I’m somewhat similar, recognizing words instantly without sounding them out in my head. So I read really fast, and sort of resent having to watch videos because of how slow the process is compared to reading.

But I didn’t learn to read well until I started the third grade. I don’t remember personally very well, but my family say that I really didn’t read much at all before then, just kind of went through the motions. Then in the space of a few weeks, I was suddenly reading lightning fast and years above my grade level.

It was all very strange, but I have devoured thousands of books during my life, and I’m very happy for it.

Oddly, thinking back, after a few years of practice, I was reading French and Russian about the same way I read English, taking in whole words at a time rather than speaking them to myself.

Not so much anymore with Russian. Fred Shirley asked me to translate a couple Soviet-era propaganda posters the other day, and I had to sound the words out and think about them. I felt a little better when I realized the language was Ukrainian rather than Russian, but still. ;-)

For a little bit of historical trivia, Julius Caesar was supposed to have an ability to instantly read words, which was very rare for written Latin in those days, especially since people hadn’t figured out it was a good idea to put spaces between words in manuscripts. Awkward!