ロータス wrote:[list][*]For the first time in a while, I read a chapter without a dictionary and wow, is this what extensive reading feel likes? Working out unknown words just from seeing it used a few times in sentences and making guesses on words by how it is used in the sentence!? For some reason, this felt much more enjoyable than when I had the dictionary open as a popup, looking up every unknown word to make sure I understood the word right x.x That feel you get when you go back to a word that you guessed on and after looking it up, see that you were right; amazing.
Congratulations!
When I first started reading articles on the Efficacemente site, it felt like I was looking up every word and simple articles took me about 1 hour to get through - it was hard word and I can't say I enjoyed it much. Then I needed to look up fewer and fewer words, I started seeing things I'd previously looked up repeat in context so they were easy to remember, and then at some point I realized that I could breeze through an article in 10 minutes without looking up anything.
It helps to read a lot by the same author and on the same topic, because then the expressions and vocabulary tend to repeat a lot more than normal, which is really useful. I still really like guessing at a word in context and then confirming with the dictionary that I was right; it's very rewarding!