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If you speak only english....

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Original post by godd
What about yourself?


I only speak English. And by that token only think in English :tongue:
I speak in German and think in German. If I have to speak in English as in this forum, I can think in English too. Yes, I am able to speak two lagnguages!
What do people mean 'think' in a language. As far as I'm aware I don't form, hear myself or visualize any language when I'm 'thinking'. :erm:
Original post by RoyalBlue7
What do people mean 'think' in a language.(...)


Think in a language means to have the mentality of a native speaker as foreign speaker to speak the native language as foreign speaker in a better way. Or something like that.
Reply 44
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godd
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Original post by RoyalBlue7
What do people mean 'think' in a language. As far as I'm aware I don't form, hear myself or visualize any language when I'm 'thinking'. :erm:



You hear your own voice inside your head. So like you hear your own voice when you speak, this voice is inside your head.
I think in English most of the time, since it's my native tongue. I actually 'code-switch' often, so my thinking is a combination between Spanish and English.

It's interesting because I whenever I think about something that is in the past or future, I automatically switch to Spanish. The present however mostly remains in English.

He seems triste.
Voy a ver lindas mentirosas cuando I go home, quizás con un pizza o Chinese takeaway?
Fui a school esta morning
Tengo que hacer so much deberes. ¡Qué stress!
I don't like su chaqueta.

I think it's because I spent hours slaving a way at the tenses and listening to Spanish music that my thinking has become Spanglish.
Reply 46
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godd
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I find most of the bilinguals I know developed in the following way...

1) first language at home- decent proficiency, can't really count past 14
2) second language in school- fluent proficiency, stronger language


So most of these people think in their second language (the stronger one).
Reply 47
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BWCW
18
I guess it depends on your surroundings. I've been learning Japanese for a while, and when I completely immerse myself in it (i.e. studying, music, films, anime all become part of my everyday life) then - though it is predominantly English all the time - I end up thinking and dreaming more often in Japanese. Then when I stop learning, it flips back to English.
Reply 48
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godd
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Original post by BWCW
I guess it depends on your surroundings. I've been learning Japanese for a while, and when I completely immerse myself in it (i.e. studying, music, films, anime all become part of my everyday life) then - though it is predominantly English all the time - I end up thinking and dreaming more often in Japanese. Then when I stop learning, it flips back to English.



I see, but say your English is much better than your Japanese. Even if you were immersed in a Japanese setting, how can you think in a language you struggle to think in?
Reply 49
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BWCW
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Original post by godd
I see, but say your English is much better than your Japanese. Even if you were immersed in a Japanese setting, how can you think in a language you struggle to think in?


My English is indeed a lot better. :wink:
It's weird, I know. I don't know how/why it happens - the thought processes are a lot simpler of course, but as you start hearing the language in natural situations, you begin to respond to some situations in that language... yeah, this sounds really ridiculous, but that's what happens with me (occasionally)! :colondollar:
Original post by godd
I find most of the bilinguals I know developed in the following way...

1) first language at home- decent proficiency, can't really count past 14
2) second language in school- fluent proficiency, stronger language


So most of these people think in their second language (the stronger one).


In my case, I think more in the second language than in the first one. I can speak my first langugage fluently without any problems, as it is the language wich arounds me in my everyday life. Its completely different in terms of my second language, because there are hardly possibilities to speak this language in my surrounding, that's why I think about it more.
My native language is Urdu but I think in English just because my vocabulary is more extensive and its much easier, even when I need to talk to my parents I think and then speak whatever I need to in Urdu
Plus I've only ever been exposed to Urdu when I was a child and to my parents but when I went to school and everyone else I spoke English
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Reply 52
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godd
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Original post by noshahmad
My native language is Urdu but I think in English just because my vocabulary is more extensive and its much easier, even when I need to talk to my parents I think and then speak whatever I need to in Urdu
Plus I've only ever been exposed to Urdu when I was a child and to my parents but when I went to school and everyone else I spoke English
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So do you ever think in Urdu?
Reply 53
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bump
Original post by Kallisto
Think in a language means to have the mentality of a native speaker as foreign speaker to speak the native language as foreign speaker in a better way. Or something like that.


I don't get what you're saying :confused:

Original post by godd
You hear your own voice inside your head. So like you hear your own voice when you speak, this voice is inside your head.


I hear a voice only when I read English, and that too not much. How do you know what language you think in, when there's no voice at all??
Reply 55
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Badshah
I think in my native language Urdu.
Reply 56
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godd
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Original post by RoyalBlue7
I don't get what you're saying :confused:



I hear a voice only when I read English, and that too not much. How do you know what language you think in, when there's no voice at all??



Try talking to yourself in your head. Not outloud, but inside your head.
Reply 57
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godd
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Original post by Roger1
I think in my native language Urdu.



Ok, answer these questions...

1) What languages you speak?
2) What languages/language you think in?
Reply 58
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Badshah
Original post by godd
Ok, answer these questions...

1) What languages you speak?
2) What languages/language you think in?


1) I speak Urdu, punjabi and English.
2) I think in Urdu.
Of course sometimes there are things you can't 'think' in one language but can in another.

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