I've read Harry Potter in Spanish, Czech, German and Mandarin, on top of the twenty-odd times I've been through it in English. It works because of the three great powers. Volume is what moves a language forward, reading gives you rich language at your own pace, and knowing the story carries you over the words you don't have yet.
I've read (or listened to) the Harry Potter series at least 20, probably closer to 30 times. While most of those came from listening to the Jim Dale audiobooks on repeat in my youth, I've reread the series at least 4 more times in the past few years.
Not because I particularly like it (complaining about the weird plot holes is a favorite pastime of mine1), but because of how useful the series is as a language learning tool.
I learn languages more or less professionally. I'm incredibly lucky that I've been able to make this passion into a way to earn a living. So I have a lot of time to dedicate to language learning, which is why I was able to read Harry Potter in Spanish, Czech, German and Mandarin over the last 5 or so years.
Here is the first book's title in each of them, if you want to hear what you would be walking into:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone English
Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal Spanish
Harry Potter a Kámen mudrců Czech
Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen German
哈利·波特与魔法石 Chinese
In this article, I'm going to lay out exactly why Harry Potter is so useful for language learning. We'll be looking at the power of reading, familiarity, and exposure.
Here's the short version of all three.
The power
What does it actually do?
Why a book you know delivers it
Exposure
Hours spent understanding real language, which is what moves you forward
One book is dozens of hours with the language, and the story keeps you in it
Reading
Rich, varied vocabulary at a pace you control
Books use far more words than conversation does
Familiarity
Lets you follow the story on far less than the 95% or so you'd normally need
You already know what happens, so the words you miss stop mattering as much
The Power of Exposure
We'll start at the end of the list since it's the most fundamental language learning lesson I can give you. Put simply, if you want to learn a language you should spend as much time as possible exposed to that language.
There are many different kinds of exposure, however. Just putting on French talk radio in the background at work or listening to "1001 French conversations to listen to while you sleep" won't work.
The exposure to the language must be "high quality". It's impossible to objectively judge the quality of time with a language, but you should look for:
Comprehension (you want to understand what's being said, even if a bit)
Richness (the language should be varied and natural, not just basic sentences repeated a thousand times)
Interesting (you should actually want to understand it. An engaged brain learns much better than a disinterested one)
Interestingly, this kind of exposure is exactly what classrooms do NOT provide. The language you hear or read in a classroom is likely to be boring, repetitive and unnatural. It might be comprehensible, but even if it is, most classes only go for a few hours per week, which isn't nearly enough time.
If you take just one thing from this article, make it this: use your free time to listen to, read and enjoy the language you're learning. That's the only way to make classes or apps or programs actually effective.
The Power of Reading
Reading, I've found, is far and away the best way to get that massive amount of high quality exposure to a foreign language.
One of the main reasons is due to the nature of reading being at your own pace. You don't need to keep up with the full speed of native dialogue or slow pace of a classroom. You pick your reading speed. If you need to go slow and look up words, great! If the text or section is easier, you can go much faster.
Reading is also great for learning because of the richness of language used and the variety of words and grammar patterns. Books use far more words than the typical conversation, which means you're more easily able to learn all the thousands of words that exist in the language.
I don't just think that reading is great, lots of studies have found a very positive relationship between reading and language ability. The more you read for fun, the better you get at the language.
Reading isn't the only channel, though. The channels of input covers what listening and watching do that reading can't.
The Power of Familiarity
But reading in a new language is hard. Especially when you're still new at the language. Looking at the first page of a book is like looking up Mount Everest. Everything is unknown, the words just blur together on the page. And if you're still learning the writing system of the language (like if you're learning Korean or Japanese or Russian), you might not even recognize the words as words.
Which is where the power of familiarity comes in. If you already know the story, you suddenly have a foothold in the story. Looking at the first page isn't an inscrutable mess of ink on the page, it's just a different way of telling a story you already know.
Instead of needing to know around 95% of the words to be able to comprehend the story, you already know the story and can figure out where you are based on the few words you do know, the words you pick up from context and the character names.
If you haven't read Harry Potter, I'm sure there's another series that would work for you. Or even a TV show or dubbed movie! The power of familiarity applies to all forms of media.
The character names carry more of that weight than you'd guess, and they don't always survive the trip. Hogwarts is Poudlard in French and Bradavice in Czech, which is a whole story in itself: ten translations that rebuilt Rowling's invented words.
It's still not easy
Even with the three great powers, it wasn't easy. I had to really focus and use all the tools at my disposal to be able to follow the story.
