I remember the very first foreign language book I tried to read—Harry Potter à l’école des sorciers in French.

At first, I was excited. I understood the title!

👉 L’école = “The school”
👉 Sorciers = “Sorcerers”

I had learnt “l’école” which means “the school” and I guessed that “sorciers” meant “sorcerers” or “wizards”. So, the title meant, “Harry Potter at the school of wizards”.

“Off to a great start,” I thought.
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Then I opened the book. And that’s where my optimism died.

The trouble was, I hadn’t read the Harry Potter book in English, or even seen the film, so I had no clue as to what was going on. I only chose that book because I had heard it was popular, and I thought that perhaps it would be simple to read seeing as it was a book for children. How wrong I was.

The very first sentence:

I went through the first sentence, trying to pick out any words I knew (except the English words like Mr, Mrs and Privet Drive):

✔ et = and
✔ toujours = always
✔ avec = with
✔ la = the
✔ grande = big
✔ merci = thank you
✔ pour = for

So, by replacing the words I knew in the sentence, I had managed to work out:

It made no sense to me whatsoever!

I gave up after the first paragraph and didn’t attempt another book for a year.

I made a huge mistake. I should have read the book in English first.

Here’s why:

📖 If you already know the story, your brain isn’t working overtime trying to figure out what’s happening.

🔍 Instead of guessing the meaning, you’re just matching words to what you already know.

⚡ This makes reading faster, easier, and much less frustrating.

If you already know what the text means in English, all you’re doing is matching the words to the foreign language. You’ll find it a lot easier to pick out words, and you’ll be able to read it more fluently.

You’ll learn new words more quickly, you’ll pick up unusual phrases and structures and you’ll get more confident in reading.

Occasionally, you’ll get to a structure or a phrase that just doesn’t make sense, but if you already know what the English version means, you can just skip those really tricky bits until you get a bit more advanced in the language. Or, you might be confident enough to tackle them straight away.

Here’s the best step-by-step way to do it:

This removes the guessing game—you’ll already understand the plot, characters, and events.

Try reading one sentence at a time, switching between languages:

✔ Read the English sentence
✔ Then read the same sentence in the foreign language

This way, you immediately connect words and structures.

Let me give you an example of how it works. We’ll look at the same book I read: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Firstly, let me give you the first few chunks of the text in French, and you’ll see how difficult it is to read straight off the bat.

You might have found that text hard to understand, especially if you’ve never read it before in English. So, let’s now look at the English, and then read it again in French (I’ve also put other languages below in case you’re not learning French). Here’s the English:

Now let's read it one more time in French. Hopefully, this time, because you know what the text is all about, you might be able to pick out more of the French. Maybe you'll get the gist, or you might learn a few new words and phrases.

Another good thing to do is read both texts simultaneously. That is to say, read the English version, one sentence at a time, and after each sentence, read the French. You don’t have to do anything other than read; reading in itself is a marvellous tool to enhance your language learning.

If you like, you could make a list of vocabulary you didn’t know, but you don’t need to. If you read the whole book, you’ll come across the words so often, that they’ll just go into your brain without you even trying.

Let’s take a random sentence from the next paragraph in the same Harry Potter book:

Most of the text is a word-for-word translation of the English, but there are a few bits that are different, and you’ll start to get used to the differences in structure between French and English the more you read. Let’s look at a few phrases we can pick up from this sentence:

la sœur — the sister
en fait — in fact (always a useful phrase)
bon à rien — good for nothing

This particular sentence also has some useful structures, so let’s break two of them them down:

The very first part is a good example of how the apostrophe s doesn’t exist in French, so the words are switched around a little:

📝 English: Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley’s sister
📖 French: Mrs Potter était la sœur de Mrs Dursley
(Literally: Mrs Potter was the sister of Mrs Dursley)

💡 Lesson: In French, you can’t say “Mrs Dursley’s sister.” You must say “the sister of Mrs Dursley”.

