Comments on: Chinese reading speed: Learning how to read ten lines at a glance https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-how-to-read-ten-lines-at-a-glance/ A better way of learning Mandarin Fri, 24 Nov 2023 18:43:23 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Olle Linge https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-how-to-read-ten-lines-at-a-glance/#comment-109747 Fri, 23 Jun 2023 19:16:04 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=970#comment-109747 In reply to Tikaf.

I think you might want to check the follow-up article I wrote almost seven years after this post was written (now six years ago; time really does fly): Chinese reading speed revisited

For the record, sub-vocalisation does not usually mean that you’re saying anything aloud. It’s a normal part of reading for both native and non-native readers.

]]> By: Tikaf https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-how-to-read-ten-lines-at-a-glance/#comment-109716 Thu, 22 Jun 2023 09:29:31 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=970#comment-109716 I was thinking about the same thing as Paul here, but I am not sure I understand “sub-vocalization” correctly.
Does it mean pronouncing tones aloud (albeit not as clearly as you would when talking to another person, or in a muttering-like manner), or as Paul says ‘hearing the tone in his mind?
I guess that if the focus is on pure speed one wouldn’t focus on tones when reading. Yet, what about ‘normal’ reading practice? Isn’t it necessary in that case to slow down to try and get the tone right?
I feel like consciously trying to “read the tones right” might help strengthen the knowledge of tone for speaking practice as well, although I have no objective proof it does.

]]> By: Paul https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-how-to-read-ten-lines-at-a-glance/#comment-71503 Tue, 29 Dec 2020 17:05:43 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=970#comment-71503 Hi Olle,

I found this tutorial about reading speed exceptionally helpful. Running my finger along the text immediately sped up my reading. I found that even when my reading was lagging behind my finger, I would soon hit an easy patch and catch up.

I also discovered another problem. I was doing what you called “sub-vocalization”. My obsession was tones. I did not feel that I was actually reading the text unless I was hearing the correct tone in my mind as my eye moved over the text. Now that I am not worrying about tones, things are moving faster.

I have been using a spreadsheet to track my progress. My goal is 2.7 characters per second.

Thank you for the info.

Paul

]]> By: Olle Linge https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-how-to-read-ten-lines-at-a-glance/#comment-68233 Wed, 30 Sep 2020 07:52:08 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=970#comment-68233 In reply to 武文山.

Fixed the link! Thank you for highlighting the problem. 🙂

]]> By: 武文山 https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-how-to-read-ten-lines-at-a-glance/#comment-68222 Wed, 30 Sep 2020 01:12:57 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=970#comment-68222 “Read more about plugging gaps in your vocabulary here.”

Link is missing

]]> By: Olle Linge https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-how-to-read-ten-lines-at-a-glance/#comment-912 Sun, 10 Nov 2013 11:28:12 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=970#comment-912 In reply to nommoc.

No, I don’t think so. Reading speed is the ability to read fast, which is always good. It doesn’t mean that you have to read fast all the time. It’s quite good to be able to walk quickly or even run if you’re in a hurry, but that doesn’t mean you need to run past all the scenic spots while on vacation.

]]> By: nommoc https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-how-to-read-ten-lines-at-a-glance/#comment-911 Sun, 10 Nov 2013 10:38:51 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=970#comment-911 This post got me thinking, should we put test taking in a “category” of its own?

Your comment above mentions reading slowly actually has its time and place, i.e. enjoying a book.

Is it fare to say the importance of increasing reading speed is directly related to our need to/or not to take tests in that language?

]]> By: Reading aloud in Chinese is really hard | Hacking Chinese - 揭密中文 https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-how-to-read-ten-lines-at-a-glance/#comment-910 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 14:10:53 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=970#comment-910 […] easy, even if you don’t do it aloud! If this is your main problem, please check this article: Reading speed: Learning how to read ten lines at a glance. To put this into context, you can pass some quite advanced tests in Chinese without reading […]

]]> By: Listening strategies: Improving listening speed | Hacking Chinese - 揭密中文 https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-how-to-read-ten-lines-at-a-glance/#comment-909 Tue, 19 Jun 2012 05:44:48 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=970#comment-909 […] you’re presented with. While I’ve seen many articles and books about reading speed (I’ve even written one myself!), I’ve never seen anything about listening speed. That’s what we’re going to talk […]

]]> By: Olle Linge https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-how-to-read-ten-lines-at-a-glance/#comment-908 Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:49:21 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=970#comment-908 In reply to Sara K..

I think your measurement makes sense. I mean, characters per minute gives a false sense of accuracy, because it really depends on so many factors it’s meaningless unless we’re talking about a specific text. Reading fiction is different from newspapers, newspapers are different from textbooks, textbooks are different from… and so on. Level of comprehension is another factor. Saying than one can read so and so many characters per minute isn’t terribly interesting, although it might be useful if we want to compare with others (albeit we still need to consider the limitations of such a measurement). So, comparing with English sounds good. Personally, I use a few texts (the same texts, but different parts) to measure reading speed. This is good for evaluating progress, but not very useful for anything else.

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