Far from being a 'passive' skill, reading is, in fact, an active process in which readers relate information in the text to what they already know. Knowledge of the language allows readers to identify the printed words and sentences. Knowledge of the world allows them to comprehend these words and sentences. Good readers read for meaning. They do not decode each letter or each word. Instead, they take in chunks of the text and relate it to what they know.
You, the learner, are the most important factor in learning to read Russian. Whatever the outcome, it will be determined by what you yourself contribute to this process. You will learn to read faster and enjoy reading Russian more if you adopt some of the 'good reader strategies' that are described in this section. However, people learn to read in different ways so you should experiment with these techniques to see which ones work best for you.