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If you speak only english....

...you think in english. If you speak only french, you think in french. If you speak more than one language, what language do you think in?

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Reply 1
Surely you think in your native tongue? Unless you start thinking about what language you are thinking with, then you will most likely be thinking in your adopted language.
I speak English, but work in C# & Java, therefore I think in those languages :wink:
i speak two languages.

All intelligent thought is done in English.

All swear words in punjabi.
Reply 4
Original post by godd
...you think in english. If you speak only french, you think in french. If you speak more than one language, what language do you think in?


I don't think in any language. :lolwut:
I might have my own mind language.
I have asked this question to many people that speak multiple languages. A lot of them seem to struggle to give me an answer. The general answers I got was it was heavily dependant on what language they're talking in at the current time. If they're just thinking to themselves about something, I guess it'd be in their native language.
Reply 6
I speak both French and English and think in both depending on what mood I am in.

There have been studies done that suggest that people change personalities depending on what language they're speaking in... I tend to swear a lot more in my head in French than in English. It really just depends! I'm more likely to think in the language of the country I am in though.
Original post by pacni
I speak both French and English and think in both depending on what mood I am in.

There have been studies done that suggest that people change personalities depending on what language they're speaking in... I tend to swear a lot more in my head in French than in English. It really just depends! I'm more likely to think in the language of the country I am in though.

It's the same for me, I speak both Italian and English :smile:
I swear a lot more in English, it's easier lol


Original post by NathanW18
I have asked this question to many people that speak multiple languages. A lot of them seem to struggle to give me an answer. The general answers I got was it was heavily dependant on what language they're talking in at the current time. If they're just thinking to themselves about something, I guess it'd be in their native language.

It is rather difficult because thinking is so natural and you don't really notice what language your using :redface:
I've had so many ask me and I've never been able to give a proper answer - very interesting subject nonetheless :holmes:
Original post by Heimdallr33

It is rather difficult because thinking is so natural and you don't really notice what language your using :redface:
I've had so many ask me and I've never been able to give a proper answer - very interesting subject nonetheless :holmes:

Yeah, I get that. It's an interesting topic and I have asked quite a lot of people. I'd have thought that they'd think more in their native language. Unless they were reading or speaking in a foreign language. Maybe then they'd be more likely to think in that?
While I was in Spain, which was between the ages of 7 and 16, I always thought in Spanish during lessons and with friends, as it made it much easier to then articulate my thoughts to them without having to translate. Since the age of 16 I've moved back to England and pretty much only think in English. The only time I change my "thought language" nowadays is when I speak to Spanish friends on social media.
Original post by NathanW18
Yeah, I get that. It's an interesting topic and I have asked quite a lot of people. I'd have thought that they'd think more in their native language. Unless they were reading or speaking in a foreign language. Maybe then they'd be more likely to think in that?

I think you're right when you say it's probable one thinks in their native language.
However, if I've been speaking to my Mum (in English), then I'll probably think in English for some time; when I speak in Italian, I switch to that, and so on :smile:
I've also been asked whether I translate the things I want to say in English directly from Italian (another interesting topic imo), but I'm almost positive I think directly in one language, so don't translate.
Still, sometimes my Mum corrects me while I'm speaking because I've made a mistake from a literal translation from Italian! :hmpf:

It's mind-boggling at times :rolleyes:
I would imagine it's the native tongue but that raises the question of what language do deaf peple form birth think in and what language do babies think in?
Reply 12
Original post by Madeline_H95
I would imagine it's the native tongue but that raises the question of what language do deaf peple form birth think in and what language do babies think in?


What language do you think in?
Original post by godd
What language do you think in?


English as it's the only one I know. I think most in the uk think in english
Reply 14
You should ask a Singaporean, they are like mixing all the languages together..English, mandarin, hokkiens..


Posted from TSR Mobile
Sometimes think in both languages, depends what it is and where I am
I speak several languages and come from a mixed background. English isn't my first language but I'm most proficient in it now since i've lived in an English-speaking majority country for most of my life. Even when I'm speaking to a family member in a different language I would still think in English but talk in that language. When I'm abroad, such as in Germany, although I speak German, I would still think in English. I suppose it is because I am most exposed and used to English.

I mostly think in English except when I need to form words in a different language. But even so, if I struggle - I would say it in English rather than in any other languages.
Reply 17
BUMP
Reply 18
BUMPP
this has been posted before, but heres a summary of what i said last time -

I speak two languages (english and slovak) and a number which i know conversationally but not fluently (german, spanish, polish). I maintain the fact that I think that we think in a universal language and that it isn't one that we speak - either that or I'm just thinking in some jumbled-up language in my head...

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