by David Butler

Created on: November 03, 2009   Last Updated: November 05, 2009

Stop Reading This - One Word at a Time

Are you tired of reading slow? Of sounding out each word? Of losing concentration when you read... noticing that your mind stopped paying attention to your reading a few sentences back? Sub-vocalization, regression, and losing attention are very common reading problems.

But there is a reason why we do these things. Vocalizing isn't really just a habit. It does serve a purpose. It actually does help you understand what you read. That's why it's so hard to stop. And not understanding what you read leads to regression and loss of attention. That's because when you don't understand what you read, you need to go back and re-read until you do understand. And if you continue without understanding, your mind gets bored and stops listening to you.

Here's why we vocalize. Sentences are usually made of multiple phrases. Each phrase is an idea or separate thought. When you listen to a sentence, there are sound clues that indicate where these phrases are. You may not be aware of it because it's as subconscious as walking.

Listen Carefully - To the First Word - Of Each Phrase.

The first word is usually spoken in a slightly lower tone. This tells the listener that this is the beginning of a new thought or phrase. This lower tone tells the listener that a new part of the sentence is coming. But these audio clues are not available in written text, so we have a tendency to sound out the words to listen for them ourselves to better understand the whole sentence. The solution is to read whole phrases at a time.

One way to practice reading by phrases is with a free online application at www.readspeeder.com. ReadSpeeder divides any text into its meaningful phrases. The meaning of these ReadSpeeder phrases can be grasped instantly, the same way you can understand words without thinking of each letter. ReadSpeeder uses a new patent-pending process that converts any text into a series of short, meaningful, easy-to-understand phrases. These phrases will be - the natural phrases, - the meaningful pieces - of information - that sentences - are made of.

ReadSpeeder will automatically divide any text into its natural phrases, and then present these phrases sequentially. Try reading with ReadSpeeder and see if you no longer feel like vocalizing. You will grasp the meaning of each phrase at a glance, and this will make it easier to understand what you read. Use ReadSpeeder to practice reading by phrases, stop bad reading habits, and improve both your reading speed and comprehension.

Faster understanding will lead to faster reading. In fact, this process is really the opposite of most attempts to learn to read faster. The usual advice is to push your reading speed, with the hope that with practice, the comprehension will catch up. With ReadSpeeder, you understand faster to begin with. When you learn to read by phrases, you will no longer be restricted to reading at the speed of speech. You will be reading at the speed of thought.

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