I spent an hour reading a difficult Persian podcast at LingQ this week. No email, no Twitter, no distractions. By the end of that hour, my sense of control over the language had jumped, and it reminded me why reading is the most powerful tool I use in every language I learn. Skip the comprehension questions and just consume the language. What are you reading in your target language right now?
Just watched Steve’s video on reading being the “killer app” for language learning and it really clicked with me.
Lately I’ve been procrastinating a bit and mostly just doing listening to keep some momentum going. But today I had some quiet downtime, opened LingQ, went into sentence mode, and just read for a few minutes.
It was kind of wild how fast things started clicking again. Words I’d mostly only been hearing started connecting more clearly.
One thing I liked from the video was the reminder that motivation is flaky, but habits and free time are something we can actually rely on. Also, reading lets you slow down and notice patterns you might miss when you’re only listening.
Just a good reminder that even 5–10 minutes of focused reading can feel way more productive than procrastinating for an hour.