When should I stop using subtitles

[plain trellis]

Im still in the 2B stage and was wondering when I should stop using japanese subtitles when I watch youtube/anime/drama. Sometimes I feel I'm relying too much on what I read instead of what I hear. So is there some guideline when subtitles should be dropped?

[sacred timber]

You can stop using them altogether if you want, but you don't really ever have to drop them completely. you will improve your listening faster the more unsubbed content you watch. And you can work more of it into your routine at any time.
I still watch some subbed content. it can improve your reading and its certainly easier to mine from, if that's something you do.
i'd say just try doing some more of it now

[mystic moon]

As someone who was at least somewhat recently in your boat, I’ll add that I felt the same way in 2B and dropped subs completely, cold turkey (not including 86 because of the vocab and occasionally toggling them if I couldn’t pick up a line, but that’s rare). I can confidently say that I was way too concerned over nothing at the time. Your reading skills aren’t as developed as you might believe before 2C (and even after). That’s not to say you shouldn’t try dropping subs more like pandu said, but keep in mind that the odds are high that your skills in reading and listening probably aren’t as far away as you believe they are, so don’t stress about it.

[plain trellis]

Thanks for your comments 🙂
I'm not thinking about dropping them because I think my reading is really good. The reason is that I feel that my listening lacks and that my brain isnt really listening anymore but actually just reads and I noticed it. The brain goes the way of least resistance and I understand much more when I read subtitles - which I guess is pretty normal at my stage.

[sacred timber]

i did something pretty similar to this for a while where i just stopped reading and watching subbed content altogether, and it felt like i was understanding nothing for a while. but i saw improvements from it, and faster than i expected. so sounds like a plan to me

[mystic moon]

This is actually how I meant to describe my 2B experience, I just did it poorly lol. At any rate, if you’re in the same boat as me it took me about 2 weeks before I could understand at a similar level to subs on. It will feel extraordinarily painful at first, so don’t feel discouraged when you think you understand nothing.