Gustave Doré, 1863 (public domain)
Free Spanish reading, level B2-C1
Learn Spanish with Don Quixote, one page at a time
The book most Spanish learners want to read, and the one most give up on within a few pages.
Learn Spanish with this book for freeDon Quixote is the book most Spanish learners want to read and the one most give up on within a few pages. The opening sentence alone runs long, full of words a textbook never teaches. Lira keeps the original text exactly as Cervantes wrote it, but every unfamiliar word is one tap away from a translation, and every word you look up gets scheduled for review so it actually sticks. You start on chapter one like everyone else, except you finish it.
Key vocabulary from Don Quijote
A preview of the words you'll run into early on, with pronunciation. Every one of them, and every other word you tap while reading, gets saved to your review deck automatically.
hidalgo
nobleman
lanza
lance
aldea
village
ingenioso
ingenious
caballero
knight
molino
windmill
luchar contra molinos de viento
to fight windmills (chase imaginary enemies)
de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme
whose name I don't care to recall
el Caballero de la Triste Figura
the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance
What actually happens while you read
One tap to translate
Click any unfamiliar word for its contextual translation, right inside the page. No dictionary tab, no losing your place in the story.
Every word saved with its sentence
The word you looked up keeps the exact sentence you found it in, not an isolated flashcard, so the meaning stays anchored to real context.
FSRS brings it back before you forget
Spaced repetition schedules each word's next review right before you'd naturally lose it, so vocabulary from this book actually stays with you.
En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, vivía un de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, flaco y corredor.
TRANSLATION
nobleman
CONTEXT
En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor.
Start reading free →The science
Recognizing a word isn't the same as remembering it
According to Stephen Krashen's comprehensible input hypothesis, a language is acquired durably through exposure to content you mostly already understand, not through isolated word lists. Reading a real book supplies exactly that kind of exposure. Spaced repetition on top of it is what turns a word you translated once into one you actually remember weeks later.
Learning approach
Retention with Lira
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