Do you hear words in your head when you read?

[Zsofia]

My boyfriend thinks I'm a freak of nature because I don't hear words in my head when I read. (He also thinks I'm some sort of autistic idiot savant because I read so fast and because I'm not good with people. I tell him I'm a big verbal dork who's just bad with people and that he should find somebody else to psychoanalyze.) I think he's a freak of nature because he does hear words in his head when he reads.

Mind you, he reads plenty - it's not like he has to move his lips. He doesn't read fast, though. Sometimes he gets miffed at me when I read something he's written, because he thinks I can't possibly be taking it in that fast. I asked him who he hears talking, and he says that if it's something with a strong authorial voice then it's, I guess, a made up author's voice. If it's fiction then it's like a play. If it's just dry with no particular voice he hears himself.

He swears that if we polled ten heavy readers most of them would be like him and I'd be the weird one. I told him I'd ask here, and he thought that was a good idea but also told me that most of the people on the SDMB "probably have your kind of personality disorder or something", so there's that.

So. Do you hear words when you read? Do you just absorb the content? Is there a third option?

[Kiros]

Like, hearing a book on tape, except in your head, when you're reading? That... um... no, not even close.

I would say that for the most part I just absorb what I'm reading. If anything, I would say that my brain puts together images and scenes in my head, especially if that's one of the strengths of that particular writing. I do also blow through books pretty quickly, though.

[Malleus, Incus, Stapes!]

Depends.

Common words? Absolutely. I'm hearing this sentence as I'm typing it.

Longer or unusual words, not so much. Which is why I can read a whole book about a character named Fiersenjadder without figuring out the pronouciation.

[Not a Platypus]

Sometimes, especially if it's fiction. Different characters tend to have their own voice, but it's not quite like listening to books on tape. It's more subtle and in the background, I guess.

[JohnT]

Yeah, I hear words.

Back when they tested me for such things my reading speed was 600wpm. I heard words back then, too.

Male, here. (Since that datapoint might be important in this question. Or not.)

[filling_pages]

Depends.

Common words? Absolutely. I'm hearing this sentence as I'm typing it.

Longer or unusual words, not so much. Which is why I can read a whole book about a character named Fiersenjadder without figuring out the pronouciation.

What he said, almost exactly. Except that longer words I almost always "hear", it's mostly just names that I'll skip over. In fact, my mind will take that made up oddball name and substitute in something else that sort of makes sense but is simpler and easier to remember, and that's what I'll "hear" when I look at that word.

I'm a quick reader, too. This all happens instantaneously. I look at a word, I hear it in my mind. I can't not hear it. To read it is to hear it.

[Zsofia]

Yeah, I hear words.

Back when they tested me for such things my reading speed was 600wpm. I heard words back then, too.

Male, here. (Since that datapoint might be important in this question. Or not.)
Oh, good point - it would be good to hear genders with answers.

[gwendee]

For me it depends on the circumstances. I don't hear the notice from my insurance company. When I read a novel I might not hear the whole thing, but definitely hear passages of dialogue.

When I read an autobiography of a performer it's easy for me to hear that person's voice as I read. If it's not associated with a specific person I hear what I think of as a generic filmstrip narrator voice.

At that same time I don't think you're a "freak of nature" for not hearing them. My earliest experience of reading was looking at the words as my mom read to me. I feel like that tied the idea of words to how they sound for me.

My sister and I are both fast readers. I've never asked her about hearing the words, but I do owe her an email...

[aruvqan]

fiction i see scenes like i am watching a movie, nonfiction i get words.

[ivan astikov]

Male. Yes. I read them "aloud" in my head, and if they are descriptive enough, I'll also be able to conjure up little 'videos' when I close my eyes. It's a shame they don't last long very long.

[Merneith]

Every time. Until this thread it never once occurred to me that other people don't. I can't skip over words I can't pronounce, even names. I have to stop and work it out or else I'll trip on it next time I see it. Fortunately, this doesn't happen often.

I read faster when I was younger than I do today. OTOH, writing comes easily to me but I pretty much only have one voice. That's the biggest flaw in my fiction writing. Everyone sounds like me. My academic writing tends to be quite readable though since I naturally have a rather Encyclopedia Brown approach to conversation.

