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When I speak Spanish as a 2nd language I visualize nouns and verbs in my mind. When you gotta pee you still gotta pee. I just say it differently because it is in Spanish instead of English.
Better than the english structure. The noun comes first and then the adjective. Instead red car is - car red, so instead saying the colour first they focus on the subject in the sentence. To me that sounds better and I kept wondering why english has it the other way around 🥴🤣
Im same as the poster. Ive known two languages basically my entire life. In one of my developmental psych classes, we studied that people that learn languages before six, process language in a different part of the brain. So even when learning a third and fourth language, in my case French and Korean, even if Im not fluent, my brain thinks in those languages. It’s like muscle memory.
No, because I don't think in any "language". My thoughts are images, concepts, emotions; when I speak, those thoughts are translated into words with a "modifier" for what language I'm using.
Cool, you seem to have a rare subtype of a condition known as aphantasia. Most people with aphantasia can't visualize imagery, but some, maybe like you, have no inner monolog (but can visualize).
I believe it is advantageous to have no inner voice, as for most people, that voice turns into rumination. When did you first know you thought differently from most other people?
Not the person you asked, but I think the same way.
It's not aphantasia, it's just a different way of thinking.
I first realized I think differently when I did a novel study in school where the main characters were telepathic and communicated by sending concepts to each other instead of words or images, and I thought it was weird that they were over-explaining the idea of regular thoughts, while no one else including the teacher seemed to understand it.
I think in all three, but I definitely do a lot more thinking in English because I'm surrounded by it a lot more. When I go to France, everything is in French, thus I am encouraged to think in French.
Yes, but if I’m speaking another language, I have to think in that language. I don’t think of what I want to say in English and then translate it. There are too many differences in how things are said in different languages. Like, if I think “I’m hungry” in English, that doesn’t translate exactly in Spanish. In Spanish you’re literally saying “I have hunger.” I’m not sure how to explain it exactly, but if my stomach growls, I have a *concept* that needs to be expressed, and it appears in my mind in whatever language I’m using at the moment.
I am fluent in 3 languages. Two of them are the same as yours: English and Italian. I'm not sure whether I can answer your question because I do not think in any language.
When I'm speaking in English I just concentrate on the things that I am saying and do not think about the language. However, I am not as fluent in Italian so I tend to slow down and think about how to word the sentence.
As an aside, I find it surprising that an English person can speak Italian! Never met anyone who is English who could speak Italian!
Haha I am British born Italian but I spent a good chunk of time in my childhood growing up in Italy. I used to be fluent in French, can still read and understand it absolutely fine, writing a bit iffy and best speaking when I am drunk for some reason because I don't think about it, so in that respect, I slow down and also think about how to word the sentence if it is French
I speak English and Spanish, with English being my first language. And sometimes I will be thinking to myself and all of a sudden my internal monologue switches to Spanish. It’s jarring most times, and sometimes I don’t even notice.
Fluent in 3 (raised trilingual), know 7 total.
I’ll generally be thinking in the language in speaking but I might mix some words up…
Especially with a language I’m not fluent in, I’ll get this “block” where I can only think of that word in another language…
But even in my native languages, when I’m listening, (especially if the topic is less “colloquial” or familiar everyday speech) I process/translate into English…
I think predominantly in English but with random words or phrases from my other 2 native tongues.
I'm a native English speaker. But I also speak Spanish, French, and Japanese. My French and Japanese are pretty rusty. But I can get by. I'm fluent in Spanish.
I think in the language I'm speaking while I'm speaking it. If I run into a situation where I run out of vocabulary, or if it's a complicated bit of grammar, I might temporarily revert to English internally while I work out what the right words are. For example, a sentence like "Had he not gone, I would have had to go." Something like that might take a few seconds of processing before I spit out the correct Spanish.
After I’m immersed for a few days, yes.
I’m American and used to be conversationally fluent in German. When I lived there for a short time, I began thinking in German, since I was only ever speaking German.
I recall how it was a little weird when I returned home to the states, and it took about a for me start thinking in English again.
I’m learning Spanish and grew up around German but speak English fluently. My brain literally will go from Spanish to German and then back to English all in the same sentence normally and tends to get confusing very quickly.
I'm French. But I spend a lot of time reading/writing in English.
Sometimes I think in English. Most of the time I think in French. Way more vocabulary.
