Read out loud/ understand a text at the same time

[linguaholic]

I was wondering if you are able to read out loud AND understand a text at the same time? Whenever I had to read out loud in school I was just unable to really understand what I was saying. This must have to do with the fact that I was always concentrating on the pronunciation. Still, I was kinda shocked to discover after reading out loud a text that I just couldn't remember what I was reading (at all).

[DaBlink182]

Oh this is so recognisable! This might be different for you, but whenever I have to read out loud in class, I get a little nervous and I try to focus on pronunciation, just like you do, which makes me forget all about what I'm actually reading too.

However, I think that reading out loud by yourself makes it a lot easier to understand the text the first time you're reading it. For me, it takes away the nerves and I get to focus on my own mistakes without having to be embarrassed.

[Rosa]

I totally get what you are saying. I was very confident in school but I witnessed alot of children being nervous when reading session came around . It was quite the opposite for me though. If I tried to read in my mind I found that I had to read the same thing a couple of times before finally grasping it.Now that I am older I have actually trained myself to mind-read .

[Gregor]

It takes a while. If we you are afraid of promouncing words wrong and focus on that then you are likely to miss out of the sense of the passage. After a while as your confisdence grows you won't have to concentrate so much on pronunciation.

[Trellum]

I'm unable to do this,  reading out loud requires a lot concentration on my side, actually!  It's a shame, because my teacher often asked me to read out loud many texts from the books.  I couldn't remember a word!  I thought it was linked to the fact I suffer from ADD, but I guess it isn't!  Glad to know I'm not the only one with these issues

[sidney]

That's a good observation, I didn't realize until now that I don't really understand the things that I read aloud as compared to when I'm reading it silently. I don't even put much thought as I speak aloud, like for example, when I was praying the rosary aloud with my family. It all seems just mindless speaking.

[Qamra]

I know some people that have that problem and I feel similar way.

It's a bit harder to think and read aloud in the same time. I often end up not knowing what I read at all

But sometimes in goes another way round - I read some sentences loud to help myself understand them better. Yeah, I'm confused

[linguaholic]

Thank you for all that answers. I am very happy to see that I am not the only one having this problem :=) Sometimes, reading out things can be helpful, as Qamra mentioned, but I guess this just works with words or very short texts.  :grin:

[Astdua]

Strangely, I had the same problem in school, but I thought that's just me. I've found it that even when I am not reading out loud, if I try to read too fast or my mind wanders, I will be going through the text, but I will not be understanding any of it, it's a weird concept, of going through the motions like that but not really understanding the meaning of it. I guess to do it properly your brain functions more, leading to comprehensions.

[andre-nunes]

I get what you're saying and it depends on the situation. I like reading out loud when studying because it helps with memorization, it's a study tip that I got some time ago.

[Peninha]

Maybe I am too old because I can't remember if I had that dificulty or not. It's surely harder to concentrate on the content when you're trying to read aloud, it's like if you're doing two things at the same time, it's harder to do both correctly.

[True2marie]

I never thought about whether I can read and understand a text at the same time. So, I sat and tried it. It seems if the text is short and simple, this task is easy. If not, then doing both is hard.

[marmunmrhundun]

This is a very interesting forum, because this is definitely something that I can not do. I can not do this at all. It is very difficult to do so. I also have a hard time listening to music, and trying to say the lyrics while I read or write.

[Baburra]

Yes, I certainly understand the text a lot less if I have to read it out loud and especially if I'm not very used to the language of the text I'm reading. I have enough trouble understanding what I read when I read silently, to be honest, and I often have to re-read some sentences because my mind tends to drift and I find myself just reading the text without understanding it, and it's an occurrence that becomes a lot more prominent when I read something out loud unless I'm already familiar enough with the text that I'm merely reviewing it.