[Strainger]

I hear words when I read, but not the ones I'm reading. Gets really frustrating.

[PapSett]

Yup. I actually 'see' the book in my mind like a movie, but I hear the voices.

What I find humorous is when I am reading a book written with an 'accent' (Think the James Herriot veterinarian series) I find that I start thinking with an accent. Anyone else do that?

[tdn]

Male, and yes. But it's not really any specific voice, except in rare circumstances. The voice in my head wouldn't make a great public speaker.

[tdn]

What I find humorous is when I am reading a book written with an 'accent' (Think the James Herriot veterinarian series) I find that I start thinking with an accent. Anyone else do that?

Yes! Years ago I worked with a very annoying Chinese woman with a string accent and a very distinctive way of speaking. I couldn't read her e-mails without hearing her belly belly bad voice!

[Arrendajo]

If it's dialog, I hear the speakers. Description and non-fiction I cruise along with sort of a neutral voice reading the words. I think I read only a little faster than I could speak the words.
Male - librarian - extremely handsome and virile

[Malleus, Incus, Stapes!]

Oh, good point - it would be good to hear genders with answers.

Okay.

[breaking-reality]

Nope, I don't actually hear words as I'm reading.

However, I will say there have been a number of times where I've read a book and thought I saw it as a movie afterward. Much later after actually having read the book, though; I don't actually hear voices and/or watch the images in my mind like one would a movie...but my brain does link the images and such together.

I'm female, and probably read pretty averagely (10-30 books a year).

[toodlepip]

I hear words, in my own voice. I usually read much faster than I speak, so it's nothing like hearing a book on tape.

When I'm reading something that has been translated into English from my native language, or vice versa, I find myself automatically translating it back, reading in one language but hearing the words in the other. A lot of subtlety is lost in translation, and I guess I'm trying to recapture that. A clumsy translation is painful to read, and slows me down as I mentally rewrite it.

[LurkerInNJ]

Both.

When I read for pleasure or at leisure, I hear the characters voice or a narrator type voice when I read the words. If there is no character to start off with, I hear myself or a well known voice reading the words (think Anthony Hopkins type).

When I read for work, it's pure content absorption.

[breaking-reality]

Every time. Until this thread it never once occurred to me that other people don't. I can't skip over words I can't pronounce, even names. I have to stop and work it out or else I'll trip on it next time I see it. Fortunately, this doesn't happen often.

I have to look up words I can't pronounce, too. I often sound things out aloud to help with that, but I don't actually hear the words read out in my head.

[SenorBeef]

I usually hear words and read relatively slowly - faster than the average person but slower than most serious readers. I can also read very quickly without hearing the words and just try to absorb the information, but I don't comprehend and retain it as well as when I take it slow.

Oddly enough, though, you'd think that hearing the voices in your head would either mean you read at the same speed you'd speak, or you'd hear it sounding really sped up - but neither is the case for me. Somehow I can hear all the words in my head at a rate greater than speech but without the preception that it's like someone talking very fast. I'm not quite sure how that works - do other people perceive it the same way?

[Autolycus]

I hear words when I read for fun, but I can also read very fast, in which case I don't hear the individual words, but I hear something faintly. Male, 26.

[Bosstone]

If I've just been listening to an audiobook, which is pretty frequent, I'll hear the words read out by the audiobook's narrator. At other times, not really.

(Male)

[Noelq]

Yup. I actually 'see' the book in my mind like a movie, but I hear the voices.

Same here. If the book has been previously encarnated as a movie, I "read" the book in their voices, and "see" the characters from the movie.

My head is a busy place.

[elfkin477]

I thought there were two kinds of people, those who "see" what they read like a movie, and those who "hear" what they read like there's someone telling the story. Now there are people who do neither?! I'm so confused...

I hear the stories 99.8% of the time. the other .2% of the time I can actually understand what people mean when they say they see the scenes in their heads. I don't see the majority of stories I write, either, so it's always a shock when someone tells me they can see a story of mine that way.

[Athena]

Hear words while you read? I think I'd go nuts. Speaking words is slow. Reading is fast.

