Best way to learn to read Chinese for someone who knows how to speak?

[BringMeAnother]

Hi, I actually speak Mandarin at home. I've just grown up in Canada and never really wanted to make the effort to learn to read.

 

I don't need something very efficient, but something more relaxing. That's because I'm really not in a rush. I'd also like to do other activities while learning, such as exercising on an elliptical machine. I think a video series would be great, but some limited amount of interactivity could also be fine. Please recommend me something. Thanks.

 

By the way, I can play turn based games such as Civilization and Hearthstone just fine on the elliptical machine, so if there are some Chinese games that would be helpful, it would be great.

[Hofmann]

Grand Gaming Project

[Silent]

I'ld say the best way to learn to read is to actually read.

 

Personally I found reading combined with SRS very powerfull. Put the most frequent words/characters from your reading material that you don't know in a flashcard app. to study and for the rest read (with a pop-up dictionary).

 

As you already know mandarin you need no time to figure out grammar etc, so I think it should be quite effective for you.

[renzhe]

Comics are also a good idea. Order a bunch of them, and have them next to your bed.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/27354-grand-comic-reading-project/