As an American living in Mexico these past few years, I’ve been working on my Spanish in a variety of ways. In fact, I have become fascinated by how people acquire second languages and have made a study of the subject.
One of the things that helps us to acquire proficiency in another language is to immerse ourselves in that language in a variety of ways — I often recommend listening to music that has words or watching DVDs of soap operas or films.
I’ve had a lot of fun, and picked up some Spanish, by reading. I’m always reading something in English; usually there are several books by my bedside table.
One day, I was in a mall in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city. I had finished my shopping and was waiting for the people I had come with. I wandered into a small bookstore and started browsing. I didn’t think I could read most of the books there without frustration, but as I picked up first one, then another, I saw that I could get the general idea at least.
I ended up buying one called “El leon, la bruja, y el armario.” (They must not capitalize titles in Spanish, as that’s how it was on the book cover.) Sound familiar? It was a translation of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” a novel I had read before.
I had forgotten what a gripping story it was. Once I started reading it in Spanish, I could hardly put it down and I must admit I skipped ahead and read the last couple of chapters! I missed a lot, even in the parts I read, because I didn’t know words, but I had the pleasure of immersing myself in a great story and I gained more confidence in reading Spanish. After that, I began to go through the book methodically, with a copy in English that I bought for the purpose of reading each chapter in both languages.
Whatever level of Spanish you are at, once you get past the very beginning level, do try reading in Spanish — try newspapers, magazines, websites, children’s books, or whatever you can find. It’s enjoyable and you will likely learn something.
