I’ve heard of speed reading and things like that, but I’ve never really given it thought before. I just assumed it’d be tricks like skipping over simple words, like prepositions. But in fact, there’s more to it, as I’ve recently learned.

A few weeks ago I came across a link for Spreeder, a free site sponsored by the makers of 7 Speed Reading. Basically, you copy/paste text into a window. Then site runs some fancy javascript and jQuery scripting magic to adjust the rate at which is shows the words to you.

The premise, and what kind of opened my eyes to speed reading, is that most people, myself included, tend to read only as fast as you can say the words. That is, when you read, you often have a voice in your head. If you can silence the voice, you can read faster. So, the site will parse the text you pasted, and show you one word at a time on the screen, in rapid succession. It starts you off with 300 wpm, but you can adjust it up or down in 25 wpm intervals. Mine is set to show me two words at a time at 950 wpm.

It’s an interesting concept, and I will say that when I use Spreeder I read much faster. 7 Speed Reading claims there are many more methods, and it’s something I may invest in later this year. After I’ve received a few more paychecks.

I finished Japanese language school on Sept. 20, 2013. I spent time job hunting (after squandering a month doing nothing really), had lots of interviews, met with various recruiters, and took a job in Chiba. I moved on Jan. 7, 2014. 2013年9月20日に日本語学校から卒業しました。1ヶ月あとは就職が始まりました。面接が多くて、リクルーターに会って、千葉県で仕事を見つけました。2014年1月7日に引っ越しました。

I then bought some furniture, a TV, and spent about three weeks getting used to my new home and job. 家具とテレビを買って、周辺に馴染んで仕事になれました。

It’s just about the end of January, which marks about four months of not studying Japanese. Sure, I’ve been reviewing various things, but I haven’t been actively trying to learn anything new. I need to do that now. 1月はほとんど終わりますね。4ヶ月ぐらい新しい日本語のことを勉強していません。やばい！すぐに続かなければなりません！

My goals this year: Pay off my student loan debt, newly acquired (see above) credit card debt, pass JLPT N2, and improve my reading speed (in both English and Japanese). 今年の目的は：奨学金を払い戻すし、クレジットカードを払い戻すし、日本語能力試験2級に合格するし、速く読めるように練習します。

Let’s see how it goes! 頑張りましょう！