3 ms·

I don't understand what subvocalization even is, based on the Wikipedia article. It sounds like "the voice in your head reads things as you do". So I'll go with

by Nadya 11y ago

I don't understand what subvocalization even is, based on the Wikipedia article. It sounds like "the voice in your head reads things as you do". So I'll go with that. I can't read without subvocalization... I tried keeping my mind preoccupied with gibberish words and even thinking in a foreign language but a second voice chimes in with the words as I'm reading them in the background. This is also quickly mentally exhausting... I don't consider myself a slow reader - as I speedread at 700~800wpm. The subvocalization merely happens by slurring words together as if playing a movie on x3 Fast Forward w/ sound. I'm not capable of seeing how it hurts the rate of reading. I could see voicing or actually reading aloud to slow down reading, but not this.

MichaelGG 11y ago
I can speedread around that rate too. Subvocalization is really hard for me to do; I tend to just "read faster". A few times I believe I've managed it and it did feel like I was able to go much faster. Maybe it's like meditating, where you gotta try not to think?
dilap 11y ago
i also can't read w/o the little voice in my head, but it is an interesting idea. is there a website to test reading speed + comprehension? i'm thinking something w/ like an auto-generated story of fixed elements ("a pig and a horse visit the blue house on the hill", "a donkey and an ostrich cross the bridge over a river"), or maybe just a sampling of a large corpus of real text of similar level. you get timed on how long it takes you to read it + given a basic test to see if you actually absorbed it. would be interesting to get some numbers, and also see if these (mythical?) non-subvocalizers really are faster. i think i could see it maybe working, but i also feel like the words would be taking a whole new path through my brain. almost like a new language.
- soperj 11y ago
  The way I'd describe non-subvocalization is how I would describe the way my brain understands french(which i speak fluently) and german(which I don't). With French I don't need to translate anything into english to understand its meaning, where as in German I have to translate most stuff to english before having any understanding of the sentence. I don't have to hear a voice inside my head telling me the words, I just sort of understand what the text is telling me.
- dilap 11y ago
  @soperj very interesting, definitely does make it sounds like people who dont' subvocalize have in some sense learned reading as a 'native language'. (reply up here because i guess i hit some hn karma limit on replying or something :/.)

by Nadya 11y ago

MichaelGG 11y ago

I can speedread around that rate too. Subvocalization is really hard for me to do; I tend to just "read faster". A few times I believe I've managed it and it did feel like I was able to go much faster. Maybe it's like meditating, where you gotta try not to think?

dilap 11y ago

i also can't read w/o the little voice in my head, but it is an interesting idea. is there a website to test reading speed + comprehension? i'm thinking something w/ like an auto-generated story of fixed elements ("a pig and a horse visit the blue house on the hill", "a donkey and an ostrich cross the bridge over a river"), or maybe just a sampling of a large corpus of real text of similar level. you get timed on how long it takes you to read it + given a basic test to see if you actually absorbed it. would be interesting to get some numbers, and also see if these (mythical?) non-subvocalizers really are faster. i think i could see it maybe working, but i also feel like the words would be taking a whole new path through my brain. almost like a new language.

soperj 11y ago
The way I'd describe non-subvocalization is how I would describe the way my brain understands french(which i speak fluently) and german(which I don't). With French I don't need to translate anything into english to understand its meaning, where as in German I have to translate most stuff to english before having any understanding of the sentence. I don't have to hear a voice inside my head telling me the words, I just sort of understand what the text is telling me.
dilap 11y ago
@soperj very interesting, definitely does make it sounds like people who dont' subvocalize have in some sense learned reading as a 'native language'. (reply up here because i guess i hit some hn karma limit on replying or something :/.)