I talk a lot about language “input,” which I’ve previously defined as “correct phrases and sentences in the native language.” As a reminder, this definition has three distinct parts. They must be correct, they must be full phrases and sentences, and they must be in a version of the language that is truly native. One of the biggest challenges in language learning, especially when you’re at the beginning of your journey, is finding a source of language input that satisfies these criteria, that you can understand at least some of, and that is interesting enough to you that you will stick to it. In this article, I want to talk a little bit about one source that I’ve found that provides all of this to me: English books translated into your target language.

Here’s how I usually do this. First, I think about all of the books that I’ve read in English, and pick out the favorite ones which I think I could stand reading more than once. Then, I find the version of that book in my target language (for me, this has been both Spanish and Turkish). I’ve bought books both online at specialty websites, and also at bookstores when I’ve been in the foreign country where they speak that language. I especially like to go to foreign language bookstores - it’s fun to try to figure out what the titles of all of the books mean, and to imagine all of the new knowledge that will be available to me once I finally learn the language.

Let’s make this real: very early in my studies of Turkish, I knew I would need a great source of input. The Harry Potter series is one of my favorite ones - one that I could stand reading multiple times. At the time, I was studying in Turkey, so I picked up a copy at a Turkish bookstore.

Here are some of the pros and cons of this method:

1. If you’ve picked the book correctly, it will be one that is very fun for you to read again and again. It will make “studying” not feel like real work at all. This is almost more important than any other factor - the 80% solution that you can stick with in the long run is going to give much better results than the 100% solution that you abandon after two weeks.
2. If you’re familiar with the story, you are much more likely to understand what is going on. In this way, you will be able to concentrate on the new words and phrases you are learning.
3. One con to this method is that the language written in books like Harry Potter can be very difficult for a beginner. You might have to have a lot of patience (like I did) if you’re planning to stick to it. If you want something easier, you can start with childrens’ books, which, while less interesting, are written at a simpler level.

Happy reading!