Imagine if I asked you to read English words in this way.  I segment the words into individual syllables, and show you one at a time.  You read each one aloud, and then (very quickly) I show you the next one.  So you&#x27;re constantly reading the phonemes.  At the same time, you try to listen to yourself and turn the sounds into meaning.<p>That&#x27;s kind of what it&#x27;s like for me to read pinyin.  Pinyin is great for learning pronunciation, but not great for getting meaning: it&#x27;s just too slow.