How to read faster with losing less comprehension?

[rezafo]

Hi, this Q should normally go to "Reading" section but I didn't find it. So, i'm sorry if i'm posting it in the wrong place. plz redirect it.

I've read enough about the fast reading techniques such as, not focusing on words and let our eyes read more blocks or a set of words instead of reading word by word and all the rest tips which you can find them easily on the web.

But my problem is that despite of knowing these facts still I can't skip the words I'm not familiar with and I strongly tend to stop or decrease the speed not to lose anything or to find out more about the words I'm not familiar with. One reason is perhaps I'm worried that if I skip them I may lose some details and information.

1- How can I teach and accustom myself to skip the words I'm not familiar and read faster?

2- Is it true that you can't speed up your reading without losing details and information?

موضوعات مشابه :

• What is literature? Why do we read it? Why is it important ?

[Greight]

It appears that you are too much concerned with knowing all the words in a text. This is something good if we take the vocabulary into account. So by means of this you will get to know lots of words. Of course there would be other conditions for retaining this vocabulary. But considering reading improvement, it is definitely something wrong which causes a huge delay in the process of reading quality and speed development.

1. For this, I recommend starters to add to their vocabulary database as much as they can, then start reading in advanced level. In other words, get books written for the sole purpose of vocabulary increase. Read them carefully. This is helpful because it will build up a good ground for reading and decreases the stops in reading.

As you know more than enough words for a smooth reading, I recommend you to believe if you even look up every unknown word, you will not be able to retain all of them. In fact looking up all words and stopping reading will get you no where. In your mother-tongue texts, you know all the words, so you do not think about words and you are concentrated on the ideas. In English texts, you should also try to behave in the opposite direction, i. e. you should get the idea and believe the words will be looked up in the text itself not a dictionary.

2. When we read we can not remember all we have read in the last seconds. SO we are always losing unnecessary details. Our minds retains approximately all the basic information that is needed to understand a reading material. So instead of wasting time on the details that will be forgotten in seconds, we should try to build something useful for later use.

[rezafo]

Thanks Greight for the reply.

Yes you are right, and most of the time I predicate the meaning of some unknown words and sometimes my guess is right. I know all these facts but there's a great tendency to slow down on words and terms which are completely new to me through the text and even when I skip them, they somehow captivate and take up a portion of my attention and thought. I know "turning back to them" is wrong and it is against the "fast reading rules" but sometimes I fail to resist the temptation and go back on them, ..lol…

By the way, if I'm looking for the general idea of an article or a story, of course I can read so fast and I'm fully pleased with that, but the point is that when I read a novel or a biography I know the beauty is in the details! Otherwise, when it comes to read an instruction, news, views, etc …, I'm a jet reader!

[Greight]

but the point is that when I read a novel or a biography I know the beauty is in the details! Otherwise, when it comes to read an instruction, news, views, etc …, I'm a jet reader!

So everything is OK. You have mastered enough reading skills. When you want to read for pleasure any detail plays a role and is somehow important.

[rezafo]

I wish to extend this discussion by mentioning that when I say [when it comes to reading news, views and etc." I'm a fast reader] I should add that I don't call it a "technique" or a special skill!
I explain why. Suppose that you are a slow reader, huh? And you are the winner of a big prize somewhere which you are to read the result in a magazine and in a particular article. Right? When you start reading you don't care about anything but your eyes run fast line by line and sometimes skip some lines because your eyes scan the whole words and lines and can easily recognize that there's no sign of your name and as you are a jet reader through the lines you scratch to a halt for your name somewhere down the third or fourth paragraph! Then would they call you an award-winning reader? Of course not. Whether you want or not, there are some skills which spark and grow in everybody naturally, but by practicing and directing a specific skill will lead you to a significant level which it is admirable. When a reader (a slow reader) is looking for specific information s/he can turn into a fast reader not knowing that s/he is practicing the fast reading techniques spontaneously!, because the speed of reading goes up naturally and the reader ignores all the unwanted information and very quickly focus on the needed details and info.
There are lots of people who call themselves slow reader because they barely finish a novel within a year, but when they hear that there's a good news for university applicants this year, they jump on their feet, storm to the news stand and on the way home and in the air they page over the papers and before inserting the key into the keyhole or pushing the door's bell they are already through that particular news or article and they have found and fully read what they wanted! Why? The answer is plain and simple as exemplified above.
I know that reading can have various purposes, for pleasure and fun or studying and learning and suchlike, I take them into account when I'm talking about the fast reading subject.