How to read books in English: learning how to read English text correctly

23 January 2025

English-learners

Oleksandra Kulish

Book expert

Reading is a key skill in learning English that helps you build your vocabulary and strengthen your grammar. It makes speech more varied, expressive and rich. However, to make reading in English not only enjoyable but also really useful, it is important to follow a few simple rules.

How to choose the right book in English for your level

The first step in choosing a book in English is to determine your current language level. Levels are divided into the following:

Beginner/A1: basic vocabulary, understanding of simple sentences and grammatical structures.
Below Intermediate (Elementary/A2): ability to comprehend simple texts, master basic tenses and expand vocabulary.
Intermediate/B1: reading adapted texts and understanding most everyday phrases.
Upper-Intermediate/B2: ability to understand complex structures and analyse texts of intermediate complexity.
Advanced/C1: reading original books without adaptation, knowledge of idioms and expressions.
Proficiency/C2: practically fluent at the native speaker level.

It is recommended to take special tests such as Cambridge English or EF SET to determine the exact level. This will help you choose literature that matches your skills and maximise your reading time.

Once you have determined your level, before choosing a book, find out what level it is recommended for - this information is usually available online.

For example, simple adapted books, texts with short sentences and frequent repetition, children's literature, comic books and graphic novels are suitable for beginner level.

At the intermediate level (B1), you can start with more complex texts, but adapted literature is still an excellent tool for vocabulary development. You can also use storybooks for teens: short but pithy stories allow you to focus on one story at a time, making it easier to understand the text. Consider stories by O. Henry or Roald Dahl - their engaging plots and simple language are ideal for intermediate level.

At an upper-intermediate level (B2), you can start reading original texts, choosing works with clear syntax and a minimum of complex cultural references. This may include contemporary prose, detectives and thrillers, and self-development books.

At the Proficiency level (C2), you can safely choose any literature in English, including complex works with rich stylistics and content. Include in your reading philosophy and classical literature, books on psychology, economics or other sciences, popular poetry and plays.

Use a dictionary and translator during reading

Developing the ability to understand the meaning of new words from context without translation is an important step towards fluent communication and reading. If you can grasp the general meaning of the paragraph you are reading, try not to get distracted by translating every unfamiliar word.

Reading should be fun! Constantly referring to a dictionary can disrupt your immersion in the text. If you really want to know the exact meaning of a word, use an English-English dictionary such as Collins Dictionary or Cambridge Dictionary. This will not only broaden your knowledge, but will also help you understand the language more deeply.

By reading for pleasure, you gradually enrich your passive vocabulary. Unfamiliar words are often repeated in the text, and their meanings become clear from the context. At the same time, passive vocabulary is formed naturally, and its translation into active vocabulary requires additional work.

How to effectively memorise new words and expressions from a text

Here are some effective ways to memorise vocabulary, stable expressions and useful constructions:

Write out unfamiliar words in the margins. This is handy if you don't want to interrupt your reading. While reading, clarify only those words without which it is impossible to understand the meaning of the sentence. The rest can be left to be learnt later.
Work with the dictionary after reading. Take some time to look up the meanings of unfamiliar words. We recommend using English-language explanatory dictionaries, such as Oxford Dictionaries. This will not only explain the meaning of the word, but also provide a description in English, which promotes better comprehension.
Add new vocabulary to an online dictionary. For further learning, use interactive platforms with a repetition feature. Put new words in there and repeat them daily, like a ritual, until they stick in your memory. If you come across interesting phrases or word combinations, write them down in their entirety in context - that way memorisation will be more effective.

Also, we are all tempted to use Google Translate or another online translator when reading complex text. However, machine translation is not always accurate - the more complex the sentence, the more errors there are. It is better to parse phrases and expressions yourself, and use a dictionary as the only help.

Try not to translate the text from English in your head, but perceive it immediately through images. For example, if it says ‘He ran down the street’, do not try to mentally translate it as ‘He ran down the street’, but imagine a man running down the street.

Of course, there are times when you can't understand a sentence straight away - that's normal. But if this happens too often, it is worth choosing a simpler text and returning to the current one later.

Also systematic reading is the key to success in learning new words. It is better to read 3-5 pages every day, than once a week to cope with 50. This is due to the peculiarities of information perception: small daily loads keep the brain in tone, and the reading process becomes easier. Half an hour a day is enough to read 3-5 pages in English.

If you read only once a week or less, the result will be minimal. In a week your brain can forget up to 95% of new vocabulary and you will have to start from the beginning each time, which reduces your motivation.

Half an hour a day is enough time for you to see real results after a month. Reading in English will become easier, and you will less and less need to be distracted by translation.

Using audiobooks to improve your listening skills

English audiobooks are a great tool for improving your listening comprehension of foreign speech, which is essential for real-life communication. Such recordings are often voiced by native speakers, and the listener is not only immersed in the content of the work, but also gets used to the natural, fast speech of native speakers. This helps you learn to distinguish words in the stream of speech, which makes it much easier to understand when you have to communicate with a native speaker in real life.

For people with a beginner level of English communication, audiobooks can be especially helpful. At the first stages of language learning, you often have to deal with a set of incomprehensible sounds, as native speakers often ‘swallow’ or do not pronounce certain sounds. Therefore, there are specially designed audiobooks for beginners, in which the speaker speaks slowly and clearly, pronouncing each word, which makes it easier to grasp the meaning of the sentences. Such books use basic or average vocabulary, and there are usually no complex and specialised terms.

How to choose a genre and author to motivate you to read in English

Genres of books are quite simple, because motivation plays an important role. If you like books of a certain genre in your native language, read them in English. If you like the Strugatsky brothers, try Isaac Asimov or Ray Bradbury. Do you like love stories, biographies or historical novels? Find similar works in English-language literature.

If you have a favourite English-language author whose books you've reread several times, try reading them in the original. This is a great way if adapted literature is no longer of interest and non-adapted books seem difficult. By reading a familiar work, you won't be stressed out by unfamiliar phrases or complicated details. You are already familiar with the main events and the development of the plot, which will help you more easily perceive the text.

Don't forget that you will benefit from reading if you read systematically. Take an English book with you and read at every opportunity - while waiting for the bus, in the queue at the shop or on the metro. Make it your ritual. Leave the books in your native language at home so you won't be tempted to ‘backtrack’. If you have 10 underground stops to go and only one English book in your hand, there's nothing left to do but read what you have.