Question for multilinguals

This is a question to multilingual people who speak two languages or more.

What language do you think in? If your first language is English and your second is French do you alternate between the two when speaking. Or do you think in one language all the time.

It dePends on my mood, if I'm pissed I'll usually swear in french Tabarnak!!!
But I usually think out serious stuff in english even though it is my second language
Peace brothers and sisters!!

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


Not sure, if I speak to people I normally think in the language I speak in, the same with reading. But if I do some abstract thinking about some technical stuff, then I normally think in english, and if I think just silly relaxing things, then I normally think in my mothertongue, but sometimes not.

I speak English as my primary language. I leaned to speak Deustch (German) in high school for four years. But I think, speak, write and read all in English. However I can read, write and speak in Deutsch as well.

It has been sometime since I have spoke it and I only spoke with my teacher and other classmate not any real Germans.

This probally wasn't much help but I'd thought I'd share it with 'ya.

-SAP-

Interesting replies. Thanks so much.

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


Depends on what you are thinking about.

I asked my buddy this question. He is fluent in Russian, English, Armenian, and some Spanish. He said if he is thinking about me, and English stuff, he thinks in English, if he is thinking about being a kid, he is thinking in Armenian, if he is thinking about some of his education or Russian literature, then it is Russian, etc.

The same goes for dreams, his dreams come in all 3 or 4 languages depending on the subject of the dream.

Just like in real life, he uses the language appropriate for the situation, thinking and dreaming is no different.

I remember asking my parents this same question, as they are both immigrants. They both said that, in the beginning, they did their thinking in their native tongue, but as the years went by living as Americans, they started doing more thinking in English, and finally, actually dreaming in English rather than their first language.

How technical should we get? After all, do deaf mutes not think? Obviously they do, but having never heard a spoken language, can we actually say they think in it?

I speak a few languages, and I have found that while i can conduct an internal monologue in one or the other, it becomes stilted and broken as I get to areas where my vocabulary might fail.

They real trick is to think without language.... which I believe is much more interesting than trying to formulate speech in one's head.

Mainly though, it seems easiest and most natural to think "verbally" in my first language; English.

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


I live on the border of Quebec and Ontario . Everyone in my circle of friends and family speak French and English , we jump back and forth depending on the ratio of French speaking people or English speaking people when we're talking . I was schooled in English but we spoke French at home , I mostly dream in English but sometimes in French as well ! And like the other fellow said , I swear better in French ( tabernacle de calice !! )

I am English/Spanish with English being my first. I think in English all the time, even though the other poster is right that some words that are better in certain instances, like cussing, my brain will think of the correct word and sometimes the Spanish word pops out before a English word.

My girlfriend is Spanish/English with Spanish being her first and she thinks in Spanish and cusses in Spanish.

Some of my Latin friends with their first language as Spanish say they think in English now since they use it so much so it may depend on how much you use your languages.

Good question and look forward to what everyone has to say.

My first language is dutch... But I like the English language, I think I'd mix these two languages allot in my mind sometimes I cant even catch the word that I want to tell in my first language.. thats annoying sometimes...

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


I am a native French and Spanish speaker, and can also speak English and a bit of German. I´ve always thought that when learning a new language, it helps a lot to make yourself think in that language, and end up doing it automatically. At least, it has helped me. And like some people that posted before, i find myself thinking in different languages at some points, even though i live in Spain. It depends on the context of what i´m doing or thinking about. Right now, i´m thinking in English as i type, as i normally do while on the PC, as my Windows OS is in English. When i think about my family, it´s sometimes in French, and when i dream it´s a mixture of Spanish, English and French. But never in German, and i suppose it´s because i haven´t grasped the language yet, or i haven´t managed to interiorize it completely. Hope that helps!

reply to post by Maxmars


One day, on a medium sized road trip, I was driving and speaking only English, my buddy was in the passenger seat, and in the backseat was his Dad, speaking only Armenian, and a friend of his from college speaking mostlly Russian with a little English. My buddy was talking to all 3 of us, in 3 different languages, and occasionally translating so we could also understand each other, and he never missed a beat. All 3 conversations were going simultaneously without giving him a problem whatsoever. It was pretty amazing that his mind could handle all of that without having to internally translant to some central language.

I think this is basically the definition of "fluent." Once you become fluent, you no longer need to translate in your head, one word is just as meaningful as another without regard to the language.

I'm scanian. I can read swedish, dansih english and norweigan and even some icelandic/faroeise -but not much, and also a little bit of german but Netherlandish is easier. I think in no language, though. THinking is without language. But i commmunicate internaly in swedish.

Originally posted by NoLoveInFear46and2
It dePends on my mood, if I'm pissed I'll usually swear in french Tabarnak!!!

B-))))
HEY HEY ! !

Où est-ce que tu demeures ????
Where do you live ???

Je suis à / I am in St-Hubert !
B-)

EDIT to answer the OP. . .
I usualy think in the langage I write or speak: french or english.
My main langage is french.
When I write or speak in english, some times, if it is quite complicated,
I have to "think it" in french and then translate and speak/write.
But for usual causy english exchanges, I think in english.

Cieux bleus.
Blue skies.

My first language is Spanish but I think in English all the time... I hardly ever use Spanish in everyday life, I have forgotten tons of words.

I'd say I think in English.

I immigrated here with parents when I was 7 or 8 years old.

At that time, Chinese was my mother language. I didn't know a word of English, not even the alphabet. So I must be thinking in Chinese during that time.

After I became fluent in English (took me long enough, 8 years all in), I believe I started to think in English.

The reason I say this is because I still speak Chinese to my parents and also my wife but when I do, they often laugh at me, saying that I got the "grammar" wrong.

Well, now I suppose I know why. If I'm thinking out loud in English, then put those exact thoughts into Chinese, it doesn't really make sense lol...

Oh and I just wanted to add, French is a beautiful language. I've tried to study Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and French in college. Took a few beginners' courses on each, found French (grammar) to be the most challenging. But French in general is like an aphrodisiac for me

My Persian pal thinks in Scottish.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by Maxmars

 

One day, on a medium sized road trip, I was driving and speaking only English, my buddy was in the passenger seat, and in the backseat was his Dad, speaking only Armenian, and a friend of his from college speaking mostlly Russian with a little English. My buddy was talking to all 3 of us, in 3 different languages, and occasionally translating so we could also understand each other, and he never missed a beat. All 3 conversations were going simultaneously without giving him a problem whatsoever. It was pretty amazing that his mind could handle all of that without having to internally translant to some central language.

I think this is basically the definition of "fluent." Once you become fluent, you no longer need to translate in your head, one word is just as meaningful as another without regard to the language.

edit on 13-2-2012 by getreadyalready because: (no reason given)

yes, that is funny. I also experience that. I can be having a multilingual conversation with one person in Norwegian, another in English, or my mothertongue , and follow the TV in Danish or Svedish at the same time, and don't even have to think about what language is what, or in what language I should reply.
OK, sometimes I do forget words or expressions in a specifik, and then I have to start thinking, and then I would lose track for a while.

reply to post by EnigmaAgent


That is a great question, to tell the truth, in the beginning as I was trying to get fluent in English, I had to think first in Spanish before trying to speak.

But after 30 years in the US speaking English as my first language now, I can not longer remember to even think in Spanish.

This makes very difficult when I have to use Spanish only as I find myself thinking in English before Speaking in Spanish.