Reading! What a beautiful activity, right? To picture thousands of stories with different plots, characters and outcomes. Some stories are made to make us think, reflect and maybe even change our minds about something.
Some are made to make us see something from a different perspective and make us empathize with it. Some others we can feel identified with. But with all of them, we can learn something new, including a language.
That’s the power of reading. We can learn grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension in a new language while having fun. So, if you’re just starting your Spanish as a second language journey, don’t be afraid. Reading is a great option for you to improve.
Especially considering there are many mind-blowing Hispanic authors. I mean, who wouldn’t want to read “Don Quixote” in its native language. But let’s start simple. Here is a list of the best easy Spanish reading for beginners.
What’s the Best Spanish Reading for Adult Beginners?
When we think about easy reading to start learning Spanish, we usually think of children’s books. It makes sense, they don’t have complex vocabulary or sentences, they are full of pictures, they’re entertaining and sometimes there’s not much text.
Basically, the perfect books to read in a new language. But, what about adults? Is there something easy for them to start reading in Spanish? Well, yes, of course!
First of all, adults can also read children’s books. They can still learn something from them, connect with their inner child or their memories from when they were kids. And the stories can also be interesting for adults.
So, let’s not close that option. But if you still want something designed for your age, there are some easy options as well. You could read some literature with pictures for adults, like magazines or comics.
Visual learning will always help you a lot in the first stages of your language learning process. Because you can connect the words, paragraphs and chapters that you read to the images that you see throughout the text.
That way, even if you don’t know the meaning of a sentence, you’ll be able to understand it by the context of the image. For example, if a book says: “la mujer paseó a su perro” and the picture is a woman walking her dog, you’ll understand it. And gradually, you’ll pick up new vocabulary.
That’s why here are some of the best Spanish magazines, comic books and graphic novels recommendations for adults.
Alack Sinner
This is a crime comic book about a New York detective named Alack Sinner. It falls into the noir genre, “género negro” in Spanish, because it’s about crimes and detectives.
But even more interesting is the focus on the criticism of society that lies behind the main stories. Throughout the comic, you’ll notice topics like crime, injustice, racism, politics and more.
As you may have noticed already, this is a very interesting comic book. It will make you think and see the world and the society you live in through a different lens. As well as entertain you with its obscurity and crime investigations.
Basically, it’s great if you want to acquire the language, like you did with your mother tongue, instead of just learning and memorizing it.
It was written by Carlos Sampayo and illustrated by José Muñoz, both Argentinians exiled in Europe. That’s why this was published first in Europe, in countries like Italy, France and Spain, and later in Argentina.
So, if you’re also learning Italian or French, this comic is perfect for you as you can find it in those languages as well. If you read it in all these versions, you can even compare the translations and the languages.
Revista ¡Hola!
What is something people usually read when they don’t want something too philosophical or tedious? Or when they need to kill time, for example at the dentist’s office? That’s right, something related to celebrities, like a blog, a quick article or a popular magazine. If that’s what you like, ¡Hola! is the perfect Spanish magazine for you.
¡Hola! was founded in Spain years ago and has since then started being published in many other countries, like Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and more. Even in some non-Hispanic countries, like Canada or Brazil. This worldwide presence only makes it even better to learn Spanish.
Why? Because you can read a magazine issue from a different Hispanic country and that way you’ll acquire vocabulary from different countries. And if you’re learning another language, like Portuguese, you can also read an issue from Brazil.
It might sound crazy that reading a magazine about celebrities can help you learn a language. But it’s true. In fact, it’s very useful. You’ll be reading something you’re interested in, that doesn’t stress you a lot and doesn’t really make you think too much. So you won’t feel like you’re studying. It’ll feel like a chill time.
On top of that, you’ll learn basic but very important vocabulary for our everyday lives. Just think about it, news about the celebrity world can include topics like clothes, housing and lifestyle; all things we live and use daily.
Arrugas
“Arrugas” is the title of a graphic novel by Paco Roca. This book is about Emilio, an old man who suffers from Alzheimer and ends up in a nursing home. Now, he’ll have to adapt to his new life there, while trying to cope with his disease. It’s a book with a lot of heart.
Plus, it’s about an age and a topic that not many people talk about, but it’s important because it exists. This only makes it more real. It has won plenty of awards, which are just another proof of its quality.
Since it’s a graphic novel, you’ll be able to read more easily, because there will not be chunks of long paragraphs. You’ll also pick up new vocabulary for real life situations. Most importantly, you’ll literally see the images of the characters talking, so you’ll learn to have fluent dialogues and conversations.
Paco Roca is from Spain, but the novel was first published in French, under the name “Rides”. Not long after that, it was published in Spanish. It’s also been published in Italy. So you can read it in other languages as well, just in case you’re working to be a polyglot.
If you like the book, there’s a movie adaption of the same title that you can watch. It will be a complement to the language skills you’ve improved through the book. Now, you’ll also get to practice your listening and learn the Spanish pronunciation of some words.
The movie won two “Premios Goya”, one for best adapted screenplay and one for best animated movie.
Learn Even More Spanish with TruFluency
After reading these recommendations, you probably feel more confident in your Spanish skills. And you should! You’ve learned important things, but it’s time to increase your knowledge and gain new skills. It’s time for TruFluency Spanish classes!
We’ll make sure you polish all your language skills, like reading, listening, grammar, vocabulary and speaking. All through fun and interesting classes, so the process won’t feel boring.
To do that, we based our lessons in our own Bellieu Method for language learning. It consists in speaking using what you’ve learned. This way you’ll reinforce everything through practice and won’t leave it all in the theory.
You want more? Great. We customize our lessons to your language goals; all our classes are completely online, so you can study with us from anywhere, and we have native teachers. These are all great opportunities to achieve your second language dreams.
Take a trial class to see for yourself how well we work. Then, just pick one of our language packages and choose your language coach. Now, you’re ready to go!
