This is a piece of folklore being passed around the net. It needs a little more study. I wonder whether non-native speakers can read it. Whatever the case, it’s quite interesting.
Can you read this?? Olny srmat poelpe can.? I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!? If you can raed tihs psas it on
Ah, the power of pattern recognition!
found by Jae Dvorak
I’m non-native, I can read it – sometimes I had to pause to think a bit.
Yes, non-natives understand it too. I’m a native Lithuanian, and I’ve read the text almost without any problems. On the other hand, I communicate in English everyday, so I’m really used to the language. (I’ve been learning English since ~11 years of age)
The only part where I had understanding problems was the “taotl mses” phrase, probably because it reminded me of a phrase “tahiti masses” (Froydian slip?) and the brain refused to automatically “translate” them to “total mess”.
Paul, thanks for making it clear that this is rather “old.” Most, if not ALL, folklore of any sort is OLD! That’s how it becomes folklore. I’ve never seen it before, so it was new to me. I doubt that half of the readers have ever seen it before. Just because something is old does not mean it should be totally ignored forever after. Geez.
I’m a native speaker but I still had to stop and think a few times. Says a lot about the power of pattern recognition, yes, but also about seeing things in context. Jumble the words up and I bet it becomes a lot harder to recognize individual words.
🙂 Yup! Works on non-native English Readers! 🙂
Peter, I agree, context is everything, especially in English.
I think Andrius is on to something. An additional dependency to this working is that the scrambled word must not be similar to anything else. He read “taotl mses” as “tahiti masses.” I read “frist” as, well, “frist” because I follow politics and am thus familiar with the name Bill Frist.
Non native (Portuguese), can read it. It’s old stuff, infact I’ve saw a variation of this but in portuguese.
Woh tnihks thsi fkucne stih pu??!!
My native tong is Spanish and I can read it; I needed to pause bit with some words. There is also a version of this exercise in Spanish. It has been on the net for quite some time now.
Wow that was cool i could read that without having to stop and think or figure a word out 🙂
“according to a researcher” . I don’t think facts and ideas elucidated by science count as “folklore”.
This ability is the basis of speed reading. The other half to speed reading is to not sound out the words in your head. Phonics is how we learn to read, but to truly take advantage of the brain’s power, you have absorb the words and phrases as a whole.
You heard a voice in your head “reading” the jumbled words above, right? So it’s not possible to speed read that passage. Um, obviously.
I wish I could get the voice(s) in my head to stop.
Easy. And looks like each piece of spam email I’ve got:(
The combination of that picture with the text is a killer all by itself!
Alfred E. Newman, take a back seat….
THis is from a study. (I wish I could remember where). The conclusion was that people could read the words if all the letters were there (just jumbled). Not so readable if letters are missing or extras thrown in.
Perhaps someone else can remember the study?
the human mind only recognizes form, words are illusions, helpful ones, but still illusions.
I speak portuguese and can understand it too. There is a Portuguese version that is very popular here in Brazil.
Reads like Hip Hop lyrics.
daer fert haeds hoo tihnk its old and stpid,
its jsut a bolg psot!
Is that a picture of Ben Turpin or John C. Dvorak, the early years?
John C. Dvorak in college.
My teacher in scool could have rad this it is the way i spel
I am a native Ukrainian, was immersed into English at 29, but I had no problem reading it, however, I had to do it faster than usual reading, and I also had difficulty with “total”, I only guessed because of “mess”. I anyone is inerested, couple of second year psychology courses,especially the cognitive psychology, are discussing this subject. I suggest taking it, as well as Sensation and Perception.
i read it quite easily, without even trying
it was really easy for me to read. unbelievable. i could not stop smiling.
I really think study is a bit poposterous. I my self am not the best speeeler but i can tell you that based on a quick observation i determined that the order of words you can determined what next word should arise without it being said. Does that make you a mind reader? process of elimination. Please read this phrase. einerggnng bllestseer scraed dctiarnoiry. Its probably alot harder because their is no pattern just scatterd words. NOW please read this. Aculesfmae? No you probably can not read it. case closed what about this, Ctborydrahe? Can not right, Thats the power of deduction.
Arpita i think your sweet!
arpita, I reeeaaallly tinkh yuor cuet adn kepe smiling!
i read it like i spell
This is a very old “compatively in Psychological studies”, test. It was designed to help find out how we interpret/ perceive written language. The only people I would imagine who might have difficulty with this teset is if thier native language reads from left to right instead of right to left. The important part is that the first and last letters of the word remain the same
If you pick up any PSY 101 book you will probably find a similar test somewhere in it.
And SPC Alvareeez, I read carbohydrate just fine, if that was what you were trying to spell minus the extra a.