Use short-cuts to understand instantly what you read or hear

What you need is a quick way to understand what you read and hear in your second language. By that, I mean that you need a quick way, even a 'cheat's way', to understand that language. As instantaneous as you can make it.

You DON'T want to have to look up words in a dictionary. That slows you down too much, and you'll never get all the exposure that you need.

So here are some ideas:

• Already be familiar with the content (Alice in Wonderland)
• Have books in both languages side by side (Heinrich Schliemann)
• Read on screen with a pop-up translating application running (perapera, maybe)
• Have illustrative support (manga, anime, subtitles)
• Read the whole book over
• Read another book from the same series (Magic Tree House)
• Read another book by the same author (same style)
• Read the target language while listening to the story in English (experimental)