Finding foreign language books (novels) can be really challenging. I have spent so many hours manually searching through Amazon and page after page of Google search results trying to find anything interesting. And then, when I did find something, it was often extremely expensive (I once was only able to find a Korean ‘Harry Potter’ book for over 100 euros!) or the book would just take months to ship.
I hope to offer some easy places and links to check out here, as well as tips and tricks in general, to help you find amazing books today!
(P.S – Plurilingualism is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on my site, I may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more here!)
Amazon
Amazon is one of the easiest ways to find foreign language books in terms of search ease, good policies (for returns, issues, etc), and quick and cheap (or free) delivery (plus Amazon has different country sites (i.e no customs fees!!) and even the basic US site ships worldwide anyway, if you cant find what you need in your countries Amazon storefront).
One thing I love, is how easy it is to find many different languages.
For example, here is Harry Potter in Korean, Spanish, German, French, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Finnish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Thai, Polish, Arabic, Russian, Irish, even Scots, Latin, and so many more!
I also appreciate how you can get most any book in paperback, hardback, on audio (via Audible), or Kindle.
When I am searching for a book, I usually start with Amazon and then I check out the other sites listed below if I cant find what I am looking for. Typically though, I can always find it on Amazon!
Check out the list below for almost 100 specific language recommendations on Amazon in Korean, German, Spanish, Japanese, and French. I will be adding more languages and books with time!
(P.S If you are learning Japanese and love Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, be sure to click below on my Japanese recommendations! I have several gems for you!!)
-> Click here for recommendations for Korean, German, Spanish, Japanese, and French:
Korean
Children’s books or stories for beginners:
The Rainbow Fish (this was one of my favorite books as a child!)
Korean Stories for Language Learners (Folktales in Korean and English. I own this and it is one of my favorite learning tools to ease into reading in Korean!)
Beautiful Short Stories in Korean and English (Bilingual stories made with novice learners in mind!) (There is also a part two)
The Little Prince (Korean – English edition!)
Peter Pan (One of my favorite stories of all time! I read this in every language I learn)
Alice in Wonderland (Might be tough for a beginner, but if you know the story well, you should be able to follow along!)
Chapter books for intermediate and above learners:
The Giver (Korean – English edition)
Poetry:
Sister Luna (I own this one and I love it!! It’s not too complicated, but it is a good challenge!)
German
Children’s books or stories for beginners:
The Dino Lernt Deutsch Series (I started with this and I loved it. They are simple, easy to understand, and very helpful!)
German Short Stories for Beginners
German: Short Stories for Beginners with Audio (This is not the same as the book above, even though they have basically the same name!)
Becoming Fluent in German: 150 Short Stories for Beginners
Short Stories in German for Beginners (Geared towards A2/B1 learners) (Also, if you like this, they have one for intermediate learners too!)
The Little Prince (German – English edition)
Chapter books for intermediate and above learners:
The Neverending Story (Anybody else watch this movie on repeat as a kid? I loved it!)
Rubinrot (I highly recommend the whole series! I love it and I find a book that was written in German initially (like this series) rather than translated into German has a different feel and is more challenging (in a good way!) for me)
Spanish
Children’s books or stories for beginners:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Chapter books for intermediate and above learners:
Japanese
Children’s books or short stories:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Japanese and English)
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? (Only Japanese)
Japanese Short Stories for Beginners
Japanese Myths, Legends, and Folktales in English and Japanese
Short Stories in Japanese in Parallel Text (Japanese and English)
Japanese Stories in English and Japanese (Perhaps a bit advanced, A2/B1+)
Intermediate Japanese Short Stories (More challenging short stories. Best for B1 and above)
*Do you love Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki as much as I do? Boy do I have a gem for you!! Some of the movies were made into 100+ page picture books!
- Spirited Away (English and Japanese only)
- Kiki’s Delivery Service (English and Japanese)
- Howl’s Moving Castle (Japanese only)
- Princess Mononoke Vol 1 and Vol 2 (Japanese only) (Also my favorite Ghibli movie!! Let me know your favorite in the comments below)
- Ponyo (Japanese only)
- The Secret World of Arrietty (English and Japanese)
- The Wind Rises (English and Japanese)
- Laputa: Castle in the Sky (English an Japanese)
Chapter books for intermediate and above learners:
Breaking into Japanese Literature (7 texts with an English translation and dictionary)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (English and Japanese)
The Little Prince (English and Japanese)
Your Name 小説 君の名は。(Also a great movie!)
