Hey there.

My mother never learned English in school. (in Soviet Germany, English learned you! No wait, that joke doesn't work here... Nastrovie!)
She started to learn English a while ago, with some app on her Android phone. In the long run, I'm sure it makes more sense for her to actually read (and "fight through") texts, not just little examples, and esp. not the mere "tourist English" kind of stuff.

Can any of you recommend books with simple enough English for that to not be *too much* of a challenge?
I'm pretty sure she wouldn't even mind children's books ;-) One of her major hobbies is painting in all sorts of techniques, though. She even started fiddling with computer based painting recently. I wouldn't reckon there to be any interesting books about those topics in beginner-friendly English, but what do I know what one-of-a-kind of book may exist that e.g. some of the artists on here may know about, so I just mention it.

I guess also hearing English makes sense, although being able to read text is most important. If any simple-ish English films or other media come to mind, don't hesitate to mention them!

Thanks in advance,

- unshaven

At the time, I listened a lot to UK radio. Any international Internet forum works for reading and writing, and there are a zillion on any topic you can think of.

At the time, I listened a lot to UK radio. Any international Internet forum works for reading and writing, and there are a zillion on any topic you can think of.

"Any international Internet forum works for" teaching you at best partially subtly *wrong* English ;-) Properly edited books do (hopefully) not have that problem.
Some people might think "who cares" or "what's 'wrong' anyway". Well, I'm with Weird Al on that one, and she is too :-D

Kinda echoing what Alberth said in way. The best route to learn a language is simply how you learned it as a child. By surrounding yourself with people who natively speak that language.

Obviously you'll want the formal education to supplement that. (Books, classes, audio-tapes, what have ya), but I feel the mental block is more easily overcome when your constantly being engaged in the language you're learning in.