&gt;  Until you&#x27;ve absorbed the rhythm and the literary style<p>also reading outloud helps<p>i used to tell people the first one will take you two months, the second one will take you two weeks, and the third one will take you two days<p>i meant it as playful encouragement but i think it may have put some people off<p>also, i just like taking more time with texts than it takes me to read them<p>it took me two weeks to read the first sentence of basho&#x27;s oku no hosomichi:<p>&quot;moon and sun are passing figures of countless generations and years coming or going wanderers too&quot;