Do you subvocalise?

[kjarvo]

Subvocalising is basically 'reading' the words in your head as you read, rather than just looking at the visual words and processing that as the word.

It is supposed to help with comprehension, but it slows reading down. I subvocalise, but my sister, who reads probably twice as fast as me, doesn't.

I can't seem to read a book without doing it.

How do you see/comprehend a word and not hear it in your head?

Slightly off-topic maybe but I am learning Mandarin and since Chinese characters do not represent sounds, it is perfectly possible for me to 'read' a character and comprehend the meaning without being able to say it! And vice versa - to remember the sound but not the meaning.

I don't usually sub-vocalise in English unless concentrating hard or trying to slow myself down.

Sorry, first sentence should have been in bold there - answering pp

Subvocalising is basically 'reading' the words in your head as you read, rather than just looking at the visual words and processing that as the word.

I literally don't understand how there could be a gap between the two. Text is a written record of spoken language so how could you read them without reading them? What am I missing?

I do read (and think) very quickly. But I'm struggling to say which of the two I am.

What does subvocalising sound/feel like? What does the opposite sound like? Is it possible to be in the middle?

The only comparison I can think of is reading music. The meaning of the marks is a noise which one is aware of while reading (as if you were faintly, roughly humming) but not to the extent of tunes literally "playing" in your head.

oh my goodness this has totally messed my head hehe.i didn't know what you meant at first but do you mean you are speaking it as your reading it?i realise I do it all the time.is there any other way.maybe I don't and don't realise it but now I'm focused on it I'm finding I'm doing it haha.hhhh wait no no there was four words I just typed where I didn't .ooh and antoher.ooh and I didn't vocialise this last sentence but I am now!!!!oh god

I had not idea that some people don't hear the words. It must make reading fiction a lot less interesting.

No idea, not not idea.

I don't understand how it's possible to read without sub vocalising

The more I think about it the more I can't believe people can read without sub-vocalising. How can you possibly read a word but not say it in your head?! Surely you aren't processing a word if you don't?

I don't subvocalise normally - but I do it deliberately if I find a passage particularly beautifully written or poetic (or conversely, if it's a difficult piece of theory). But I definitely find subvocalising slower - surely if you're subvocalising, then your reading is slowed to the speed it would take to say something? I can read a passage much more quickly than I could ever say the words out loud (and I'm a gabbly fast talker). I always assumed that we subvocalised when we first learned to read but dropped it as our reading speed exceeded our speaking speed.

I do both, for the reasons HMC2000 outlines. I suppose my choice of how to read something depends on whether I think a piece of writing is 'fast food' or a 'proper meal'.

Sub-vocalising must surely be more common, though? Isn't most of our 'reading' history a history of reading aloud (often communally) and/or reading closely (lots of lists of accounts)?

What a really interesting thread - and really interesting to read what other people do.

surely if you're subvocalising, then your reading is slowed to the speed it would take to say something?
Nope. I subvocalise and still read in my head a lot faster than I can speak. I suppose it's because I don't have to physically move my mouth or something.

Nope. I subvocalise and still read in my head a lot faster than I can speak.

Oh thank goodness you said that. Maybe that's what I'm doing. I can't quite decide how to classify it. This has been bugging me since I read it.

kateandme now I'm doing the same! I've never been so conscious of reading! It's really interesting how everyone differs - this stuff is fascinating.

For those wondering how you read without doing it, it's sort of like looking at the thing the word is naming. So if I look an an actual towel, for example, I don't say the word towel in my head, I just see it in front of me and know what it is. For me it's kind of the same when I read the word towel, I recognise what it is without saying the word to myself. And it's the same with words which aren't nouns but the analogy is easier with a noun!

Like other have said I subvocalise if I'm struggling to understand something because it slows me down. Or if I really want to appreciate the sounds or rhythm of the words.

I don't do it unless the writer has written dialogue phonetically to get an accent across or something.

I don't even sub-vocalise when I'm reading another language

This is somewhat different but I struggle to take in audiobooks as I find myself repeating the words in my head but not absorbing the meaning, then missing the next sentence as I do so.

Really frustrating as I'm a very fast reader.

I do when I am reading academic texts or a book I need to concentrate on, other times - no.

Struggling to figure out how you'd read without sub-vocalising. The reading music comparison helped slightly but still can figure out how it would happen with words.

Mind you there's a constant commentary in my head - reading, writing, thinking: rarely quite in there.

depends on what I read.
books for leisure I don't as I can't escape into the story if I do.

if I need to get into context I do.

I'm another subvocalising quick reader.

Like Tizzy, I have a talky mind and can't really imagine how you would read without subvocalising.

I suspect there could be a lino to aphantasia/hyperphantasia, which there was an interesting thread on recently.

I think I subvocalise. A lot of my thinking is my inner voice, but I am hyperphantasic and have constant images, too.

It's very difficult to be sure what you do while you're actually thinking - one of those things where observation changes how it happens.

It's very difficult to be sure what you do while you're actually thinking - one of those things where observation changes how it happens.

Now you've got me thinking about breathing, so I have to think about it in order to breathe!

I can read pretty fast subvocalising, but even faster if not doing so. If, say, it is a really important document, where every word matters, then I will subvocalise, but if it's something I'm just skimming through, then I won't.

I didn't realise that people read without hearing the words in their heads...

I also "hear" music when I read it (I'm a good sight reader).

I don't subvocalize things like hieroglyphics, but then I can't read them either!

This is an interesting (short) interview about silent reading