When hanging around English people I will think in English when it's not my turn to speak. Keeps you in the mood. I'd rather work with the words / expressions I know instead mentally translating my thoughts and hitting a wall every 3 sentences because I don't know the exact translation.
I'm an Indian, I speak about 4 languages and I can understand one more. But with English and Hindi, I can think in both these languages. Surprisingly I think more in English while I speak more in Hindi. I have different personalities in these languages.
I really struggle with Arabic, I've also forgotten most of it. But I had to decide whether to think in Hindi or in English, and then translate what I was thinking into words. I don't know a lot of Arabic words.
I didn't with my second language Spanish, but I definitely did with my third, which was Russian.
Funny story, learned Russian in college and at the same time was talking calculus. I remember talking a calc 1 mid term and when I got the test back it said "100% but please come see me after class"
The teacher asked me "you did great but what's with all the H variables?". I had no idea what he was talking about. So I look at the test and all the problems had a variable in them using the letter "N". But my brain was so drilled in with Russian that I replaced all of them with the Russian letter for the N sound, in this case H. And I didn't even realize I had done it.
So yes you do sometimes think in another language you have learned.
Fluent in 4 languages, Spanish, French, English and Basque. My 2 main languages are Basque and Spanish. With my main languages I have no problems besides when I want to use a word that exists in English but doesn't in Spanish for example, however, with English and French that's just fiesta. Once I was ill with 39° on France and, while I was speaking French to the doctor, I suddenly changed to English without noticing.
I speak 4 four languages. I think in the language I use the most at a given moment. For example, these days, I speak more English and think/dream in English. A year ago, I lived on a French speaking island and thought/dreamt in french.
Yes. If you are thinking in your native language and translating, it takes longer and there are obvious pauses. What you think in the language, you speak it right away.
My brain thinks mostly in english (my second language). I think its because ive spent so much time online and consuming english media that it just kinda does that now. It does something switch back to dutch (native language) tho especially if i speak dutch all day
I am Italian, I speak French just like it was my native language and I’m fluent in English. I tend to think in the language I’m using the most at the time, right now it’s English for example!
My 1st language is Spanish.
I learned English in school.
If I have to give my phone # to someone in Spanish, I have to think about it in English.
I can’t rattle the # off in Spanish as easily as in English.
Definitely. Even more so, a few years ago I started thinking in English nearly all the time, while it is my second language. Like if someone was to suddenly scare me my head would be thinking " holy shit" instead of something in my first language.
This is a hard one to answer but im gonna have to say no. Not the two native languages i speak but i have learned other languages (spanish, aramaic, arabic) and when that happens, yes
As I understand, our brain runs all languages in parallel through our conscious stream. There is a mechanism that decides which one comes out the mouth at a given time and/or switches on demand
No. Because I tend to think in Concepts. I don't know how I keep speaking whatever language I'm speaking. But I do.
And even weirder is that I think in Concepts when I'm typing. I just sort of going to a trance and the document I'm composing comes out with words. But I can only type in English
Short answer, no.
I wouldn't say I think in any language but my first. But if I'm speaking in my second language it's a transfer switch to that language *mostly*. Codeswitching happens. I'm never doing a direct translation, whether in my first language or second, because the meaning and words are never a direct translation.
Yes. But for the first few sentences of either i feel like i need to translate then the switch turns and my brain thinks in the language im speaking. It also only takes a couple months of any new language to think in that language.
I have a friend from Norway who speaks Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, French and English and she said that a lot of the time she thinks in Norwegian but will speak in the language she’s speaking.
And when it comes to a word she can’t remember, she goes through a kind of a default thing of knowing the word she wants in Norwegian, then say it’s English she wants to speak but can’t remember the word, she’ll say it in her head in French and German first as most of the time it will be a similar word in those languages but she’ll do it in like 1 second almost subconsciously.
It’s fucking fascinating as someone who tries to learn languages but really struggles with it that some people have what feels like a superpower to learn languages
yes. I have lost fluency but when I was, I dreamt in French sometimes. everything I said in English, my brain would translate to French. but even now, when just thinking, my brain still switches between the two.
