What are the risks and benefits of subvocalization (inner voice) while reading? Are there possible consequences from suppressing it?
Think of it like walking and running instead. During running both feet will not touch the ground at the same time, which is different from walking…
Only because you switch off your inner voice during speed reading does not mean that you have to keep it switched off during normal reading or that you now always have to speed read… only because you know how to run doesn’t mean you can’t walk anymore.
2 Likes
Former yes, but more a matter of technique then “convenience”. Consider again walking and running… speed reading whilst subvocalizing would look like speed walking instead of running. Sounds like the disclaimer text for medication they read out super fast at the end of commercials.
As far as the latter, no idea what you’re talking about… that’s also why I’m using “subvocalization” in the context of speed reading now, instead of running with this “inner voice” analogy. If your inner voice is “plotting against [your]self,” you might want to seek professional help.
What are you trying to do? If you want to speed read then no. Do you actually want to speed read? If so, at how many words per minute and how many wpm are you at now with subvocalization?
“Beginners” of what? If you want to memorize the periodic table or pi or whatever then why would you bother with speed reading? What does one have to do with the other?
I doesn’t work like that… it is also not the same as the “inner voice” they talk about when they dumb it down in their books and articles, because they’re afraid people won’t understand what is meant by “subvocalization”.
Again, not what is meant… they mean the voice that is “reading along” word for word… not an inner monologue that explains on top of the written text. The idea is that your vocal chords (used during subvocalizing) will put a limit on how fast you can go because they can only produce sounds so fast.
That is way too slow if you want to not subvocalize what you read. Imagine trying to run at 2 mph… your brain would be very confused as to why you’re not just walking instea, because you’d be twice as fast. Try reading at 3-4 times of what you’re at.
Where did you find that technique? You’d read in word clusters when speed reading, not the first letter of each word. You’d also skip useless words like “de” in Spanish.
esp: zumo de naranja, zumo de manzana, zumo de piña → z d n, z d m, z d p
eng: orange juice, apple juice, pineapple juice → o j, a j, p j
deu: Orangensaft, Apfelsaft, Ananassaft → O, A, A
Especially, in Spanish you should be able to see the word cluster and just read it as one piece of information, same for English and German because the construct is familiar to you. Following this first letter technique… English speakers should be able to read twice as fast and German speakers three times as fast as Spanish speakers.
It would probably slow down English or German speakers a lot if they found “juice of oranges”/“juice of the orange” or “Saft von Orangen”/“Saft der Orange” instead. Even though grammatically perfectly okay, but your brain is not familiar seeing this construct every time you’re in a supermarket.
see here… not all texts are equal:
Bottom line, if on top of memorizing you are also learning new concepts during reading then forget about speed reading.
It’s actually exactly the same: replace the abstract with a concrete image and store it in a location in your memory palace. You’re making use of image recognition and spacial navigation.
Instead of trying to review fast(er), try to review more effectively… spaced repetition software like Anki or Memrise can be used for that. Also active recall is more powerful when it comes to retention than just re-reading your notes is.