I Didn’t Know I Was Reading Wrong

It has come to my attention that apparently other people don’t audiate when they read.

I can hear the voices in my head now. Half of you are going “wtf is audiate?” and the other half are going, “hold the phone, you DO THAT????” Okay friends, let’s take this one question at a time.

Audiation is hearing the words in your head as you read them, as if you were listening to an audiobook or someone was speaking to you. Most people audiate when they are first learning to read. However, it has come to my attention that for many people, as you learn to recognize more sight words you stop “hearing” them when you read them. This allows you to read more text very quickly.

Next. Yes. Yes, I do audiate when I read. Even (apparently) when reading a stop sign or text message. Always.

So growing up, and frankly, well into adulthood, I was always praised for reading very quickly. Even now, other adults I meet are shocked that it only takes me a few days to read a book. I knew there were speed readers out there, but those are the people who can look at a page and read it in one glance, as far as “regular” people went, I figured I was well ahead of the curve.

Then I started book blogging. I met people who read 200, 300 books a year. How did they do it? It couldn’t just be a matter of having more time than me, at 50 pages an hour I would have to spend seven hours a day to get through a book “in one sitting”. I started asking myself, how do these people read so freaking fast???

It was only in an offhand comment I heard on a podcast this week that I discovered that most serious readers don’t audiate. The host wasn’t even talking about it, they just kind of went “unless you audiate when you read, which we all know really slows you down, so nobody does that”. And I went, HUH.

There you go. I’ve been doing it wrong.

Frankly, I can’t even wrap my head around the fact that people don’t audiate when they read. I audiate when I write, I audiate when I THINK. I started talking to my husband about this, and apparently my brain is freaking weird. APPARENTLY it isn’t normal to hear every. single. thing. you think.

HOW DO YOU PEOPLE LIVE???? WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE IN YOUR HEAD???????

Okay, Katie. Deep breaths.

So, yeah. Apparently I read wrong. No big deal. It explains a lot, really. Like why I need a pronunciation guide so badly when the names get all culture-y. Or why the idea of audio books are so repulsive. Or why characters having distinctive voices seems to mean something so different to me than everyone else. And, most of all, why movie adaptations piss me off so bad when they use *almost* exactly the same dialogue. Quick soap box, just change it or keep it the same, okay? There’s no reason to flip-flop the order of the sentence.

Alright, guys. Lay it on me. Am I completely alone here, or are there others of you hearing voices too?