In other words, nope, I don't hear words while I read, and I read pretty fast. I know this is true because I'm constantly coming across words I know that I can't pronounce. I can spell them, I know what they mean, but I butcher them when I say them because I never associated the written word with the spoken one. Luckily, my husband thinks it's cute that I mispronounce so many words. I've been horribly embarrassed in work situations before because I mispronounced a word repeatedly and badly, enough that someone finally corrected me.

[AClockworkMelon]

I voted "no" but I already knew that most people do, in fact, hear the words as they read them. I've had this conversation with friends before.

[Tethered Kite]

Both for me.

Reading here is very much like listening to a conversation. But when I read a good novel I am transported into a film.

And there's little about conscious process involved. It's more like a trance state and I go far, far away into the book!

Same with when I play the piano. When it's time to turn the page I momentarily become aware of myself and surroundings.

[Creole Tomato]

I don't really hear the words of narrative text, or nonfiction, but I definitely hear the dialogue. What drives me nuts is badly written dialogue, because it doesn't feel like "listening" to an actual conversation.

[Vihaga]

I only hear them if I think about it too much, if I'm having trouble understanding a passage, or when I first start reading. After that, if I'm immersed at all (and if the words aren't spoken dialogue, or poetry, or something like that), then no I don't.

[Suburban Plankton]

All the time.

I am a very fast reader if the content isn't too terribly challenging, so I don't necessarily 'hear' every single word individually, but there is definitely a dialogue going on in my brain the entire time. The voice is usually mine, but sometimes it will be the character that is speaking/narrating (if the book in question is written well enough for me to immerse myself that deeply).

I do the same thing when I am writing, in which case it's almost always my own voice.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Not all of them, but I hear dialogue in my head in my conception of what the character would sound like.

ETA: Sometimes I hear non-dialogue too, like snow crunching under boots.

[Cat Whisperer]

I thought there were two kinds of people, those who "see" what they read like a movie, <snip>
Ah, that's how I read - I was having a hard time putting it into words, that I don't exactly hear the words, but something more...gestalty. I am a very fast reader, too.

- Female.

[Pushkin]

I do and it annoys me sometimes. I can be happily reading, engrossed in what the characters are doing and suddenly think to myself "Hey, I'm making up the sound of their voices myself". It makes it strangely self conscious to read that way.

By the time I got to "It makes it..." I had already started to do so, and its my own bloody voice! :rolleyes:

[Lakai]

I try not to hear any words when I read, but sometimes they creep in when I'm reminded of them (like in this thread).

I just think pronouncing the words in your head as you read them slows you down.

[Arrendajo]

I usually hear words and read relatively slowly - faster than the average person but slower than most serious readers. I can also read very quickly without hearing the words and just try to absorb the information, but I don't comprehend and retain it as well as when I take it slow.

Oddly enough, though, you'd think that hearing the voices in your head would either mean you read at the same speed you'd speak, or you'd hear it sounding really sped up - but neither is the case for me. Somehow I can hear all the words in my head at a rate greater than speech but without the preception that it's like someone talking very fast. I'm not quite sure how that works - do other people perceive it the same way?

I read aloud often, professionally, and that might be part of the reason I am more prone to hear what I'm reading. I've also done some radio voice work, and my ear is acutely tuned to accents and inflections. I can read really really fast if I want to, like the disclaimers at the end of commercials that fly by unintelligibly.

[Tethered Kite]

Ah, that's how I read - I was having a hard time putting it into words, that I don't exactly hear the words, but something more...gestalty. I am a very fast reader, too.

- Female.

Gestalt. That's a good word for it.

[elfkin477]

Ah, that's how I read - I was having a hard time putting it into words, that I don't exactly hear the words, but something more...gestalty. I am a very fast reader, too. Even knowing that many people are like you, I still can't quite grasp how that works. Aren't descriptions of people and scenery frustrating? You picture a person, then learn they're dirty blonde, then fat, then have one leg, and a hump on their back. Or it's a forest, but it's night time, and the trees are all burned up, and there's a dead body over there... it sounds very tiring, trying to mentally picture everything in the story that way when by its very nature writing gives you the picture one piece at a time.