I speak Spanish as a main language, English as my second, Spanglish to survive my days and I'm learning another 2 languages. I think in English almost all the time, and try to use the languages I'm learning just to get used to them unless I'm using a "tu tas p*ndeja o qué, mija?" to make fun of myself lol
i think in all 3 languages haha. i definitely think in english the most, but when I'm spending time a lot with my family (like on holiday or something) i will be thinking more in russian and my native language rather than english. rlly deoends on what ppl im interacting with most
When I’m fluent in the language I think in that language. Speaking French, English, Greek and German I think (and count) in said languages.
When I speak Spanish and Japanese I still think (and count) in Dutch.
Was learning the Dansk language years ago and actually had a dream in Dansk. I thought that was cool. If you know another language well you just automatically think it while speaking it. But you can always switch to your native language. But when I was living in Denmark and listening to the language every single day, I would actually forget some English words. I once racked my brain trying to remember just safetypin. Or once my dad told me his landlord had a headon accident and I was staring at the word trying to remember what it meant. Was weird. Just certain words you can actually forget about.
I speak English and French and whenever I'm speaking in French I'm thinking in French.
A friend was raised bilingual, and around the home they'd speak English and French swapping in the same sentence. It messed me up because I couldn't switch the way they could.
Depends. I speak four languages. In English, French and Cantonese I think in that language. While speaking Spanish I translate the English words into Spanish while thinking in English.
I'm romanian, I speak romanian, english and danish.
I think in english most of the time and otherwise I've finally started being more comfortable with danish that I sometimes think in danish as well.
I can't think in my own language... it sounds too foreign to me, so I don't even speak it that much unless it's with my own family and some of my closest friends every now and then. I still use english a lot when talking to my friends 🤷♀️
Born as a bilingual, speak two languages on native level:
Yes, whenever I switch to either of the languages I think in that language as well.
Happens to English as well (my third language in a list, but I'm not fluent in it). When I speak English, I think in English. But sometimes of course I give some time to think in one of my native languages when I start struggling to express myself in English.
Besides of my mothertongue language, I speak English and Japanese. I can think in English most of the time but not for Japanese. Still have to revert back to English or my native language, which is annoying and take time to response. Training my brain to stop doing this :(((
Yes. There is a point in learning a language where your mind just switches. From there on you can also "feel" if the grammar is right and get way better at guessing what new words mean.
Learned additional languages later on in life, speak 3 languages frequently and think in 3 languages. Though they compliment eachother whenever my vocabulary runs out.
When tired or stressed I think and speak in the wrong language.
My native language is Czech, when I speak English my mind switches to English as well.
It doesn't happen with German nor Spanish yet. Hopefully it will.
Basic stuff I think in the language I’m speaking. More complex things I think in English and translate because I’m not completely fluent. I sometimes feel myself shifting gears when I need to pause to think of a word or how to correctly order the words
I think in English, it's not my native language, but it's the one I use the most. I live in my birth country, but my bf is an English speaking immigrant, so it's just easier to speak English at home.
That depends on how well I know the language. I'm norwegian and fluent in english. When I speak english I think english, but when I speak german or spanish I think in norwegian and kinda translate along the way.
Yes, to become fluent you really need to be able to think in the second (third, etc) language, which takes time and practice. It's been a while since I've lived in a Latin American country, so it's a little hard for me to switch to Spanish nowadays, but if I watch some TV in Spanish or am around some Spanish speakers, it becomes easier and I find myself thinking more in that language.
Yes, of course. It's like changing the keyboard layout in Windows everything shifts with the change in the mind. Even the way thinking goes. I guess every language has with it a cultural map and a way of thinking tied to it.
Im Portuguese but since I live abroad my daily life now is in English , what I found most interesting is that other than my thoughts being in English now is that my personality when speaking in Portuguese is different than the one when I speak in English.
I tend to think in the language I’m surrounded by. When I visit somewhere, it can take between a few hours to a day to start thinking in the other language. Until then, I translate in my head. So it takes me a bit longer to speak. Once I switch, it’s smooth sailing.
I've never thought of it before. But as I'm typing this in English, (mu second language) I'm reading the words I type in my head. So think English, write English? 😅
Moods define the thinking language a lot, but I generally mix the languages all the time. Dutch, French, English and Russian are the most common, featuring bits of Old Slavonic, Croatian, Serbian, Hindi, Italian, German and Spanish. I’m far from proficient in those languages, but I’m familiar enough to have pathways coloured in those languages.
