Reading and counting interference poll.
Report the "best" performance of any language that you speak:
Can you read while counting out loud?
[pollid:610]
(No interference means that you can count while reading without any impact from one on the other)
Can you imagine a sentence read in a specific voice / accent? (e.g. professor Farnsworth, BBC commentary, etc)
[pollid:611]
Can you do that while counting out loud?
[pollid:612]
Do the answers differ for different languages?
[pollid:613]
I speak two languages fluently. I observe that it is slightly easier to count in one language and read in the other. The full ranking is reading without counting > reading English, counting Danish > reading Danish, counting English > reading Danish, counting Danish > reading English, counting English. That counting Danish > counting English is presumably because I don't count in English nearly as often. I used an LW article as my English text, and a physics textbook as my Danish one. I would say these two texts have similar difficulty.
Like bramflakes, I was surprised by how difficult it was to count while reading in a different accent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subvocalization
I'm curious about how often or to what degree visitors to this site subvocalize as they read. I was originally interested in reducing subvocalizations as a way to increase reading speed, as the idea is mentioned in multiple pieces I've read about speed reading.
The Wikipedia entry seems to focus on subtle throat and muscle movements, but I'm more interested to know if you "say" or "hear" the words in your head as you read.
Since reading about subvocalization recently, I seem to notice that I "say/hear" what I'm reading quite frequently. I'm not sure if this is causal (in the way that the command "don't think of pink elephants" obliges you to do so), or if I just notice it more now, or both.
When I'm very engrossed in a book either I don't notice the subvocalizations or they stop happening, so seems that it could either be a cause or a symptom of distractedness.
In the comments, please describe your mental subvocalizations (or lack of them) and if they are related to how engrossed you are in the book. Any other comments relevant comments about speed reading or subvocalizations are welcome.