Watched my friend go from hating subs to only watching subs in about 8 months
My buddy Marcus swore up and down two years ago that he could never watch subs because he "can't read and watch at the same time." He started with one show, I think it was Erased, and he would pause every line to read it, which drove me crazy when we watched together. Then around 8 months in he stopped pausing, and now he won't even touch dubs unless it's something like Cowboy Bebop where he says the dub is just better. I asked him what flipped and he said he just kept going until his eyes got faster, no trick or anything. Did anyone else have a slow ramp like that, or did subs click for you right away?
Read a thing once where a translator said new sub watchers take about 6 to 12 months to get fast enough that reading feels automatic. That lines up with your buddy's timeline pretty well. Mine took a few months too, mostly because I stopped rewinding every time I missed a word.
The "stopped rewinding every time I missed a word" part really hits home for me. I did the exact same thing for way too long and it was holding me back so much. Every time I missed something I'd pause and go back, and it made watching anything feel like homework instead of fun. Once I just let stuff go and kept watching, my brain started filling in the blanks on its own way faster than I expected. It's rough at first because you feel like you're missing things, but you catch up quicker than you'd think and your reading speed just builds up naturally. So yeah, your friend being at that 6 to 12 month mark makes total sense, and honestly it's kind of a relief to know that's normal and not just us being slow.