Sub-vocalisation being the act of mentally reading out/vocalising the words as you read, as opposed to visual reading (perceiving/experiencing meaning without consciously processing each word).
I was a fast visual reader for years and actually hated the feeling of being aware that I was ‘reading’ words. To me the best reading experience was to forget you were even reading.
But IDK, recently something’s changed. I’m a bit older, I’m not in a rush anymore. I’m trying to shed the school-rooted dogma of ‘faster/more reading = better’ and have started to be slower and more selective. I actually really enjoy assigning mental voices to the characters and taking my time in really interpreting and performing the words in my head. It’s all a bit surprising.
What about you?
by Ok-Friend-5304
4 Comments
I *can* read visually, but I prefer not to. Sure, it’s faster, but I feel like I’m retaining/comprehending less overall. Besides, when I read fiction, I want to read it as a story with voices, inflection, dramatic pauses, etc.
I’ve always been hooked on creating the scenes in my head. I’m not good at giving characters special voices, to be honest, but I have so much fun imagining scents, sounds, and sceneries themselves. It’s so much more fun and immersive for me
Doesn’t everyone just do both? Like I’m aware that I’m reading words and I sub-vocalize, but I’m also vividly imagining the scene.
To me trying to do anything but sub vocalise is not appreciating what you are reading. It’s like watching a movie on 2x speed. Sure you get all the information in, but you’re going to skip over more subtle things like word choice.