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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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?
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!
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
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).
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.
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.