Reading "bopopmofo"

Children's books using the phonetic bopomofo next to the Chinese characters:

In the past year, Children's books have been a help like none other in my pursuit of learning Chinese. The ubiquitous phonetic spelling of bopomofo next to every Chinese character renders the word instantly pronounceable. Or should I should, it gives the word a pronunciation that I would have not otherwise known. Of course, the translation for meaning is still needed until I have learned and stored an adequate vocabulary for contextual reading and subsequent understanding.

If I so choose, I can practice fluency by simply reading the bopomofo without sourcing the dictionary for definitions along the way. For me, it helps a great deal to practice this way several times in the same area of the story to aid in my speech fluency. In other words, spitting out the words in a clear voice alone gives me confidence to get the correct sounds and tones while in conversation with a native Chinese speaker.

Naturally, there is another layer of practice that should be undertaken when learning a language and adding words to the vocabulary. I will look up all words that are unknown to me and write out the translation next to the chinese word. I generally will choose three words to write again at the margins per page regardless of the number of words on a page. Adding just three words to my vocabulary already increases my skill and understanding during a real conversation that going for more only adds to confusion and frustration.

So far, I've read only translated stories from English. Those stories are: The Ugly Duckling, Aladin, The Little Fairy. I find it extremely useful to read stories that I know well in English or at least that are know of and have heard before. At least, in this way, I can build the story through context faster, which makes learning new words somewhat easier.