I’m a slow reader. Always have been. When I read, I say every word aloud in my mind. I’ve been reading online that this “subvocalization” actually slows reading WAY down and doesn’t help with reading comprehension (once you know how to read). Is this true, and if so, how can I read without subvocalization? I’d like to become a better reader that can read books in weeks, not months. Thanks for any help!
I taught myself how to speed read without an inner voice. I didn’t think it was possible until I tried. I shut the voice up, quickly glide over the words, and somehow remember what it said. It feels completely different than focusing on the words.
It sounds like BS pseudoscience until you figure it out yourself.
My reading comprehension is higher with the voice, but without is much faster. It’s a tradeoff, but I can always go back and reread slower. The biggest difference is that I don’t enjoy speed reading. It’s for absorbing the gist of information quickly, like a news article, junk email, or academic text. I would never read a novel that way because it doesn’t paint a picture in my head.