Category: Let's talk
Hi everyone!
I recently read an article talking about a blind girl who can read braille at roughly 500-words per minute. Maybe it is because I do not know that many blind people, but that seems impossible. Do any of you know anyone who can read braille that fast? Due to the amount of reading that we have to do in law school, most of my sighted friends can read about 400-words per minute; which is fast even for sighted people. (FYI, most people at graduate school level can read about 200 to 250-words per minute.) Anyway, it would be nice if I can read braille at about 500-words per minute. If any of you have recommendation on increasing one's reading speed, I would love to hear about it. Please let me know! Thanks!
just keep reading, I don't know that it's possible to read five hundred words a minute withoug taking in what you're reading. Where'd you find this article/
it's definitely possible. i'm gonna attend the louisiana center for the blind soon, and their braille class focuses soley on increasing speed. they want you to read at least 200 words a minute.
To post 2, below's a link to the article where I read about the lady. I shouldn't call her a girl, I guess.
http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm04/bm0410/bm041006.htm
I can read 500 wpm, so its definitely possible.
Practice, practice, practice, and ask someone to teach you the butterfly method. Its where you read about halfway acrost the line with both hands, move the left hand down to the beginning of the next line, then finish the first line with your right hand.
It keeps you on the right line and you don't hav eto look for the next line.
It increases speed drastically.
but how can you take in what you are reading?
In terms of how I take in what I read, it depends on the content. If I'm reading somethign that doesn't require much attention like a magazine article or a recipe, I can go much faster. If I'm reading an article about music, science, or electronics, that's different.
I met a guy about 20 years ago who was a braille teacher. He believed that speedreading in braille could be enhanced if the reader would crawl around the floor for about 15 minutes before going to bed. His theory was something to the effect that we needed to spend time as babies, because babies minds are like a blank page. If we could spend time focussing on that aspect of our learning, it would prepare us for learning and I guess, speedreading during the day. I may not have that theory right, but I never heard of it before or since.
Lou
To post number 6, yeah, that's what I'm wondering too. How do people who can read braille that fast take in anything that they read? Using 11.5 by 11 paper, reading 500 words per minute means roughly reading about three and a half of pages. Your finger is flying at that point I would think!
To post number 7, huh! That's an interesting theory. Actually, I do seem to recall hearing something similar to that from somewhere, but I don't remember from where. But I know it wasn't twenty years ago, 'cause I would have been only seven then.
Here's another question to those who can read braille that fast. How do you measure your braille reading speed? I mean, do you just use an old stop watch and go at it for a minute or is there a more scientific way of measuring your speed? Also, are you sure that you're measuring words and not characters? I'm asking that question 'cause I recently read an article stating that people should be measured based on how many characters that they could read and not how many words people can read.
Thanks to everyone for taking an interest.
Robert,
I'm not sure how many words/characters I can read a minute, but I am very fast. I started learning Braille when I was about three, so I've been using it for years. Over those years, I've acquired a great speed. I have friends who also read Braille, and they're astonished at the level of speed in which I read. And, yes, I do take in and understand what I'm reading. I guess it's just something that develops over time. I am also one who uses the technique mentioned in post number five.