[Taomist]

Female here, quick and avid reader. I sort-of-hear the words. Enough so that, on the odd occasion I hear someone SAY a word I've only ever seen written down, chances are good I made up my own pronunciation and I have to visualize what they are saying before I think 'OH!! So THAT'S how you pronounce 'awry'!!' A mental face-palm generally follows.

Oh, and I've been known to completely disregard the actual description of a character in favor of what I *know* they look like. I've gone several books into series before really SEEING what the words are saying regarding that person's looks, and I am genuinely surprised.

There is no way Thomas Raith has dark hair. He is white-blonde. 'cause I say so.

Sorry, Jim!

I also know EXACTLY what Harry Dresden's apartment looks like, and I am sure it is not as Mr. Butcher really sees it. :P

[Moonlitherial]

Female - it's not a vivid presence in my head but I hear words as a kind of babbling in the background. I read fairly quickly, probably about 3-4 books a week.

[Rand Rover]

I usually hear words and read relatively slowly - faster than the average person but slower than most serious readers. I can also read very quickly without hearing the words and just try to absorb the information, but I don't comprehend and retain it as well as when I take it slow.

Oddly enough, though, you'd think that hearing the voices in your head would either mean you read at the same speed you'd speak, or you'd hear it sounding really sped up - but neither is the case for me. Somehow I can hear all the words in my head at a rate greater than speech but without the preception that it's like someone talking very fast. I'm not quite sure how that works - do other people perceive it the same way?

I think this describes me exactly. Also, I never knew that some people don't hear words when they read. Also also, since reading this thread, I've been trying to not hear words, but they are becoming more insistent in protest--it's like when you become aware of your breathing and then can't be unaware anymore (oh christ--maybe no one else ever becomes aware of their breathing!).

[Really Not All That Bright]

Until now.

[kapri]

I not only hear words when I read--I see words when I'm listening. Not 100% of the time, but often.

Female, English professor and writer and editor, and I read a lot, and quickly.

[dangermom]

I pretty much have your personality disorder. If I slow down and pay attention, I can hear the words, but most of the time I'm just absorbing fast.

[Merneith]

There is no way Thomas Raith has dark hair. He is white-blonde. 'cause I say so.


Funny - I always assume he's blonde until the text says otherwise and I'm jolted by it. Then I forget again and go back to believing he's blonde.d

He just is, alright.

Female, word-hearer.

[Mijin]

Oddly enough, though, you'd think that hearing the voices in your head would either mean you read at the same speed you'd speak, or you'd hear it sounding really sped up - but neither is the case for me. Somehow I can hear all the words in my head at a rate greater than speech but without the preception that it's like someone talking very fast. I'm not quite sure how that works - do other people perceive it the same way?

Yes, and I guess it's not that surprising: the speed at which we can rifle through words in our mind isn't limited by the physical limitations of the mouth and vocal chords nor the need to be clearly heard.
And then there's that thing where if you read a passage where every word has been jumbled (but the first and last letter of every word is not moved), it's pretty readable....so similarly perhaps "the voice in the head" is not hitting every syllable, and doesn't need to.

All that said, I'm someone that hears a voice when I read, and I can't read any faster than, say, 2x human speech.
I'm also skeptical of speed reading (and how much information can be retained).

[Superhal]

I read about 150 pages per hour, or 2-2.5 pages per minute, which is apparently quite fast compared to other people around me.

I don't even see words when I read. I go into a semi-trancelike state (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29) and the words actually form a movie in my head. I feel like I'm watching a movie.

[olivesmarch4th]

I read about 150 pages per hour, or 2-2.5 pages per minute, which is apparently quite fast compared to other people around me.

As a grad student, god I wish I had that ability. I have to read very carefully and slowly in order to absorb content.

I put ''something else entirely'' (female). I sort of hear words, but almost not. It's hard to explain. I hear words without hearing them.

[phouka]

I read very quickly. If it's fiction, I have a movie going in my head. If it's nonfiction, it's usually narrated. The gender changes depending on what mood I'm in or what the subject matter is. I've found I can also make it change from one voice to another. Halfway through a book, I decided I'd rather listen to Morgan Freeman. It worked out nicely.

[Rex Goliath]

Subvocalization (http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Subvocalization)
Subvocalization, or silent speech, is defined as the internal speech made when reading a word, thus allowing the reader to imagine the sound of the word as it is read.[1] This is a natural process when reading and helps to reduce cognitive load, and it helps the mind to access meanings to enable it to comprehend and remember what is read.

