To those who are bilingual... would you rather read Spanish?... English?
I was just curious, if you're a native Spanish speaker, would you rather read Spanish?... English?... does it matter? What about listening, which would you rather hear? If you're a native Spanish speaker, do you still translate things you hear in English into Spanish when you hear/see them? Like I said, I was just curious... Thanks!
Same thing for native English speakers!!!
4 Answers
English is my 1st language, Spanish is my 2nd. I read a lot of novels, and this is how I like them: US & UK authors I like to read in the original English, with the exception of the US Latino authors such as Piri Thomas and Carolina García-Aguilera who write in English but whose novels read so well in Spanish since they're all about Hispanic culture. Authors who write in Spanish I read in Spanish.
I do not translate in my head when I read; the words turn into images and concepts directly.
If I may? I would like to expand the question a bit and ask at what point in your learning of the second language (how long did it take?) did you stop translating and begin to actually understand the second language?
Just curious also. 
Are you asking me? I guess. Anyway, when I was really young my mother spoke to me in Spanish. Sometime in my mid-teens I got interested in reviving that and from then until today I've been working on it by speaking, reading, writing, and researching. I'm still working on it, and of course still have to look things up sometimes, but I'm able to read fiction at almost the same speed as I do English. I think my not having to translate in my head has a lot to do with Spanish being the first language I heard, and my 1st language til about age 6, so it's almost instinct, in a sense. Twelve years later I decided to dig that dormant knowledge up and keep it current.
I am not very good at all at spanish, and I'v grown up speaking English. I have been starting to notice that I'm reading some English words in Spanish though- completely by accident! For example I was reading a a food packet the other day "goes well con seafood dishes..." and then caught myself and realsied I had read the "with" as "con". I have to say I was pretty excited to realise that somehow a bit of spanish had soaked in, even if it meant mixing up the two languages!!! 
