when you're reading a book, whose voice is it that you hear in your head?

Question

everytime i try to make a point of listening it keeps changing. if i'm reading a novel set in USA i try to listen to myself to see if i'm reading it with an american accent and whether or not its my voice reciting the words...........

blimey, i didnt expect such a fantastic reaction! it's just something that i've been pondering over for ages.. thanks people, i've even earned my first lot of stars for that one x

Answer 1

my imagination makes up a voice depending on the age of the characters and the area that they are in

Answer 2

If I'm really into a book that's set in another country (I'm American)... I tend to hear a voice with the accent of that country in my head. Sometimes diffferent characters sound like people I know. And there's been more than a few times when I was reading a book set in England, put the book down, went to talk to someone... and started talking in a British accent.

Answer 3

Hmm, it depends on the author. If I know it's a male author, it's like a neutral sounding male announcer voice, and if I know the author is female, it is a pleasant sounding female voice. I guess I read books thinking it's someone telling me a story. But accents, no. I'm American and if the author is British or French or Hispanic, I really don't hear an accent.

Answer 4

It's usually my voice doing an imitation (be it a good or bad imitation) of whatever accent from wherever the book is set (i.e. when I'm reading Stephen King it's usually a New England accent, but when I read Great Expectations it's an Olde Kent accent).

Answer 5

It depends whether the character is narrating the story or if it is in the third person, I tend to use an accent if its the character talking but just me if its third person. I'm reading Laurell K Hamiltons Anita Blake series (again) at the moment and I seem to have given Anita a southern accent maybe Louisiana.
Its something that just seems to happen without thinking, weird huh?

Answer 6

Sadly, I find it's normally my own (British accent) voice I hear. I'm often taken aback when they put on radio versions of books I've read and the characters have American accents (as they ought to) because I gave them a British accent when reading the book! Even when the author writes phonetic accented speech I still read it as a weird British version, unless I make a special effort.
At the moment I'm reading "The Book of Dave" by Will Self, which is confusing me, because the characters talk in a sort of warped version of cockney, which is transcribed partly phonetically but partly using letters with umlauts... recommend it though - it's a mad book!
In fact, you've got me thinking now. I'll be listening carefully to the voice in my head when I next read a book (first sign of madness??!)

Answer 7

I'm not sure exactly why, but Vincent Price is the one who narrates stories to me when I am reading quietly. He is kind of great though, so I don't mind his vocal influence in my thoughts. If I read out loud I tend to sound like I'm at announcing things at an airport, unless it is Shakespear or Chaucer, then I wind up with the Queen's English. And when I am the author of something, like an Essay or what I am typing here, it is my own voice in my head.... I think I might be a little nutty :)

Answer 8

My own, although in my head I pronounce the words correctly. (I have a cockney accent and when I speak I don't pronounce all words as they should be.) If a particular passage in a book gets my attention, if it amuses me or if it's well written I like to re-read it and often will 'put on' a voice in my head, with an accent or however the character is described.

Answer 9

So do I, only switch it around a little. I read Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging and I tried to imagine the characters speaking with a British accent. I can imagine it well because one of my talents happens to be impersonations. Weird, I know. But I just like imagining the characters voices. =)

Answer 10

Unless I make a deliberate effort to slow down, I read much faster than the speed of speech. Even when I do slow down, I don't hear a voice.

Answer 11

I don't hear aynthing, it's soundless and disembodied.

I did notice, though, that whenever there is an apartment mentioned in a novel, the one that I see in my head is the one my gran used to live in. It sprouts extra rooms depending on whether the novel describes it as large or small, but in general, the kitchen, living room, dining room and bathroom are always where they were at her place.