[Little Nemo]

My reading is non-verbal. If I'm reading one of David Brin's uplift novels and he writes about an alien race called the G'Kek or the Mrgh'4luargi or the Karrank%, my brain doesn't skip a beat trying to figure out how these names would be pronounced.

[panache45]

I don't exactly "hear" the words in my head, but it's as if I'm speaking the words. I read at exactly the same speed that I speak.

[PsyXe]

I have three levels of reading. When I'm reading something for fun, I don't "hear" anything, just absorb, and go very fast. At other times, mainly non-fiction, media other than books, and authors with very dense styles, I "hear" the words and that's still fast, but a lot slower than just absorbing them. Sometimes I read each page twice, absorbing first, then going back to "hear" it, but that's usually if something distracted me. In the worst case, I find myself mentally pronouncing all the words as I read them, and that's impossibly slow. I have to snap myself out of it. Funnily enough, I retain the information best at the fastest speed, probably because I'm concentrating on the content and not being distracted by form.

Also, if I've been spending too much time typing, I have to mentally type my thoughts on an imaginary keyboard as I think them. Can you imagine how bad that gets? :(

[Hrududu]

I don't hear the words. When I first start reading I hear everything for about a paragraph or so. Then its like the words fall away and I'm seeing what happens. So when I think back on a book it feels like I watched the film of it.

I have read that if you want to write then you should read so that you get a feel for people's styles etc. But I find that doesn't help me at all. Because I'm unaware of the style of writing when I'm reading.

Another thing I've found is that I can't listen to audio books. I've tried a couple now but I find that when I'm being told the story my brain just can't make the switch to picturing what's happening. Its really disconcerting. Its like my brain can't figure out what to do with the words.

This happens for both fiction and non-fiction. Although the non-fiction I read tends to be quite novelly. Maybe if I was reading dryer non-fiction that would be different.

[Sleel]

My previous (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8948948&postcount=29), thread-killing post on the subject. The short version is: no, I don't "hear" or "see" anything most of the time. I form mental pictures and sounds occasionally, but most of the time it's more like a data-dump into my head.

[BigT]

It's hard to say. I don't always subvocalize, nor do I necessarily hear what the words actually sound like. But there is this notion that I have just heard someone say the words.

Also, I do subvocalize when I'm really tired or otherwise have trouble concentrating. And I have to subvocalize for comedy, as I need the timing.

Finally, I subvocalize a lot more when writing/typing. Sometimes I actually move my lips or whisper along.+

[ivan astikov]

I can't skip over words I can't pronounce, even names.

Me neither. If the name is ridiculously difficult, I'll rename them.

[Nava]

I don't hear them, but I know that hearing them (or even mumbling them) is also perfectly normal. Like being righty or lefty, this is simply one of those things where "normal" has several options.

[Gustav]

I read everything aloud in my head and if I mispronounce something, or emphasize the wrong word I have to start the sentence over. I'm a very slow reader.

[EvilTOJ]

Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from such movies as "You're hearing this in my voice."

When I read fiction I can hear voices in various tones and accents. If it's just an article it's my own voice I hear, or sometimes the dulcet tones of Morgan Freeman.


Good news everyone!

I've invented a device that makes you read these words in your head, in my voice!

[Khadaji]

I hear words when I read in the same voice I hear when I think.

[Winston Smith]

I do. Especially (and even more so) when I'm reading something dialog-oriented like Forrest Gump by Winston Groom or pretty much anything by Mark Twain. Less so when I'm reading non-fiction, or the newspaper, or one of my many technical references for IT-related stuff.

I'd never even thought of this before, but now that I have reflected on it, I even have different voices for the characters in these books.

And I read fast, so I don't think the two are mutually exclusive.

[Omar Little]

I think he's a freak of nature because he does hear words in his head when he reads.

Wow, no mea culpa from the OP with 67% of the respondents being the freaks of nature like her BF.

[Zsofia]

Ah, but the others are disordered like me!

