What It’s Like Not to Know

If you are reading this, you likely do not remember what it’s like to not know how to read. A large fraction of people, some say 1 in 5, struggled with reading so much that they will never forget the struggle. Others, maybe 1 in 5, never struggled. Most of us, myself included, had experienced some struggle but have largely forgotten it.

إذا كنت تقرأ هذا ، فمن المحتمل ألا تتذكر ما يشبه عدم معرفة كيفية القراءة. جزء كبير من الناس ، البعض يقول 1 من 5 ، يكافحون مع القراءة لدرجة أنهم لن ينسوا النضال أبداً. آخرون ، ربما 1 من 5 ، لم يناضلوا أبدًا. معظمنا ، بما فيهم أنا ، عايشنا بعض النضال ولكننا نسينا ذلك إلى حد كبير.

Εάν διαβάζετε αυτό, πιθανότατα δεν θυμάστε τι είναι να μην ξέρετε πώς να διαβάσετε. Ένα μεγάλο μέρος ανθρώπων, μερικοί λένε 1 στους 5, αγωνίστηκαν με την ανάγνωση τόσο πολύ που δεν θα ξεχάσουν ποτέ τον αγώνα. Άλλοι, ίσως 1 στους 5, δεν αγωνίστηκαν ποτέ. Οι περισσότεροι από εμάς, συμπεριλαμβανομένου και εμού, είχαν βιώσει κάποιους αγώνες, αλλά το έχουν ξεχάσει σε μεγάλο βαθμό.

אם אתה קורא את זה, אתה כנראה לא זוכר איך זה לא יודע איך לקרוא. חלק גדול מהאנשים, אומרים 1 מתוך 5, נאבקו בקריאה כה רבה עד שלעולם לא ישכחו את המאבק. אחרים, אולי 1 מתוך 5, מעולם לא נאבקו. רובנו, אני עצמי, חוויתי מאבק כלשהו, אבל שכחתי אותו במידה רבה.

It easy to look at a foreign language and think, Of course I can’t read that, I don’t speak that language. But can you imagine what it’s like to not know how to read your own language? As I’ve studied the neuroscience of reading, as I’ve learned about how people struggle with it, and as I’ve opened my eyes to see myself in the emergent reader, I’ve come to remember much of what I’ve forgotten. I’ve never been a strong reader.

I build tools to remove the struggle, the frustration, and the tedium from learning how to read. The biggest challenge I have faced is helping my audience of fluent readers truly understand what it’s like to be an emergent reader. Now, I have a tool that kills two birds with one stone — by asking fluent readers to reenact the role of emergent reader, I can test my most basic yet unproven hypotheses and give those same readers an empathy developing experience. With some help from a few friends at the University of Utah, I am conducting a study on three different approaches, and I want you to participate.

I’m asking you to learn to read English written in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Sign up now at ipa.sara.ai. I am in no way advocating that we teach young children to read using the International Phonetic Alphabet, I’m simply leveraging the unfamiliarity of it to do new research. Your participation will give us the data we need to create better tools which help true emergent readers. There are 24 modules to be completed at your own pace over a couple days or weeks. Each module should take between 5 to 20 minutes to complete, for a cumulative commitment of about 4 hours.

Note: I know the website is currently not https. I hope to address that soon. But your login credentials are encrypted, submitted over https.