do you subvocalize?
Jan. 24th, 2003 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonMeaning, "pronounce[ing] internally what [they're] reading". Evidently this is a problem for the writer of this article, who hopes to speed up his/her reading by eliminating his/her tendency to think every word "aloud".
This article was an eye-opener for me because if the commentary is any indication, a lot of people subvocalize - and I realized that I almost never do. I have tried before, when I was in college and really needed to know something, or when something is a particularly difficult read (Tolkien, anyone?) and it drives me absolutely NUTS because it slows my eyes down, and therefore feels extremely unnatural.
I'd say that speed reading ain't all it's cracked up to be though - for one thing, I have very low retention most of the time. I re-read books and always discover something new because of this, and while that's nice if you can't get to the library, it would be very useful in some situations to "get it" the first time. I also find that audio books "stick" better because reading aloud is by necessity slower - I think I am able to remember more of "Harry Potter" and it's sequels because I listened to them rather than read them.
So while this guy is trying to speed up, I really ought to try (again! though it drives me insane!) to slow down. Funny world.
This article was an eye-opener for me because if the commentary is any indication, a lot of people subvocalize - and I realized that I almost never do. I have tried before, when I was in college and really needed to know something, or when something is a particularly difficult read (Tolkien, anyone?) and it drives me absolutely NUTS because it slows my eyes down, and therefore feels extremely unnatural.
I'd say that speed reading ain't all it's cracked up to be though - for one thing, I have very low retention most of the time. I re-read books and always discover something new because of this, and while that's nice if you can't get to the library, it would be very useful in some situations to "get it" the first time. I also find that audio books "stick" better because reading aloud is by necessity slower - I think I am able to remember more of "Harry Potter" and it's sequels because I listened to them rather than read them.
So while this guy is trying to speed up, I really ought to try (again! though it drives me insane!) to slow down. Funny world.