[kayT]

I am totally amazed at how many of you are hearing voices when you read. I hear nothing. I see nothing. I just get information into my head. "Data dump" is a good description. And frankly I expected to be in the majority. Isn't it astonishing how different we all are??? (as in, I am sane; y'all are nuts.)

[Happy_Booker]

Actually, this is only part of a more interesting question. (Partial apologies for a partial hijack) I strongly suspect that the folks (like me) who hear words when they read also hear words when they think. My moment of amazement came when I discovered that some folks don't think in words, they think in...in...in...something else. I just can't quite imagine what. (I gather some others are kind of a mixture)

I posed this once to a group of people that included a set of twins. Each was at the extreme end of the spectrum. One was wholly sound/verbal. The other was wholly not sound/not verbal. They were each utterly unable to comprehend how the other worked.

[filling_pages]

Actually, this is only part of a more interesting question. (Partial apologies for a partial hijack) I strongly suspect that the folks (like me) who hear words when they read also hear words when they think. My moment of amazement came when I discovered that some folks don't think in words, they think in...in...in...something else. I just can't quite imagine what. (I gather some others are kind of a mixture)


Yep, I think in words. I mean, I can think of something and picture it, like a memory or a specific building or something, but I am also thinking words about whatever it is. And when I go about my day, I usually sort of narrate, sometimes even in third person, like I'm telling a story about what I'm doing. A very boring story, in most cases, but there you go.

Those of you who don't hear the words - do you find that you don't have much interest in poetry or lyrical writing?

[Cat Whisperer]

Even knowing that many people are like you, I still can't quite grasp how that works. Aren't descriptions of people and scenery frustrating? You picture a person, then learn they're dirty blonde, then fat, then have one leg, and a hump on their back. Or it's a forest, but it's night time, and the trees are all burned up, and there's a dead body over there... it sounds very tiring, trying to mentally picture everything in the story that way when by its very nature writing gives you the picture one piece at a time.It's not an effort at all; the words come into my head from the page in chunks (something like a couple of lines at a time) and create the movie that plays out in my head as I read.

I think this describes me exactly. Also, I never knew that some people don't hear words when they read. Also also, since reading this thread, I've been trying to not hear words, but they are becoming more insistent in protest--it's like when you become aware of your breathing and then can't be unaware anymore (oh christ--maybe no one else ever becomes aware of their breathing!).Try focussing on swallowing - soon you'll forget how to swallow. :)

I read about 150 pages per hour, or 2-2.5 pages per minute, which is apparently quite fast compared to other people around me.

I don't even see words when I read. I go into a semi-trancelike state (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29) and the words actually form a movie in my head. I feel like I'm watching a movie.Yeah, that's kind of what it's like for me, too - I get completely immersed in a good book. I realized that I was starting to read fairly fast when I was picking books from the library based on how thick there were - a small book is hardly an appetizer these days.

<snip>

Those of you who don't hear the words - do you find that you don't have much interest in poetry or lyrical writing?
I don't have much use for poetry, but I love words. Nice, fat, juicy, descriptive words.

[kayT]

Those of you who don't hear the words - do you find that you don't have much interest in poetry or lyrical writing?

I read a great deal of poetry and in fact write poetry. I don't hear the words in my head though. I READ them. Hearing and reading are very different activities to me.

[Zsofia]

Yep, I think in words. I mean, I can think of something and picture it, like a memory or a specific building or something, but I am also thinking words about whatever it is. And when I go about my day, I usually sort of narrate, sometimes even in third person, like I'm telling a story about what I'm doing. A very boring story, in most cases, but there you go.

Those of you who don't hear the words - do you find that you don't have much interest in poetry or lyrical writing?
I don't like most poetry, but I do like some, and I love some kinds of writing where it's "all about the words". I read much slower when I'm really enjoying the language, though - it took me ages to get through The Seven Pillars of Wisdom because the language was such fun. It begged to be read aloud.

I've also been reading the Zen stuff I've been looking into much more slowly than usual, as it's more like poetry than prose - every word counts and is carefully chosen.

[Johanna]

I went with "Something else." I'm a linguist who is fascinated with phonology in all different languages. Whenever I'm reading either foreign words or unusual English expressions or dialects, I convert them in my mind to IPA. This is sort of an abstract system of representation, i.e. it doesn't register as internally heard phonetics, but it is the blueprint for reproducing such phonetics if needed. I'm not sure if I'm explaining the distinction well. Perhaps what I'm describing is what you meant by "hearing words in your head when you read," or perhaps not.

