From what I see it's more like to read aloud *without* understanding.

"「素読」は意味はあまり考えないで、声に出して読むという意味で"

Perhaps something like, "recite" would be fine?

I don't know if this expression would be recognized as a proper English or not, though.

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Note added at 3時間 (2010-05-02 12:49:33 GMT)
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I mean, "read aloud" to learn by rote.

素読（そどく／すよみ）　means "read aloud"+ "without comprehension", so the translation must contain both elements ("read aloud" and "withouth comprehension/understanding"). If I were to translate this phrase, I would probably just use "recite" for the sake of being concise because "reading aloud" is the more important element in doing 素読.


そどく ［素読］
意味を考えずに文字だけを声を出して読むこと．
http://www.sanseido.net/User/Dic/Index.aspx?TWords=%u7d20%u8...

It does not mean "read out loud" but it means to read without understanding."

Also, I don't believe this word has an equivalent in English that can be expressed in one word.

1) 素読 (sodoku) is defined as "reading without getting the meaning" (Nelson's Japanese Character Dictionary)

2) 素読み(suyomi) is defined as (just) read without comprehending [without taking anything in] ...(Shogakukan Japanese to English Dictionary)

3) Here is a definition from the "tangorin.com" website:

http://tangorin.com/words/reading of a kanji by meaning?show...

sodoku 【素読】
–common noun; noun or participle with the aux. verb 「する」
reading without comprehending





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Note added at 55 mins (2010-05-02 10:24:31 GMT)
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How about the possibilities of "mindless reading", "empty reading", "unconscious reading?" It's really hard to find that "one word!"

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Note added at 1 day17 hrs (2010-05-04 02:43:33 GMT)
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Hi Bree,
Your question seems to be gathering a lot of debate and attention! :-)
I've just found another website that may be of help that has another choice of words to define "sodoku" whereby it is defined as: read out aloud without paying attention to content

http://svjets.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/2009-11-19/

Speaker #1: Sumiko-san
• Definition of 音読（ondoku― reading out aloud）
• Five different type of ondoku　音読の五種類
o Mokudoku　黙読　（Silent reading）
o Saidoku　再読 (reading agin and again)
o Sudoku　素読 (read out aloud without paying attention to content)
o Roudoku　朗読 (reading with rhythm like poem)
o Gundoku　群読 (reading in a group)
o Benefits of reading out aloud 音読の　利点
 Realize reading mistakes　間違いに気がつく
 Helps pronunciation　発音にいい
 Learn natural flow of Japanese　日本語のリズムを習える
 Helps student get excited about learning　勉強に対して活気が出る