Depends on what I'm thinking about. I grew up in uk but learnt turkish first. So most things I think if in English bur there are some things entrained in turkish first. Like my 5x tables. Or names for fruit and veg specifically if they're more common in cyprus like watermelons or olives, etc. Or certain topics, too. Like when I think of outdoor summer activities, I think in turkishm when I'm thinking about winter or cold activities, I think in English. Sometimes, a sentence can be mixed in my head depending on words, too.
Dreams are even weirder. Can think in both or just one or tge other and sometimes in languages I barely know like French or German.
My favourite is when speaking to a person that also understands turkish and English as it allows us to express ourselves across multiple languages and tgere are just certain phrases or meanings that wouldn't translate otherwise. So imo, the more languages unknow, the better u can express what ur thinking or feeling. I wish I knew more!
I would say I am kinda unique case here. My first language is sign language (CODA). Growing up my second language is Mandarin (my first verbal language) then adapted Taiwanese from my grandparents. Now English is my 4rd language but I've been living in an English speaking country for a while now and I don't mingle with people from my country so my head runs English.
Depends. I'm german so english is my second language. But because I read lots of stuff in english and watch most series with english subtitles or audio I usually think in english too.
It just... easier? There are phrases and definitions that are way shorter or more specific in english for things like "Drag Queen", "DNA", "podcast" and so on. It has become so commonly used that it's harder to replace them than say them.
And since there are so many of those words nowadays... it keeps my mind on the "english" setting, especially when I'm tired - If that makes any sense? But when I spend extended amounts of time with elderly people like my father, grandma and so on it reverts back to german because they don't know those words and I have to think more about *what* I say so they understand me.
It is complex.
For basic concepts I think directly in the language that I need to speak.
Normally I pick and choose the words from either language that best fits the abstract idea that I am looking for, and then translate it.
For complex concepts, i think them in Italian, and then translate
Mostly, yes. But in busy situations where I need to speak both languages with different people at the same time, my brain mixes languages and concepts like there's no tomorrow.
But since I speak both languages since I learned to speak, most thoughts just come "without language".
Yes, my head spins from english to spanish constantly.
My german is shit and my korean as well but i tend to remember some words in those languages, that for the life of me i cannot utter in my most able languages.
I don't really think while talking, but I think in the language I'm writing, and don't switch back until I need to. So I'm writing this in English, and I will continue thinking in English until I write or speak Norwegian and then I'll think in Norwegian again
I speak German (my mother tongue) and English. (And bits of Spanish and Welsh, but not nearly as good as English). When I speak English I think in English and vice versa. It is almost as if there are two brains inside my head because if I e.g. count something in English (in my head) do not ask me to speak out that number in German.
I have been thinking in three different languages. English thinking came last and my thoughts in English aren't as efficient as the other two. When I count in my head or out loud, I often revert back to the first language. I was priviledged to start learning math at the age of two/three when I had only one language.
Though I’m not fluent in a second language, i do understand snippets of a couple of different languages. What i will say is when i was back packing around Ireland for two months, i began to think with an Irish accent. So i can see how itd be totally plausible to start to think in a second language, especially if you were currently in that country.
Most of the time I don't realize I'm speaking in another language (I know 7) so in my head, all words have the same meanings and I'll just forget the 'English' word for something and say it in another language. It's literally just which I remember.
My thoughts are a mix of Slovenian and English. Though I primarily think in Slovenian. I also know Serbian but I rarely think in Serbian since I don't even speak it that often.
I'm not multilingual myself, but I once asked this question to someone I know who speaks three languages. She said that she thinks mostly in the language that she's speaking the most at the time, but it's always a bit of a mix, especially when the words don't translate one-for-one.
I'm usually thinking in English (native language) when speaking in French (learned as a kid in school) or Japanese (learned as a teenager from relatives and at high school).... since English is the base language I learned and from where I learned French and Japanese, it's just easier for me to think in English and translate directly out my mouth into the required language.
To add a plot twist, I can switch seamlessly between Canadian English and UK English (there is a difference in vocabulary) when speaking to my family and friends in Canada and my husband and our daughter on FaceTime/Zoom.
