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Study languages more productively by reading and listening to Simplified Summaries of interesting non-fiction books, such as the biography of Steve Jobs, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and more – FOR FREE – right here on the ALR website.  We call them SimSums.

Many language learners, myself included, have expressed frustration with the materials available for those around an upper-intermediate level. At this stage, most native materials are still too challenging to really sit down and enjoy learning from but materials created for language learners are too simple and boring.

SimSums is something that I wished existed for myself. I love learning about new things and combining that curiosity with language learning sounded like the perfect mix to me. I wanted to learn about new things while learning a language.

We’ve taken the summaries of popular non-fiction books, then simplified them as much as possible, while still maintaining the essential information. The end result is interesting reading and listening material that’s perfect for upper-intermediate students.

They’re currently available in Chinese (Mandarin), Spanish, French, and German.