The last part of the English sentence ends with “as unDursleyish as it was possible to be”. Well, the word “unDursleyish” can’t be translated into French, so the translator has changed it around a little and said this:

📝 English: were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be
📖 French: étaient aussi éloignés que possible de tout ce qui faisait un Dursley
(Literally: were as far away as possible from everything that made a Dursley)

💡 Lesson: In French, the phrase "as...as" is translated using "aussi ... que"

Some other examples of this structure are:
je suis aussi grand que Pierre — I am as tall as Pierre
elle est aussi timide que moi — she is as shy as me
ce n’est pas aussi bon qu’hier — it isn’t as good as yesterday


Finally, once you’ve read the first page simultaneously in both languages, go back and just read it in French. You’ll find you understand a lot more of it. Then, once you’ve finished the first chapter, you could, if you wish, go back and read it again in French without the English copy, just to see how much you understand.

✔ 1️⃣ Read Books for Children or Young Adults
If you’re new to reading in another language, start with books designed for younger readers—they use simpler vocabulary and grammar.

✔ 2️⃣ Don’t Stop for Every Unknown Word
It’s tempting to look up every word, but try to guess from context.

✔ 3️⃣ Reread the Same Chapter Twice
The first time, you might understand 50%. The second time,

you’ll understand much more.

Language learning is about making little steps, and each step you take, no matter how small, allows you to say or understand something new in the language, and that’s always a positive thing.

Here is the same text again in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese. I've put the English original text first, and then underneath each translation, I've put the literal meaning in English below:

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.

Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere."

“Mr et Mrs Dursley, qui habitaient au 4, Privet Drive, avaient toujours affirmé avec la plus grande fierté qu’ils étaient très normaux, merci pour eux. Jamais quiconque n’aurait imaginé qu’ils puissent se trouver impliqués dans quoi que ce soit d’étrange ou de mystérieux. Ils n’avaient pas de temps à perdre avec des sornettes.

Mr Dursley dirigeait la Grunnings, une entreprise qui fabriquait des perceuses. C’était un homme grand et massif, qui n’avait pratiquement pas de cou, mais possédait en revanche une moustache de belle taille. Mrs Dursley, quant à elle, était mince et blonde et disposait d’un cou deux fois plus long que la moyenne, ce qui lui était fort utile pour espionner ses voisins en regardant par-dessus les clôtures des jardins. Les Dursley avaient un petit garçon prénommé Dudley et c’était à leurs yeux le plus bel enfant du monde.”

Literal English translation: Mr and Mrs Dursley, who lived at 4, Privet Drive, had always maintained with the greatest pride that they were very normal, thank you for them. Never would anybody have imagined that they might find themselves involved in anything strange or mysterious. They didn’t have time to waste with twaddle.

Mr Dursley directed Grunnings, a company that made drills. He was a big, solid man who had practically no neck, but had on the other hand and good-sized moustache. Mrs Dursley, as for her, was thin and blonde and had at her disposal a neck two times longer than the average, which was strongly useful for her for spying on neighbours by looking over the fences of the gardens. The Dursleys had a small boy called Dudley and he was in their eyes the most beautiful child in the world.

“El señor y la señora Dursley, que vivían en el número 4 de Privet Drive, estaban orgullosos de decir que eran muy normales, afortunadamente. Eran las últimas personas que se esperaría encontrar relacionadas con algo estraño o misterioso, porque no estaban para tales tonterías.

El señor Dursley era el director de una empresa llamada Grunnings, que fabricaba taladros. Era un hombre corpulento y rollizo, casi sin cuello, aunque con un bigote inmenso. La señora Dursley era delgada, rubia y tenía un cuello casi el doble de largo de lo habitual, lo que le resultaba muy útil, ya que pasaba la mayor parte del tiempo estirándolo por encima de las vallas de los jardines para espiar a sus vecinos. Los Dursley tenían un hijo pequeño llamado Dudley, y para ellos no había un niño mejor que él.”

Literal English translation: Mr and Mrs Dursley, who lived at 4, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were very normal, fortunately. They were the last people that one would expect to find related to something strange or mysterious because they weren’t for such silliness.

Mr Dursley was the director of a company called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a stocky and plump man, almost without a neck, although with an immense moustache. Mrs Dursley was thin, blonde and she had a neck almost double the length of the average, which ended up being very useful to her, since she spent the major part of the time strongly useful for her for spying on neighbours by looking over the fences of the gardens. The Dursleys had a small boy called Dudley and he was in their eyes the most beautiful child in the world.

