Stop trying to recognise whole English words
At first, treat each Deseret letter as a sound. Point to one character, make its sound aloud, then move to the next. A word that looks utterly unfamiliar can become obvious as soon as you say it. Use the British pronunciation that comes naturally to you; do not force an American accent.
The most useful first set is six vowels: 𐐨 𐐩 𐐪 𐐫 𐐬 𐐭. Say see, day, palm, paw, no, moon. Then practise the short vowels in sit, met, cat, cot, cup, good. These twelve sounds do far more work than memorising the names of all 40 letters in one sitting.
Exercise 1: read whole syllables
Cover the English column, sound out each word, and check your answer only afterward.
| Word | Deseret spelling | Sounds to notice |
|---|---|---|
| pat | 𐐹𐐰𐐻 | p + ae + t |
| ten | 𐐻𐐯𐑌 | t + e + n |
| cat | 𐐿𐐰𐐻 | k + ae + t |
| hat | 𐐸𐐰𐐻 | h + ae + t |
| sun | 𐑅𐐲𐑌 | s + uh + n |
| dog | 𐐼𐐱𐑀 | d + o + g |
| fish | 𐑁𐐮𐑇 | f + i + sh |
| sing | 𐑅𐐮𐑍 | s + i + ng |
Exercise 2: words which confuse English readers
These are excellent practice because ordinary English spelling is a distraction. Both spellings in each pair are identical in this reference pronunciation.
| Word | Deseret spelling | Sounds to notice |
|---|---|---|
| two | 𐐻𐐭 | t + u: |
| too | 𐐻𐐭 | t + u: |
| right | 𐑉𐐴𐐻 | r + ai + t |
| write | 𐑉𐐴𐐻 | r + ai + t |
| one | 𐐶𐐲𐑌 | w + uh + n |
| won | 𐐶𐐲𐑌 | w + uh + n |
Exercise 3: read a sentence
Try 𐐌 𐑅𐐨 𐑉𐐯𐐼. That says I see red. Try another: 𐐎𐐨 𐑅𐐨 𐑁𐐴𐑂 𐑁𐐮𐑇. — We see five fish. Every word in these sentences has clear vowels that can be sounded out with the chart.
Historical printed Deseret sometimes uses one letter for a whole very common word; it also has no separate sign for the unstressed vowel in everyday “the”. That is why the first exercises avoid such weak syllables. Once the basic sounds are easy, learn short-word conventions from the original reader.
A seven-day method
Day one: write the six most familiar vowels ten times each. Day two: add the six shorter vowels. Day three: add P, B, T, D, M, N, F and S. Day four: write ten words without looking. Day five: add CH, SH, TH, R, L, W and Y. Day six: copy five short sentences. Day seven: read a page of a nineteenth-century primer slowly, aloud.
The crucial habit is switching directions: do not just decode symbols into English; hear an ordinary word, divide it into sounds and write it in Deseret. Someone who can write freely will generally find reading much easier with repeated exposure.
Exercise 4: reverse the direction
Without looking at a table, write fish, moon, cow, phone in Deseret on paper. Compare your results with 𐑁𐐮𐑇, 𐑋𐐭𐑌, 𐐿𐐵 and 𐑁𐐬𐑌. If a word differs, say each sound aloud to identify exactly which letter changed. Then write each corrected form three more times. The point is to train the connection from spoken word to character rather than memorise the shape of the whole word.
Read the same four words in a different order tomorrow. Being able to recognise your own copied handwriting is not yet the same as reading new material. Mixing the order makes the practice more effective.