Maybe the problem is that we associate words to sounds, and sometimes our brain needs these (simulated) sounds to understand. This is maybe the case for languages where what is written nearly represents what must be pronounced. In other languages, like chinese, there are only characters, from which it is nearly impossible to guess how to pronounce them. So it is theoretically possible to learn to recognize them without learning how to pronounce them, and actually understand texts.
Another personal case is that at school I learnt the multiplication tables by reciting it out loud, like:
- eight times seven, fifty-six.
- eight times eight sixty-four
- ...
And this really impairs me when I'm doing calculations in my head, because I always need to vocalize the numbers. So when I see:
7 x 8 = ?
First I will stare at it, without knowing the response directly, so I try reading it out loud: "seven times eight". But I can't find it in my head, so I try reverting it to "eight times seven", which is nearer to what I can remember, and then finally comes "fifty-six", that I need to translate again to numbers.
In my opinion it would be optimal to be able to think without subvocalizing. I often notice tense/frustrated feelings when I think with voice, because it looks like my brain is faster than what my voice simulation can pronounce. When I manage to remove this voice I feel more relaxed and can think very fast. There's really no need to really "talk to yourself in your head".
The only case where subvocalization is necessary is when you want to prepare sentences to be said to other people. Or you could use it to learn foreign languages and talk to yourself in your hand in this language.
|