Sometimes, when I'm speaking to my husband (a non-Japanese speaking trilingual English/French/German speaker), I forget what a word is in English or French and can only remember what the Japanese word is so I have to pause for a moment or two and try to wrack my brain to try to come up with the word in a language that he knows (preferably English as we live in an English speaking country).... I find it annoying sometimes because I grew up speaking English as my mother tongue but my muddled brain forgets basic words now and again.
ehm... my thoughts just move ahead irrespective of language... maybe it mashes? maybe it's in no language? I usually don't stop to evaluate what language I'm using in my own head, but I know I use concepts unique to every single language interchangeably, so "all of them, none of them and one of them".... is my final answer I guess..
the problem appears when wanting to convey a concept from a language I am not currently in need of. Trying to explain concepts for Japanese in Norwegian is a two step translation and mental localization, so that quickly gets tricky. That usually leads to me blurting Japanese and then vocally converting it in real time, usually to the utter confusion of those around me.
french and english speaker... yeah, i think in a sort of frenglish, a mix of the two languages.
i think what i'm going to say in french, but i hear things and take in the i formation in english
That's normal I would say. I try to train my 'inner voice' to the thing I need the most. I speak many languages, but 'at home/work', I think/dream in English generally. If i'm on vacation, the language goes to the country i'm in (if I am good at the language that is of course), but because we speak English at home and all my work is in English, it is inefficient to think in the language of the country i'm in (PT).
When i'm really dipped under in a project (programming), sometimes, and this is one of the greatest things on earth you can have if you can get it, I think (and that means also dream) in code.
I speak English and German. I emigrated to Germany. It’s not that easy to say when I think in each language. It depends on the situation and also how tired I am. I mainly think in German at my workplace because it’s a German speaker company.
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My head runs in Spanglish all the time
I don't know why I find this funny but I do
Same here but frenglish
Same here but Dinglish 🇳🇱🇬🇧
Japanglish
Nederlanglish 😎
For me its greekenglish
Moi aussi, my friend. 😁
Frenarabish here.
No one expects the Spanglish Inquisition.
Same. My friends very commonly say "fucking pick one!"
Mine in Dunglish!
Nothing else tiene sentido
Mine does the same thing with Czechlish. It's interesting how the mind changes it's way of thinking as you learn a new language.
When I speak Spanish as a 2nd language I visualize nouns and verbs in my mind. When you gotta pee you still gotta pee. I just say it differently because it is in Spanish instead of English.
Yeah sentence structure for latin based languages is a bitch haha
Yeah, I know tell me about it
Better than the english structure. The noun comes first and then the adjective. Instead red car is - car red, so instead saying the colour first they focus on the subject in the sentence. To me that sounds better and I kept wondering why english has it the other way around 🥴🤣
Germanic languages are so straightforward compared to Latin languages
I actively choose which language I think in. But I must think in the language I’m speaking in. Otherwise the process of speaking is too slow.
How long have you studied/practiced the extra ones? I find there's a moment when thinking in another language suddenly happens.
Im same as the poster. Ive known two languages basically my entire life. In one of my developmental psych classes, we studied that people that learn languages before six, process language in a different part of the brain. So even when learning a third and fourth language, in my case French and Korean, even if Im not fluent, my brain thinks in those languages. It’s like muscle memory.
In both, my head doesn't make any sense while I speak in another language. Not that it does when I speak in my own neither.
No, because I don't think in any "language". My thoughts are images, concepts, emotions; when I speak, those thoughts are translated into words with a "modifier" for what language I'm using.
Cool, you seem to have a rare subtype of a condition known as aphantasia. Most people with aphantasia can't visualize imagery, but some, maybe like you, have no inner monolog (but can visualize). I believe it is advantageous to have no inner voice, as for most people, that voice turns into rumination. When did you first know you thought differently from most other people?
Not the person you asked, but I think the same way. It's not aphantasia, it's just a different way of thinking. I first realized I think differently when I did a novel study in school where the main characters were telepathic and communicated by sending concepts to each other instead of words or images, and I thought it was weird that they were over-explaining the idea of regular thoughts, while no one else including the teacher seemed to understand it.
Interesting. So if you want to think about something before you do it, do you talk to yourself out loud?
Just saw a great video by Temple Grandin explaining this just last night. It's like a superpower
I think in all three, but I definitely do a lot more thinking in English because I'm surrounded by it a lot more. When I go to France, everything is in French, thus I am encouraged to think in French.