But for ordinary English text, "General American" English being my native language, my brain converts text directly to meaning without passing through a phonetic stage. If the text itself contains clues of a distinctive accent-- not necessarily "dialectal" transcription spelling, but just a characteristic type of syntax or vocabulary-- e.g. even if it's written in 100% standard English, but internal clues point to the writer being Irish or Scottish, say, then I am likely to run that through the phoneticizer in my mind in parallel processing with the text-to-meaning converter.

When I'm writing fiction, though, and I'm aiming to capture the voice of a character who speaks with a foreign accent, or even an English accent different than my own, I do listen very attentively to the sound of their fictional voice in my mind, because if it doesn't sound right in my mind, it won't work on the page either.

When I'm reading something in a foreign language, like Arabic or Italian, the gain of my mental phoneticizer is turned up all the way, because I'm always trying to perfect my pronunciation in the languages I study.

[Johanna]

Urrrgh, Zsofia, now that you've gotten me paying attention to this, I can't turn it off! Normally I don't have it turned on except in the special cases I described. Now I can't stop doing it while reading anything at all! Life goes so much smoother when background sensory information can be just tuned out. Always hearing words in your head when you read is one of those sources of internal background noise I prefer to do without. I guess I just have to wait until it subsides on its own. I sure hope it isn't stuck permanently on.

As I said above, when reading something that suggests a foreign accent either explicitly or implicitly, I like to turn on the mental sound because of my love for phonology, because I choose to pay attention to it. But there's no point in leaving it on all the time. Like you noted in your OP, you can read faster without it putting a drag on the text-to-meaning processing.

[rhubarbarin]

My answer is a bit more complicated so I picked the 3rd option. I'm a woman, and I've understood that people read differently since I was a little child.

In general, when reading forum posts, fiction, and most things really, I don't 'hear' a single word unless I slow down or reread to relish a certain phrase, or because I didn't understand it properly the first time. I read very, very fast (919 wpm on the screen as per this rough test (http://www.readingsoft.com/)) and what I read plays as a detailed motion picture in my head. When I was a child, it was nearly impossible for me to read out loud as I couldn't figure out how to get my eyes to track slowly enough for my mouth to keep up, and I would start to stutter or skip words.

However, if I want maxiumum knowledge retention from material packed full of facts, I deliberately 'read out loud' every word in my head and it helps me remember. I do tend to retain less than some people at my normal, very fast speed.

[mlees]

Male. Yes, I hear the little voices when I read.

They taunts me so...

[Redwing]

It depends, sort of. When I'm reading fiction, I don't see the book or the words, unless I make an effort to do so--I watch the book the way other people watch movies, or more so if the author is particularly evocative. The more immersed in the book I become, the faster I read. It should be noted that when I misread a word, I've been known to construct scenes that don't exist to anyone else based on that misreading.

Non-fiction, I sometimes experience as a classroom lecture, and sometimes I just see the concepts as, well, concepts. The speed I read non fiction varies greatly between authors and subjects. I can get hung up on words in non fiction, and when I misread a word, it can take me a fairly long time to figure out what it was that I misread (I've had to go through a chapter letter by letter to figure which word I'd perceived incorrectly, and even then it can be a struggle to get it in my head the right way).

Poetry is completely different, good stuff is like reading both fiction and non fiction at the same time, set to music, and I can still see the words on the page. I love poetry, at least the poetry that give me the full experience, though almost all serious poetry give me more than anything else.

[Superhal]

As a grad student, god I wish I had that ability. I have to read very carefully and slowly in order to absorb content.


Oh, that's different. :D I hate reading when I can't achieve the flow effect, e.g. a non-narrative research paper.

When I read research papers, I slip down to about 30-100 pages per hour.

[GilaB]

No, definitely not, at least in English, which I read faster than almost anybody I've ever met. (I also don't form images in my head when reading descriptive passages, FWIW.) Yes, absolutely, when I'm reading unfamiliar passages in Hebrew, which is not nearly as natural to me.