From zero to reading your first book in LingQ (blog post)

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I’ve been wanting to do a comprehensive LingQ blog post for quite some time now. One that would bring someone from complete beginner all the way to reading their first book. Because I find that once you’ve read that first book, that’s all you need to keep doing to get to very advanced levels of comprehension (assuming you’re also listening a lot).

In the post, I go through things like:

  • When it’s a good time to start reading your first book
  • The LingQ reading workflow
  • Tips for smoother reading
  • Traps to avoid
  • How to find, convert, and import e-books

Let me know what you think and if you feel something is missing. It’s quite comprehensible but I wanted it to be accessible and easy to read at the same time.

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Thanks for sharing, I also noticed I was able to read soon after I learnt my first 1k high freq words and I don’t like the 2-4 ranking and stopped doing it a while back.

Do you find there is any harm in re-reading?

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Great resource Christian, thanks!!

I find some rereading to be helpful. I can see the yellow words directly in context and help reinforce my memory. Also I can use already read material for my listening practice, which I am woefully behind on.

There are many words that don’t seem to stick no matter how many times I come across them. That’s when I go to Anki. Those tough frequently used words can then get solidified through testing and repeating.

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Nice man!

I don’t see any harm in re-reading at all. It can definitely be beneficial. I just don’t do it myself as I’d rather keep reading new material. I am reading a book in Spanish that I already read in Chinese though. However, I’m a big believer in re-listening and I do that quite a bit.

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Glad you liked it!

Nothing wrong with using Anki. I have used it a ton for Cantonese but I use it more for learning vocabulary found in TV shows and that kinda thing. I have never used flashcards for Finnish, and I have only used them for speaking practice purposes in Spanish and drilling some key phrases (I needed to get my speaking chops up for an interview). So it’s a matter of preference. And for me, it has just depended on the language as I found them key for Cantonese specifically.

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