[link.spelling and brains.visualization]

[wispfox]

Buh. No wonder I have such trouble with spelling. For those who might be surprised by this, based on my generally good spelling here - that's due to a _lot_ of work as a kid, and I still look a lot of words up. http://www.dictionary.com is _so_ my friend. I also memorized and use all those annoying rules about spelling. I also tend to have to re-read everything I write, especially if I'm tired, to find all the mistakes I made and didn't notice. (Interestingly, I _do_ generally have a good sense of what words 'look right', which is a lot of why my spelling seems to be perfectly fine)

"That's where you 'see' a complete word in your mind's eye, whether you're reading it or writing it. And if you can't visualize it, you're just winging it based on what it sounds like. In a language with as many irregularly spelled words as English, you're going to be wrong a lot of the time." (link found in griffen's journal)

Seeing a word in my mind's eye.

Right.

If any of you have ever either tried to spell something to me without giving me the time to write it down, or wanted me to tell you how to spell something without me writing it down, you've run head on into the fact that - unless it's three or four letters long, and sometimes not even then - I _cannot_ visualize words in my head.

There are some words I can spell aloud without writing them down first. My name, due to long practice. I think that's about it.

I don't know how many of you have noticed that I also don't tend to say numbers combinations as anything but individual digits. It feels... almost related to the above, but not quite, since the words for numbers (eg 'one') and the symbols used (and '1') are, in fact, a fairly effortful and entirely _not_ automatic translation for me, getting exponentially more difficult the longer the number. This makes (for example) singing a song where someone wrote out something like a year entirely in number symbols rather than words slightly problematic. I tend to not be able to figure it out fast enough and sorta stop singing during that piece.

I can also spell words without writing them down if they happen to be easily - and sensibly - broken into smaller words. If I remember that can be done for any specific word. (Like the name of the town I live in)

I wonder if this somehow relates to my major difficulty with pulling words out of my head? And with games like Scrabble?


Uh. "Reading is transforming letters into sound," according to the article I linked to above. Not in _my_ head, it isn't. Translating what I'm reading into sound is quite a lot more effort for me than reading is. Reading aloud probably means I'm not taking in any of what I'm reading. It's why - for the most part, although I'm getting less averse to it - I tend to not read things aloud. (I'm sure the fact that I process written things better than things I'm hearing comes into effect, as well)

Ok, enough being fascinated by this article. :)

Comments

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Contrary to what you've said, I've read in a number of places that reading is not about interpreting letters to words to meaning. Most people pattern recognize the word directly map it to the meaning. I'm that way. I can tell if a word is miss spelled in writing but still struggle with writing it our myself correctly. I should did up a pointer to an article that talks about it.

...

I said that?

I think I'm confused as to what you're trying to say here.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

I was unclear and incorrect to boot. I was referring to your quote from the article:

Uh. "Reading is transforming letters into sound," according to the article I linked to above. Not in _my_ head, it isn't.

I had not read the whole article when I responded. I should have, it is a very interesting article.

I was trying to get across my understanding that when we read we are mostly pattern recognizing words on the fly, not going letter by letter as the bit you quoted above seem to imply. I was taking the quote's meaning out of context, however. bridgetester actually quoted a bit from the article that precisely gets to the point I was trying to make: Instead of analyzing parts to identify the word, this area instantly recognizes the entire word. Reading goes from a halting letter-by-letter toil to a lovely word-by-word glide., plus she added more interesting information about reading patterns.

After reading the article completely I wonder if I might have a, very well compensated for, bit of dyslexia. It is not the first time that thought has occurred to me. If I understand my mind well enough, without having and MRI to poke inside, I think I have the "third part" of the brain involved in reading working for the word recognition portion, but somehow I have a disconnect between it and my output to writing. It is possible my condition is just like the author of that article but I've compensated more. I can spell some things without having to check!

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I was taking the quote's meaning out of context, however.

Ah, I see. I apparently tend to assume that people will read things that I'm talking about when I include a link to them. :)

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

I usually do read the articles people point to too. I got distracted part way through reading that article yet still felt like commenting on it. Silly me. :) The later sections of the article were much more in depth and interesting.

On another line of thought. I'm on vacation in Jamaica now. I'm attempting to beam some extra sunshine your way. Let me know if it works. :)