.

You can only say what you have consumed.

Speaking is the ability to recall information stored in your brain and communicate it orally.

If you haven’t heard or read enough of a language, your ability to express yourself will be limited. You will constantly encounter gaps in your knowledge:

• missing vocabulary
• unfamiliar sentence structures
• uncertainty about what sounds natural
• difficulty responding in real-life situations.

This is why the more language you absorb, the more you will have at your disposal when it comes to speaking.

If you have repeatedly heard or read how native speakers respond in certain contexts, those patterns will become familiar, and your brain will be able to recall and use them when a similar situation arises.

Why reading is so valuable

Reading is a great tool for building the foundation needed for speaking and writing.

It exposes you to:

• new vocabulary
• useful expressions
• common sentence patterns
• grammar in context.

Every page you read expands the pool of language that you can later use in conversation.

Reading also offers something that spoken language cannot: control.

You can slow down, re-read a sentence, analyse its structure and take as much time as you need to understand it.

This enables you to absorb language more deeply and notice details that might otherwise be overlooked.

Consume before you produce

Reading and listening help you to build and reinforce your target language before you are ready to produce speech or text.

They provide the raw material.

At the same time, reading aloud can serve as a bridge between input and output, enabling you to practise your pronunciation and train your speech muscles in a controlled environment.

[embed]Want to Know Why You Forget Vocabulary So Quickly? You probably don’t need another app, course, or textbookmedium.com

We’ll come back to that in a moment.

Now, let’s focus on what you should read.

We will focus on three main categories:

• Read the transcripts of what you listened to during the first stage.
• Read texts about topics you love or find interesting.
• Read narrative texts, i.e. stories.

1. Read transcripts.

This will help you consolidate the information you took in during the listening stage.

It helps you to make connections between written and spoken language.

Another major advantage is that you already understand much of the meaning. This means that you won’t have to keep stopping to look up words in a dictionary or experience delays caused by translating internally.

This is important because it helps you develop reading fluency and prepares you for the production skills you will work on later.

You can also practise reading and listening simultaneously. In this case, however, the written support should be in your target language.

I have written another article dedicated to this technique and its benefits.

2. Read what you love!

Choose topics that you already enjoy reading about in your native language.

When a text is interesting and exciting, it is memorable and engaging, and, as a result, you will naturally retain more information.

Language learning becomes less about studying and more about exploring a subject you already care about.

3. Read narrative texts.

As well as texts related to your interests, I strongly recommend reading narrative texts.

Exciting and interesting stories are easy to remember.

They expand your vocabulary and show you how to speak in situations that matter to you.

They also make reading feel less like a school subject.

Only move on to more technical, field-specific materials when you are comfortable with extended narrative texts.

Field-specific texts will greatly improve your reading skills, but this is a challenge for a later stage in your learning journey.

What are realistic development times?

Reading generally takes less time to develop than listening because information is processed differently (visually).

You have more control over the content and how it is delivered and processed.

If you are not an avid reader, it will take you longer than someone who regularly reads for pleasure.

The good news is that you won’t struggle to understand as much because much of the content will be familiar from your previous listening sessions.

If you dedicate 30 minutes to an hour a day (excluding weekends) to reading, you should reach a comfortable level of reading fluency in approximately four to five months.

Remember that fluency is measured not only through speaking and writing. It is also assessed through listening and reading.

Take these numbers with a pinch of salt.

Progress depends on many factors, including the writing system, how difficult the language is, how consistent you are, your previous experience of learning languages, and how much exposure you receive.

Keep this in mind:

Reading is the process by which sounds become words.

It develops your understanding and meaning creation skills.

If you develop robust reading skills before moving on to production, you will acquire a richer vocabulary and enhanced comprehension, as well as a more robust foundation for speaking and writing.

Take your time with this stage.

The things you read today will influence the conversations you have tomorrow.

Happy learning!

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