Manga in general (Whatever you are interested in, there is certainly a manga series out there for you!!)
French
Children’s books or stories for beginners:
Le Lapin et la Lune (Children’s book)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (La Chenille Qui Fait des Trous)
The Cat in the Hat (English and French)
Guess How Much I Love You (Devine Combien Je T’Aime)
Bilingual Fairy Tales in French and English
French Short Stories for Beginners
Learn French with Short Stories (15 stories in English and French)
Short Stories in French for Beginners (Recommended for A2/B1)
Chapter books for intermediate and above learners:
The European Bookshop
This UK based site is also amazing for foreign language books!
They have so many languages – not just the top, most common ones, as many sites do.
They are priced decently (though it can get a bit pricey depending on the language and book) and have a 7 day ‘return for any reason’ policy.
The only thing that makes me list this below Amazon, is that this site is meant for educators. That means that many of the books are teaching textbooks or supplements and therefore unusable for the average language learner.
They dont have as many novels and general literature as Amazon.
However, they still have a good selection of literature in several genres, in all of the above languages!
Barnes & Noble
This is another place to find foreign language books that I love!
Barnes & Noble has a great variety and, best of all (to me at least!), they have very modern and new books as well.
I find the books to typically be very well priced. Especially if you have the Barnes and Noble membership!
They also ship worldwide. Click here to see a list of all of the countries they ship to.
Unfortunately they don’t have too many languages overall, so if you are learning a lesser spoken language, you might have better luck with the two above resources.
If you are learning one of the languages listed on the B&N site (in the image above – on the left) though, this is an awesome site to keep bookmarked!
Personally, I love this company and any time I visit the US, I always make sure to visit a store and stock up on some foreign language books 🙂
Powells
Powells has almost 1000 pages of “non-English language books”!
They sell new and used books.
Most of what they offer are language textbooks and not literature/novels, however you can still find a non-textbook gem if you browse.
Unfortunately though, there is no way to filter by language. This means that you need to search either via the language name / some keywords, or you need to browse through the entire list.
I thought perhaps searching “Korean” might find me some Korean books, however I find that searching by the language name doesn’t tend to show literature, but rather textbooks (or country cookbooks!).
However, if you are looking for a specific book or just have the time (and energy!) to go through the pages, this can be a great resource!
Project Gutenberg
This site is great for finding free classics in a variety of languages!
They have several languages with over 50 books and many languages with up to 50 books.
Some languages, like Spanish for example, have hundreds upon hundreds of free books.
The biggest issue I have, is that once you are looking at a language (particularly one like Spanish, with lots of results), its just a long chunk of text with no images and no pages.
It is arranged by author, and so if you have the misfortune of looking for an author with a ‘Z’ last name, you must scroll down allllllll the way. You can click on the ‘Z’ to search for only authors whose last names begin with ‘Z’, but then it is authors in any language whose last names begin with ‘Z’ and not just the language you are searching for. The list is therefore still incredibly long.
Other than this though, if you love classics or are looking for a challenging, older text, this is definitely the site for you!
Wattpad
This site is a bit of a hit or miss for me. It is still enough of a hit for me to keep it in this list, though!
It is a community of writers who submit their own stories to Wattpad. You can then read books in a wide array of genres for free (though they do also have some paid stories).
The way to search for stories in your language is to click on the language button in the upper right hand corner. You can then switch to several different languages.
Just note that this will switch the entire site!
Once you have done this, you can browse through the different stories and genres in this language.
The biggest downside, I find, is that these are not professionally edited stories and so there can be grammatical issues, strange word choices, etc. I think for beginners, this might hinder learning. For more advanced learners, you can likely notice when there is an issue, but I would be wary of picking any story on Wattpad.
I suggest picking ones that seem high quality overall, are reviewed by many users, and are written by an account that seems more professional or at least talks about editing their stories.
That is not to say that you cant find an amazing story without these factors, but to be safe, I would recommend being careful when picking stories.
These stories are also typically geared towards young adult readers interested in fantasy and romance.
There are many stories that fall outside of these genres, but I would say the majority are fan-fics and/or fall into the fantasy/romance genres. If this is you, then you will love this site! If not, I would still recommend giving it a look, as I have found a few gems over the past years.
Have you used any of these places to purchase foreign language books? If so, leave your experience in the comments below!
Or, if you know of better places, let us know in the comments as well!
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