“Mr und Mrs Dursley im Ligusterweg Nummer 4 waren stolz darauf, ganz und gar normal zu sein, sehr stolz sogar. Niemand wäre auf die Idee gekommen, sie könnten sich in eine merkwürdige und geheimnisvolle Geschichte verstricken, denn mit solchem Unsinn wollten sie nichts zu tun haben.

Mr Dursley war Direktor einer Firma namens Grunnings, die Bohrmaschinen herstellte. Er war groß und bullig und hatte fast keinen Hals, dafür aber einen sehr großen Schnurrbart. Mrs Dursley war dünn und blond und besaß doppelt so viel Hals, wie notwendig gewesen wäre, was allerdings sehr nützlich war, den so konnte sie den Hals über den Gartenzaun recken und zu den Nachbarn hinüberspähen. Die Dursleys hatten einen kleinen Sohn namens Dudley und in ihren Augen gab es nirgendwo einen prächtigeren Jungen.”

Literal English translation: Mr and Mrs Dursley at number 4 Privet Way were proud to be completely and utterly normal, very proud indeed. Nobody would have come to the idea that they could involve themselves in a strange and mysterious story, because they wanted to have nothing to do with such nonsense.

Mr Dursley was director of a company called Grunnings, which made drills. He was big and beefy and had almost no neck, although a very large moustache. Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and possessed twice as much neck as would have been necessary, which was certainly very useful, so she could stretch her neck over the garden fence and spy on the neighbours. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their eyes there was nowhere a more splendid boy.

“Il signore e la signora Dursley, di Privet Drive numero 4, erano orgogliosi di affermare di essere perfettamente normali, e grazie tante. Erano le ultime persone al mondo da cui aspettarsi cose strane o misteriose, perché sciocchezze del genere proprio non le approvavano.

Il signor Dursley era direttore di una ditta di nome Grunnings, che fabbricava trapani. Era un uomo corpulento, nerboruto, quasi senza collo e con un grosso paio di baffi. La signora Dursley era magra, bionda e con un collo quasi due volte più lungo del normale, il che le tornava assai utile, dato che passava gran parte del tempo ad allungarlo oltre la siepe del giardino per spiare i vicini. I Dursley avevano un figlioletto di nome Dudley e secondo loro non esisteva al mondo un bambino più bello.”

Literal English translation: Mr and Mrs Dursley, of 4 Privet Drive, were proud to confirm being perfectly normal, and thank you very much. They were the last people in the world from whom one would expect strange and mysterious things, because foolishness of precisely that category, they did not approve of.

Mr Dursley was the director of a company named Grunnings, which made drills. He was a large beefy man, almost without a neck and with a large moustache. Mrs Dursley was thin, blonde and with a neck almost two times longer than the normal, which turned out extremely useful to her, given that she spent a large part of the time stretching it over the fence of the garden to spy on the neighbours. The Dursleys had a little son named Dudley and according to them, there didn’t exist in the world a more beautiful boy.

“Mr. e Mrs. Dursley, que vivem no número quatro de Privet Drive, sempre afirmaram, para quem os quisesse ouvir, ser o mais normal que é possível ser-se, graҫas a Deus. Eram as últimas pessoas que alguém esperaria ver envolvidas em algo estranho ou misterioso porque, pura e simplesmente, não acreditavam nesses disparates.

Mr. Dursley era director de uma empresa chamada Grunnings que fabricava brocas. Era um homem atarracado, quase sem pescoҫo, apesar do seu farto bigode. Mrs. Dursley era magra e loira e tinha um pescoҫo com o dobro do tamanho normal, que lhe era extremamente útil para espreitar os vizinhos através das sebes, o que sucedia com grande frequência. Os Dursley tinham um filho pequeno chamado Dudley que, na opinião de ambos, era melhor do que qualquer outro rapazinho à face da Terra.”

Literal English translation: Mr and Mrs Dursley, who lived at number 4 Privet Drive, always claimed, for those who wanted to listen, to be the most normal that it is possible to be, thank goodness. They were the last people that somebody would expect to see involved in something strange or mysterious because, pure and simply, they didn’t believe in that nonsense.

Mr Dursley was the director of a company called Grunnings which made drills. He was a stocky man, almost without a neck, despite his thick moustache. Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and she had a neck double the normal size, which was extremely useful to her for peering at the neighbours through the hedgerows, which happened with great frequency. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley who, in the opinion of both of them, was better than any other little boy on the face of the Earth.