Seriously thoughtful When reading, do you subvocalize?

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by ajmint

Same. Exactly the same.

I just imagine the scene in my head — I really enjoy imagining Hogwarts, but with books like Sherlock Holmes where they tend to move around a lot, it can be a bit harder.

I also sometimes subvocalise when the character has a distinctive voice, or when it's a major moment ("You're a wizard, Harry" being an example of both).

welcome to the forums!

[wodin]

I didn't answer the poll because my category wasn't one of the options. I subvocalize when reading something that I'm not really interested in, but need to know. E.g. legal and regulatory stuff, technical stuff , and most things that are beyond my comfort level.

It's been a few years since I've been in school, but I would think something like an assignment in my least favorite subject might qualify.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by ajmint

Same. Exactly the same.

I just imagine the scene in my head — I really enjoy imagining Hogwarts, but with books like Sherlock Holmes where they tend to move around a lot, it can be a bit harder.

I also sometimes subvocalise when the character has a distinctive voice, or when it's a major moment ("You're a wizard, Harry" being an example of both).

Although I do sub-vocalize, I also have an image and/or character voice running through my head. If I am reading a series, those images turn into movies as I get to know more and more about the people and places.

Hogwarts was a wonderful place of discovery. I could see the "Fat Lady" at the door, the moving stair case(s), even Diagon Alley. I was thrilled when so many faces and things in the movies looked exactly as I pictured them from the books. I was most please with Harry, Hermione, Hagrad, the first Dumbledore and Snape. In fact, the only person that struck me as "wrong" was Harry's Aunt; she looked nothing like my internal image.

[Gwen Morse]

I don't usually sub-vocalize as defined in the poll. For people curious about what that's like, for me the closest analogy is reading a stock market ticker...words "flow across" my mental landscape . I speed-read all the time so I don't have enough "time" to hear words.

I do occasionally hum to myself in a reading tone when reading (another kind of sub-vocalization). I do that with very dry technical books. It tends to annoy people around me. In those cases, I hear my own mental voice reading the books aloud. The audible noise I make is sort of "Mmm mmm MUH...hmm...MMMmmmnnnn...." Yes, it does annoy the heck out of people around me.

Very rarely, an author will write beautifully enough that I hear voices for each of the characters. For me, that's a sign of a superlative work. I have to stop my eyes at each paragraph break/dialogue change to let the inner narrators catch up. It makes for some strange situations when each speaker is not clearly telegraphed.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Gwen Morse

I do occasionally hum to myself in a reading tone when reading (another kind of sub-vocalization). I do that with very dry technical books. It tends to annoy people around me. In those cases, I hear my own mental voice reading the books aloud. The audible noise I make is sort of "Mmm mmm MUH...hmm...MMMmmmnnnn...." Yes, it does annoy the heck out of people around me.

I do that sometimes with a particularly onerous email. My boss, who sits in the cube next to me will ask me what I said, and I’ll tell her “I’m just talking to myself; I’m the only one who listens to me, you know!”

[DuskyRose]

Originally Posted by The Cod Father

After a while I seem to hear each character as an individual and even to the point where the book itself disappears and there just seems to be a "movie" running in my head .

TCF

This is me. My husband doesn't see video, he hears the narrator with no pictures. We both think the other is strange!

But for me, if the book is well written grammar wise, and there are no visual 'speed bumps' to throw me out, I quit seeing the works and see a video of all the action and characters in my head pretty much right off. I've learned to navigate small typos and mistakes pretty easily, but big errors bump me out of video mode and I see the words again.

One of the things that annoys me is when an author doesn't give much in the way of descriptions, so I don't start out with a good visual. I just read a couple of books with two main male characters, and the author described everyone else enough that I could grab a visual and go. But the two main characters only were 1) English 2) brothers 3) mid thirties and 4) one had thinner hair than the other. No hair color, eye color, height, skin tone, build, or anything that would tell me what the other characters saw.

I liked the stories themselves, but the character were pretty blob-like in my head until I finally settled on what they looked like.

The author may have had an idea of what his characters looked like, but he didn't get it across to me! I get frustrated with that. Makes my movie fuzzy.

