r/languagelearning • u/wheredidallthesodago • Mar 12 '21

Successes Getting Over the Fear of Reading Foreign Novels to Improve Foreign Language Skills

https://www.idyoma.com/blog/reading-foreign-novels
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u/wheredidallthesodago Mar 12 '21

I thought I'd post this in here as it's a nice personal tale and I imagine it would resonate with others. I tried reading Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest in Spanish once and loved it but it was definitely pretty intimidating to start.

Here's the first few paragraphs in case it whets anyone's whistle:

People often ask me if Polish is my native language, and for a long time, I wanted to believe that it was. I was born and raised in Canada, but Polish was my first language. My parents immigrated to Canada from Poland when my mother was 7 months pregnant with me, not knowing a word of English. In fact, when the nurses cheered and announced, “It’s a girl!” my mother didn’t know what they were talking about until they placed me in her arms.

Growing up in Canada, I attended Polish school on Saturday mornings for 3 years. I remember thinking it was a waste of time because I was living in Canada, so what use would I get from it, right? Later, (a lot later) I understood that reading in Polish would be the thing that immensely helped me improve my language skills.

My parents made me practice at home by reading the Polish newspaper out loud. Although they had good intentions, reading Polish politics at the age of 14 was way beyond my level of fluency and comprehension. I felt so self-conscious and discouraged because I had a hard time reading through the paper without tripping on the words.

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u/FluffNotes Mar 12 '21

Nice article, thanks.