Why bother with "Reading Strategies"?

You could probably answer some if not all of the questions in Activity 1 (previous page) even without knowing any German. How can this be?

You may have used so-called "Reading Strategies" that you also use when reading a text in your native language. This happens habitually, without any thought on your part. In fact, as with most daily tasks, you automatically resort to proven strategies, unaware that they direct the steps in an activity. For example, think of all the subconscious strategies at work when you drive a car.

To learn more about reading skills, click here.

Although it's possible to become aware of these strategies, why should you? Because becoming conscious of the different strategies you use in daily reading will help you learn to read German! As you work through the lessons, we'll help you to recognize your own strategies and suggest a number of others. These will serve as tools for you to comprehend German texts without becoming lost or frustrated. Not all of the strategies work for all learners, but apply each of them to learn which ones work for you. If a given strategy doesn't work, try to find out why. You might then be able to modify it a bit to help you achieve better results.

This may sound like additional work in the begining, but we assure you that
it's worth trying! Your learning will improve significantly and the extra effort will make things easier in the end.

Ready for the first Reading Strategy? Here it comes:

• Try to get the gist of the text
  without reading word-for-word, as though it were written in your native language.

• Keep a certain distance from the text
  so that you can get an "overview" of it