[kindlekitten]

I wish this discussion had been held pre-film. I wonder how much we are influenced by that?

[Cyberman tM]

Originally Posted by DuskyRose

One of the things that annoys me is when an author doesn't give much in the way of descriptions, so I don't start out with a good visual. I just read a couple of books with two main male characters, and the author described everyone else enough that I could grab a visual and go. But the two main characters only were 1) English 2) brothers 3) mid thirties and 4) one had thinner hair than the other. No hair color, eye color, height, skin tone, build, or anything that would tell me what the other characters saw.

I liked the stories themselves, but the character were pretty blob-like in my head until I finally settled on what they looked like.

The author may have had an idea of what his characters looked like, but he didn't get it across to me! I get frustrated with that. Makes my movie fuzzy.

That reminds me of a discussion between two characters in a short story Asimov wrote ("Gold", in case you know it).
A movie producer was complaining to the author that he didn't describe his characters, making it impossible to define a visual representation of them.

Till now I didn't really think about that beyond the obvious book->movie transition.

When I say I "see a movie" in my head when reading, it's not entirely true. I don't really see any visuals, or rather rarely. It's more of having an idea of the book running in my head.
So I'm not much bothered by missing visuals, and rely more on conversation to advance the story/describe the characters.

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I wish this discussion had been held pre-film. I wonder how much we are influenced by that?

Very good point, do we visualize because of what we have seen or because of what our mind is perceiving in the written words.

A friend of mine is blind and he said when he reads he sees the words as a picture, but because he has never seen it is very hard for him to describe it, I think KK might be on to something here.

[Angst]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I wish this discussion had been held pre-film. I wonder how much we are influenced by that?

When I was growing up, we didn't have TV, and movies were 'evil.' Instead, I read books. Lots of books. I view TV and movies as passive because they require no action on my part. Everything, pictures and words, are given to me 'as is.' Reading, by comparison, is active. The words on the page stimulate my imagination and I am actively involved in reading a book.

In the past year, I have watched less than 10 hours of TV, watched about 5 movies in theaters, and read over 100 books.

[Angst]

Originally Posted by DuskyRose

...if the book is well written grammar wise, and there are no visual 'speed bumps' to throw me out, I quit seeing the works and see a video of all the action and characters in my head pretty much right off. I've learned to navigate small typos and mistakes pretty easily, but big errors bump me out of video mode and I see the words again...

[Nexutix]

I do sub-vocalize, but not in the manner you are saying. I don't hear the pitch change. All words are in constant array of volume, pitch and rate of reading except minor clicks due to word's phonetic itself. If Britons sub-vocalize, it will take them ages to read their books. But it seems we sub-vocalize way too much faster than we speak.

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by patilsaurabhr

I do sub-vocalize, but not in the manner you are saying. I don't hear the pitch change. All words are in constant array of volume, pitch and rate of reading except minor clicks due to word's phonetic itself. If Britons sub-vocalize, it will take them ages to read their books. But it seems we sub-vocalize way too much faster than we speak.

It's funny when I read a book that has many "Brit slang" I find it impossible to read it without an English accent, it even goes so far to have a Cockney accent in some books

[bornmusician]

Originally Posted by Mortis

It's funny when I read a book that has many "Brit slang" I find it impossible to read it without an English accent, it even goes so far to have a Cockney accent in some books

I am SO GLAD I'm not the only one who does this!!!

I hear different characters in different voices, the narrative is my own voice (I think) and I most definitely have a "movie" playing in my head. But not in the film sense. It's more like I visualize what I think a particular scene or action sequence would look like. Then a bit of narrative, then another scene. So my "movie" is not continuously flowing the entire time.


As a side note, I worked in a movie theater for 4 years, so this is interesting to see so many people with the "movie" concept. Didn't know if it was just how I was, or a product of my experience.

[CazMar]

I couldn't imagine "sub-vocalising" unless I was reading a play or a piece of poetry. It must slow down your reading speed a lot. The print just goes straight in to my brain! I read "chunks" of text, whole short paragraphs,at once.