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I bought the book, and I started reading, but I couldn’t keep it for long. I just don’t like the book

I saw a few videos on YouTube and that recommended star reading a children's books, a book that you read in the past in spanish or a young adult book for the begginers. What you do think?

@Samantha_# It's supossed to be the best way to keep up with the story and practice a known language.
I'd recommend Roald Dahl's work and Rick Riordan for a intermediate. If you want to step up to a young adult I'd recommend 'the perks of being a wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky.

Thanks @SnoopyCrisprCas !

Samantha_# escribió: ↑27 Jun 2020, 17:04 I saw a few videos on YouTube and that recommended star reading a children's books, a book that you read in the past in spanish or a young adult book for the begginers. What you do think?

It’s a good advice. I do that with movies that I like and helps me lots to improve the language skills, mostly in terms of vocabulary, slangs, pronunciation.... Also, I used to have the audiobook of the book I was reading at a given moment. Played it while I was reading it myself, and also helps a lot to improve with the language!

Oh @Libuse I forgot all about audiobooks! Great advice too!

Reading a book in english that has been already read in spanish didn't work for me. As I knew the story, I read fast and not working in understanding what I was reading because I already knew it (I don't know if that really make sense, but is what I felt).

For me, what really worked was reading biographys; the vocabulary is modern (usually) and not so flourished so it's ease and nice to read, but I found some sort of challenge in it (challenge that I didn't find reading a story previosuly read in spanish), that helped me to improve my reading and undestanding.

Hello everyone! Sorry if I make any grammar mistakes. I’ve been trying to read in English for a while ,but I can’t focus on it for long. I’ve read like 4 pages in 30 minutes (embarrassing) and then my brain is like stop. I read really slowly , to make sure I understand everything and the context (even thought sometimes it’s impossible for me to understand some things but whatever). Then I write it down and talk with some native friends that read the book and I think I got everything right or at least the basics but it’s so hard for me to focus and be interested in reading the whole book and idk if I love reading anymore or if it’s just that English is not for me and I should stick to Spanish again. I don’t want it because I feel that reading improves my English and also helps me to learn more vocabulary and find books that will never be translated to Spanish but I have to admit it’s a challenge for me and I feel embarrassed most of the time and sad because I see people getting better and I can’t focus on it and I’m too too slow. Any tips? Should I give up at this point?

@Serendipia , go at your own pace. Small progress is still progress.

Instead of forcing yourself to read for two hours, or to read a specific number of pages, make it a matter of time. You can aim to read for 15 min 5 days a week. Regardless of the amount of pages or lines you can read. Set up the alarm, and that’s it. Choose a period of time that’s not too much but not too little for you (so it can be 10 min, 20...). I think that way you’ll feel accomplished by keeping it as a routine, and eventually you’ll see you can read more in the same amount of time. If you’re really organized, you can even keep track of your progress by writing down how many lines/pages you read each day.

Another thing that comes to my mind now is that you can combine the time strategy with the variety-of-tasks strategy. What I mean is that one day you can just read for those 15 min without looking up or forcing yourself to understand. Another day you can just do as you do now and stop anytime you read a new word. Another day you can just study/memorize new words from previous days.

It’s still the “reading skill “, but divided by different kind of tasks.

And last but not least: have you tried changing books?

@Libuse than you so much!. I'll definitely try the time thing.I'll probably start with 15 minutes, up to 20 and i will try not to think much about the number of pages. I think my main problem is the focus thing and that i can't be fully inmerse in the book and reading experience but i'll try everything that you mentioned, I'm sure it will help
I try to switch genres from time to time. Not gonna lie, since lockdown started I've only read graphic novels and mangas (all of them in english) and i can read them faster and still understand almost everything and the context but with full novels my mind says stop, idk why. I tried romance, thriller, a little bit of YA and maybe i'll read contemporary and more biographies. The only thing I try to avoid is fantasy. Years and years ago I read the whole acotar series by sarah j maas in english and once i was done with the last one (over 600 pages) my brain was completely fried so i avoid it for now. Do you have any good recs for biographies or any other book that helped you? I've been thinking about reading patti smith's book (just kids) but not sure how difficult it will be

@Serendia , I know nothing about Just Kids

If you prefer graphic novels, why not? In my case, I remember reading a lot of chic-lit and romance stuff back in my Erasmus, when I needed to improve my English skills. It’s what worked for me apart from watching always English tv shows with English subs.

Have you considered reading books for English students? I mean those that are adapted to the level of the student. I would start with a B2, couple of titles at least, and see how you deal with them. You can upgrade the level if it’s too easy or whenever you’re ready. The good thing is that those books are shorter. The bad thing is the numbers of titles to choose from. But I would give it a try.

Biographies are not my cup of tea in any language , so I can’t suggest anything here, sorry.

And I would turn off every device you have during those 15 min. If possible.

@Libuse no worries! i thought about biographies since they might use more coloquial expressions but not 100% sure and i've read good things about just kids.
I love graphic novels and mangas but i need to switch from time to time otherwhise i'll get a book slump. I've read some student books (level B2) and some adapted classics like dracula, frankenstein but the student versions. I really liked them and helped me a lot so maybe i'll search for more titles to start with again and then i'll try some romance. I wanted to read historical since my friend says it's easy but she has more level than I do, so not sure about it either
I think i might have to read in a room away from my phone, i'm starting to think it's too distracting and maybe the reason why i stop reading altogether, because i spend so much time with my devices anyways thank you so much for all the recs, you helped me a lot

You’re welcome. @Serendipia . Keep us posted!

My english is awful, and became worst everyday. Is because of it, that I try to read in english. People says "reading you learn to write"... I don't know.

babyX escribió: ↑20 Oct 2020, 12:06 My english is awful, and became worst everyday. Is because of it, that I try to read in english. People says "reading you learn to write"... I don't know.

I improved my writing... by writing. That's it. I had it easy at uni with all the papers and essays. Now I would find it difficult to practice unless I do have to do it (i.e. because of work).

But if I write and write it wrong...

babyX escribió: ↑20 Oct 2020, 12:41 But if I write and write it wrong...

I think there was someone in the "Inglés" thread saying they used to use some kind of platform with people (natives) that corrected their texts. But I don't recall who it was, sorry.

In any case, I recommend you Grammarly. It's an extension you can install in your browser and copy-paste any kind of text. They remark any mistakes in terms of grammar, orthography or even style. Not so bad if you don't have anyone checking your texts...

Oh, thank you

@babyX you can also try a language tandem. I used to do it in person, but you can also do it online with some apps (I have used Speaky sometimes). You practice with native speakers of the language you want to learn and they practice with you in Spanish.

Aaah, I saw the thread was up and thought someone might've tried to revive the EBC

What do you say if we try to bring it back starting next year? I really enjoyed the first book we read, but then the pandemic hit and I also dropped the ball with "Normal People"... I couldn't get past the writing style and I'll admit it's still waiting for me to finish it (even though I almost never leave a book unfinished ), but I'd be in if you girls wanna try again.

¿Alguien se apunta? @Maud @WideAwake @-Olimpia- @babyX @Vuely @Libuse @Tarantela @ianna82 @nobego82 @karyatide @Tam @serena y las que me haya ido dejando por el camino, os animáis?