I study Chinese as a second language. Listening is my strong point.
When I read, I go through this process:
see character imagine myself speaking the pronunciation think of meaning (from the sound)
- The second step is perhaps described as speaking without actually opening the mouth to form the words and requires about the same amount of time as actually speaking aloud.
- The English translation only comes in when I encounter newly learned words.
- It is as if I am relying on my listening ability to read.
The second step seems really inefficient. With practice, I could change to this, but I am not sure it is ideal to skip the middle step:
see character think of meaning (from the shapes of the characters)
I wonder which is a more natural approach that a native speaker will take to read.
- Do adult native speakers of a language that uses a logographic writing system, such as Chinese, similarly internally "speak" the pronunciation or do they skip directly to the meaning? Or use some other way?
- Might this 3-step process be a normal stage a child acquiring this as their L1 would initially use, but later develop away from?