One tool I really like is the audiobooks. Having the audio and text combined makes it so much easier to focus and stay with the story. You don't need to drag your eyes across every word and try to make sense of it, you also get it read to you. Sometimes the book and audiobook are slightly different, but usually not enough for it to really make a difference.
You can also use a reader tool. There are lots of tools out there from LingQ to Lute to LinguaThor to Readlang. I used reading tools for my Czech and Mandarin read throughs of the books (I didn't know about them for when I read it in Spanish and was already at a good enough level to just use the audiobooks for German). That part is totally up to you though. However, I would recommend getting the book on an eReader or phone/tablet so that you can use the built in pop-up dictionary to quickly look up unknown words.
We've written up a full review of LingQ if you're deciding between them. Mandarin is where a reader tool earns its keep most, since a character you've never met gives you nothing to sound out, and what its translators did to the spells is a story of its own.
Pre learn the words
The last, and possibly most effective, thing you can do to make reading easier is to learn the words that actually show up in the book. That way, you know (or have a passing familiarity with) the words you come across.
Not just "wizard", "wand" and "Hogwarts", but also the more generic words that appear all the time in the books.
We build vocabulary study decks tailor made for this purpose. They're optimized and sorted so that you learn the words in the same order they become relevant in the Harry Potter books. The first 10 words you learn will show up in the first ~20 minutes of reading. This makes the process of reading even more fun since you constantly feel like you're learning relevant words, which will make the study time easier. It's a positive feedback loop that improves your language skills!
Click your target language below to learn more about the decks!
Start reading Harry Potter in your target language
Our starter bundles teach you the vocabulary of the first book before you read it. You study the words, then you open the real book and actually understand what you're reading. Most people are surprised by how much of that first chapter they can actually follow.
No. Refold Languages Inc is an independent language-learning company. This deck is a vocabulary study aid built from our own analysis of the book, and it is not endorsed by, affiliated with, sponsored by, or approved by Warner Bros., J.K. Rowling, or any rights holder. We reference the book title only to identify the source text the vocabulary is drawn from. All trademarks and copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Frequently asked questions
How many languages have you read Harry Potter in?
Five, counting English. Spanish, Czech, German and Mandarin came over the last five years or so, and the English readthroughs go back to listening to the Jim Dale audiobooks on repeat as a kid. That's somewhere past 20 times through the series, and honestly probably closer to 30.
Does rereading a book you already know actually help you learn a language?
That's most of why it works. Normally you need to follow about 95% of the words to make sense of a page. If you already know the story, you don't, because you can place yourself using the character names, the few words you do know and whatever you pick up from context. The story does the work your vocabulary can't do yet.
What reading tools do you recommend?
I used a reader tool for Czech and Mandarin, and there are plenty to pick from, including LingQ, Lute, LinguaThor and Readlang. For Spanish and German I just used the book and the audiobook. Honestly the simplest option is good enough. Read on an eReader, phone or tablet so you can tap a word and get the built-in pop-up dictionary.
Is listening to the audiobook while you read cheating?
No. The audiobook is one of the tools I really like, and it's doing real work. You stop having to sound out every word yourself, and the story keeps moving even on the pages you're only half following. Now and then the audiobook and the printed text don't quite match, but it's never enough to lose you.
What if I've never read Harry Potter?
Pick something else you already know well. Any series works, and so does a TV show or a dubbed film. Familiarity is the thing doing the work, not Harry Potter specifically.
Why doesn't a language class give you the same result?
Two reasons. The language you meet in a classroom tends to be boring, repetitive and unnatural, and most classes run a few hours a week, which isn't close to enough time. Classes can work, but only if you're also spending your own hours reading and listening to things you actually enjoy.
Do you have to read, or is watching TV in the language enough?
Watching counts, and you should do it. Reading still wins on vocabulary, because a book will throw words at you that no conversation ever will, and you set the pace yourself. Do both.
Footnotes
[1]The most annoying of which is the fact that wizards seem to be illiterate. In the 4th book, Mr Weasley needs to ask Harry how to READ THE NUMBERS ON BANK NOTES. He can't tell the difference between a 5 and a 20, even when he acknowledges that he sees them.↩
Sources
The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research, Stephen D. Krashen, 2nd edition, 2004 (the book-length case for free voluntary reading)
The Impact of Reading on Second Language Learning, Warwick B. Elley and Francis Mangubhai, Reading Research Quarterly 19(1), 1983 (the "book flood" studies)
Unknown Vocabulary Density and Reading Comprehension, Marcella Hu and Paul Nation, Reading in a Foreign Language 13(1), 2000 (where the 95% and 98% coverage figures quoted in this article come from)
Extensive reading, Wikipedia (a tertiary overview of the reading-volume research, listed last for that reason)
