Learning a Language? Here's Five Tips for Picking Books that "Blitz"

I just finished the nightmarish, heartwrenching book and audiobook Wrony by Czech writer Petra Dvořáková, and it reminds me of what makes a good pick for a Bimodal Blitz. I'll share five tips with you now.

USE AUDIOBOOK LENGTH to GUIDE YOU

When starting out with Bimodal Blitzing, it's best to choose audiobooks that are no longer than five hours. Wrony is three hours and 20 minutes, right in the sweet spot. As you become more comfortable with reading and listening to your target language at faster speeds, you can gradually increase the length of the books you blitz. The audiobook's duration is a quick way to gauge the book's length and complexity.

ENSURE BOOK and AUDIOBOOK COVERS MATCH

To avoid discrepancies between the written text and the narration, always make sure that the book cover design and the audiobook cover design are identical. If they have different designs, they may be different translations of the same story, which can lead to confusion and hinder your blitzing experience. As you can see, Wrony has the same design.

FOLLOW YOUR INTERESTS and READ WIDELY

Bimodal Blitzing is like drinking from a firehose of your target language. Go ahead and blitz fiction and non-fiction, classic literature and pulp, even content that seems "over your head." If you think the topic will slake your thirst, drink up! The Bimodal Blitz isn't about finding perfectly comprehensible input; it's about exposing yourself to a wide range of vocabulary and ideas. Jump into the deep end of the pool, and you'll learn to swim fast.

AUDIOBOOKS vs TEXT-TO-SPEECH

While AI-driven text-to-speech (TTS) technology has made significant strides, it still can't match the quality and nuance of a professional human narrator. Audiobooks provide you with native speakers who breathe life into new vocabulary with their intonation, pacing, and emotion. This authentic narration gives added context and leads the way as you follow along with the text, translating on the fly and making meaning as you go. It's a fast way to improve your listening comprehension and pronunciation. Wrony has stellar storytelling by two narrators.

The POWER of GOOD WRITING

Even if you're blitzing using only Google Translate and context clues, a well-written book by an experienced author will shine through. The engaging storyline and compelling characters will draw you in, making it easier to enter a flow state where you're no longer consciously aware that you're learning a language. So, don't hesitate to blitz translated classics by renowned writers like Stephen King or John Steinbeck. Wrony was written by Petra Dvořáková, a Czech writer, translated by Mirosław Śmigielski into Polish, and then partially translated into English for my quick reference. That's almost two translations deep, and I still found it to be a life-changing story.

The TWO-STAGE BLITZATHON

If you're embarking on a 30-day or 100-day Bimodal Blitzathon like me, remember that this is just the first stage of the program. In the second stage, you'll choose your favorite book from all the ones you blitzed and focus solely on that one. This deeper dive using different modalities will help you reinforce the language patterns, vocabulary, and cultural insights you encountered during your initial blitz.

Want more? Read my reviews on Goodreads and follow me on Twitter/x. And for those intrigued by the Bimodal Blitz method, I encourage you to dive into a book in your target language and experience the immersive world of bimodal reading and listening.

P.S. Stay tuned for more updates on Bimodal Blitzathon, levels one and two. A book detailing the method is in the works, so subscribe to this blog to be the first to know when it's released.