Question for multilinguals

Originally posted by EnigmaAgent
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.

edit on 13/2/12 by EnigmaAgent because: spelling

I'm a native German, but I mostly think (and even dream) in English. When I talk to my German friends here in the US, I think and speak German.

Originally posted by flexy123
I am born and lived the most part of my life in Germany.
I moved to the States, married an US American, and we are now talking English on a daily basis.
I am now thinking and also dreaming in English.
"Switching back" to German, talking to my sister etc. is sometimes really hard...i think English is much easier to speak/"think".

Same here. I also find it much easier to express feelings in English than in German. Germans are very uptight, especially when it comes to expressing feelings of love, appreciation and so forth (we don't have any problems with expressing negative feelings, though ;o)). It feels much more natural to say "I love you" than "Ich liebe dich." Many Germans never tell their spouses that they love them, and most German men would rather eat live maggots than tell a woman a compliment (unless they're drunk, but then they're insufferable) .

I've been learning english since I was 6, so not not bi-lingual per se, but close. After a while you think in english while speaking and writting. Funny thing - I somethings forget polish words and have to use an english one - which pisses people off. It looks as if I'm showing off while in fact I just have very bad memory

My ex said she dreamed in Farsi and thought in Farsi, but had no accent when speaking English although her first language was Farsi. Weird. I have always thought and dreamed in English, though Im bilingual. Maybe thats due to learning the 2nd language later in life.

I Know 2... (Russian and English). I personally cannot remember the last time i had a Russian thought. everything i think about is in English... (like my inner voice talks to me in english) however when talking to a Russian person my mind somehow clicks into Russian thinking, but there is no inner voice just quick image like thoughts.

I'm primarily english, but went to a french school my whole life. My thought process is always in english, unless I'm writing in french. Even then, I sometimes think it out in english and translate it to french.

I think in Greek, German and English equally I think. But when I'm angry I mostly think in Greek. Swearing is mostly Greek and English.

Well over the years i had to learn quite a few languages. Most i forgot and can only remember fragments.

My Mother language is German, however i speak english/chinese on a regular basis for a while now so i started to think and dream in english too. If i suddenly have to talk german, well i have problems coming up with words. If i go back to germany every 3 years or so for a vacation i need about 2 days to get used to speaking german again.

So yes if you speak a language for many years you get so natural at it that you also start to think in it. (if you have little exposure to your native toung that is)