This question came up a few years ago in my family. To make it a bit clearer, we were wondering what language people think in when they're fluent in two or more languages. We asked our Grandmother, whose first language is Dutch but is now fluent in English since she moved to New Zealand, but she said she didn't really know. So I was wondering if you guys had an answer for this.

Now, I understand that thoughts are usually a combination of senses, emotions etc. and often don't really involve words (I think), but you might have an answer for it. I was thinking that people who mostly speak a second language in day-to-day life might find this easier to answer.

So, what I'm asking is: if you speak fluently in more than one language, which of those languages do you tend to think in?

English, strange considering my first and main language is Mandarin.

A perfectly fluent bi-lingual person would probably think in both and not even realize it. Just like occasionally words in the other language slip out. Languages are not word-for-word identical, hence why translations are always localized to a degree. As such one language may be better for certain situations and another the other.

Some languages are simpler than others. So for those simpler languages, phrases (not necessarily complete sentences) slip out. And those fragments are perfectly acceptable in those languages for conveying meaning (i.e. they have lax grammatical systems).

I think in both swedish and english. And back when my japanese was good, I was thinking in japanese too (and still do to some extent but not very often).

I'm going to mention indescribable thoughts in saying that much of the time, I don't think in any language at all. A lot of times, I may also think in numbers. I'm commonly doing some mental exercise with numbers for video games, school, restaurant tips, and just random calculations to solve when bored and I like to do most of my math-related work in my head. The language I use most in my thinking is English, although sometimes a tiny bit of french may be part of my thinking and, on rare occasions, some Arabic slips in there.

Thought, bizarre I know.

Once again I have to come out as a person who does not "think in a language", or "think in a voice", or say the things I think to myself inside my head in any way or form at all for that matter. My thoughts are just thoughts - colourless, shapeless, noiseless and, as a consequence, languageless and voiceless.

edit: I want to clarify that when I concentrate on planning what I'm going to say to someone and how precisely to word it I do "talk to myself inside my head" (and which language I "think in" then depends on the language that I'm about to speak in), but that's the only occasion that I do. IMHO, doing it otherwise would just be a waste of energy.

Mine start that way, but they can get translated down to English. Though sometimes with funny little errors, or for fun I can have my thoughts sound like someone elses voice.

Edit
I don't get how it can be a waste of time, when people say that it always baffles me. I can think in either way equally as fast.

Edit2
I wonder if remembering or hearing your thoughts in a voice could perhaps make the neurons stick better, and thus more memorable. Or perhaps the inverse could happen? Either way neat to think about.

I didn't say waste of time, I said waste of energy. I feel that way because usually my thoughts are just thoughts (the way I described them in my previous post) and to make a sound out of them (or some might say to "give them" a sound) inside my head is just extra work - besides thinking, you also transfer the thoughts you think into the sound of their spoken representations in a language, or perhaps you don't transfer them in a sound but you definitely transfer them into representations of them in a certain language. It is obvious to me that that is just extra work that needs to be done by your brain during (alongside) the thinking process, even though you don't notice that it is.

edit: Instead of automatically transferring everything I (consciously) think about into its representation in a language, I just do that when I want to say something.

Huh, never noticed a difference personally. Good catching me switching it from energy to time though, my mistake.

English :thumbsup:

I figured that people would probably think in more than one language, but Kyuuen's case is interesting ^_^ I only speak English, but when I was learning Japanese I'd sometimes get the occasional Japanese word stuck in my head, although I suppose that isn't really thought.


I think that would be the case with my Grandmother. It's a little hard to get my head around that though, but I suppose everyone thinks in different ways, such as Veeno thinking in just thoughts, I suppose you can't really describe with words.


Numbers? Interesting, I've never really thought about that before.


The brain's always neat to think about

Of course you don't notice it. I don't notice the difference in energy consumption by my brain between "telling myself the things I hear inside my head" and not doing that either, and neither you nor I notice the difference in energy consumption by our brains when thinking about what to write in a post or just sitting on a couch and staring at the TV even though it has been scientifically proven that it is significantly less in the latter case. Humans don't have any biological means by which brain's energy consumption can be measured (and it is evolutionarily and biologically obvious why - because it would come with an overhead on energy consumption for not much practical benefit to fitness), we can only feel the consequences of it e.g. by being very tired having done serious studying for most of the day.

Well, how to explain this. There's two ways I can think.

I can think with raw thought. This includes entire sentences or characterizations going along in the raw thought form where upon they occur instantly (to my perception). There wouldn't really be any difference because of how neurons act, they form and hold memories in waves and patterns with single neurons only being a basic building and storage block. To recall complex memories entire chains of neurons are set off all at once, to think you can somehow control this is foolish. Like saying your going to control one specific cell in your body. Now it's just a matter of how you developed over life to see what triggers with specific clusters of memories.

I can think with words, but the key is this is the slow form. I'm taking the time to have them sounded out properly in my head, if that makes any sense. Now this type of remembering is different from typical raw thought and would consume more energy.

I don't think in a language normally. Like with Veeno, my normal thoughts are abstract.

When in pressure, or when intentionally planning something, I occasionally think "out loud". And then the language is usually Finnish, with English occasionally in English context.

I have to say that most of my thoughts are in raw thought, but occasionally I have words incorporated into it. It's difficult to explain. Sometimes, usually when I form an opinion, it feels like I'm using words to form that opinion, but when I try to actually say it, I can't really put it into words.

Right that's due to how neurons form memories, as well as the more recent discovery that memories can be held in complex clusters of neurons that can sometimes overlap with other memories.

When I first registered here, I thought in French, then translated in my head, and typing took forever - especially since I'm kinda wordy. Can't tell you how many times I got slapped with a locked thread when I finally hit enter.

Now, force of habit, I think directly in English. A crappy, badly worded English, but yeah, in English. In the middle of my days, often. :mellow: I read in English, type in English, watch American series... It kinda stays on.

*edit* Raw thought... Interesting. No, I don't do that. I sort of talk to myself in my head.

Do you speak English often? Or is it just a result of using these forums?

Hah, I kinda talk to myself in my head, but it's usually as a result of an initial raw thought. The voice inside my head is almost like someone else talking to me, often critisizing something about me, and usually turns up when I've done something I don't like

I think with a British accent.

Lucky

English, being its the only language I know. I asked a girl of Mexican decent that question once (she was first generation raised in a Spanish speaking home). Even though her education through university was in English and her job was in an English language office she said she still "thought" in Spanish. I also knew a Danish girl here and she said she thought in English when in the US, but would switch back over to Danish if she was back home long enough. Her command of the English language was as good or better than the girl who was raised here. :confused:

I'm not sure what exactly you mean by "raw" but I'll presume you're talking about the same sort of thing that I do.


I don't understand what your point there was supposed to be.

Mostly in Finnish and English, but sometimes in German, Italian or Spanish.
And when I think in English, it's usually Australian accent, mate.