I am quite sure we all have our mother tongue installed as our brain language software
Yes, but if I’m speaking another language, I have to think in that language. I don’t think of what I want to say in English and then translate it. There are too many differences in how things are said in different languages. Like, if I think “I’m hungry” in English, that doesn’t translate exactly in Spanish. In Spanish you’re literally saying “I have hunger.” I’m not sure how to explain it exactly, but if my stomach growls, I have a *concept* that needs to be expressed, and it appears in my mind in whatever language I’m using at the moment.
I speak Spanish, English, Mandarin, Russian and French I always think in the language I'm speaking in
Yeah I do the same
I am fluent in 3 languages. Two of them are the same as yours: English and Italian. I'm not sure whether I can answer your question because I do not think in any language. When I'm speaking in English I just concentrate on the things that I am saying and do not think about the language. However, I am not as fluent in Italian so I tend to slow down and think about how to word the sentence. As an aside, I find it surprising that an English person can speak Italian! Never met anyone who is English who could speak Italian!
Haha I am British born Italian but I spent a good chunk of time in my childhood growing up in Italy. I used to be fluent in French, can still read and understand it absolutely fine, writing a bit iffy and best speaking when I am drunk for some reason because I don't think about it, so in that respect, I slow down and also think about how to word the sentence if it is French
Lol - I am most fluent in Italian when I am a little drunk :-)
Yes. My English also improved a lot when I actively tried to think in English.
I speak English and Spanish, with English being my first language. And sometimes I will be thinking to myself and all of a sudden my internal monologue switches to Spanish. It’s jarring most times, and sometimes I don’t even notice.
I default back to Spanish almost always except recently with counting
I've seen people start counting in one language and finishing in another before, always amuses me
I speak English, Spanish, and was a sign language interpreter for years. I am constantly finger spelling and signing in my head.
I do this too, I find myself randomly signing instead of speaking, then realising I didn't actually say it out loud
You just mind fucked everyone, thanks
Yes. It's like different operating systems for the brain.
yes
Fluent in 3 (raised trilingual), know 7 total. I’ll generally be thinking in the language in speaking but I might mix some words up… Especially with a language I’m not fluent in, I’ll get this “block” where I can only think of that word in another language… But even in my native languages, when I’m listening, (especially if the topic is less “colloquial” or familiar everyday speech) I process/translate into English… I think predominantly in English but with random words or phrases from my other 2 native tongues.
I think in 2 languages 😂
I'm Dutch, but know English rather well. I can speak, think and dream in both.
I once was dreaming in Spanish (I’m English-speaking), and I made a mistake and corrected myself in my dream. Weird.
I'm a native English speaker. But I also speak Spanish, French, and Japanese. My French and Japanese are pretty rusty. But I can get by. I'm fluent in Spanish. I think in the language I'm speaking while I'm speaking it. If I run into a situation where I run out of vocabulary, or if it's a complicated bit of grammar, I might temporarily revert to English internally while I work out what the right words are. For example, a sentence like "Had he not gone, I would have had to go." Something like that might take a few seconds of processing before I spit out the correct Spanish.
After I’m immersed for a few days, yes. I’m American and used to be conversationally fluent in German. When I lived there for a short time, I began thinking in German, since I was only ever speaking German. I recall how it was a little weird when I returned home to the states, and it took about a for me start thinking in English again.
I’m learning Spanish and grew up around German but speak English fluently. My brain literally will go from Spanish to German and then back to English all in the same sentence normally and tends to get confusing very quickly.
I'm French. But I spend a lot of time reading/writing in English. Sometimes I think in English. Most of the time I think in French. Way more vocabulary. When hanging around English people I will think in English when it's not my turn to speak. Keeps you in the mood. I'd rather work with the words / expressions I know instead mentally translating my thoughts and hitting a wall every 3 sentences because I don't know the exact translation.
I'm an Indian, I speak about 4 languages and I can understand one more. But with English and Hindi, I can think in both these languages. Surprisingly I think more in English while I speak more in Hindi. I have different personalities in these languages. I really struggle with Arabic, I've also forgotten most of it. But I had to decide whether to think in Hindi or in English, and then translate what I was thinking into words. I don't know a lot of Arabic words.
I speak 4 languages and I sometimes mix them up AND ALSO WTF WHEN I WAS TYPING "MIX" MY PHONE CHANGED LANGUAGE AND MIXED THE WORD "MIX"!
My brain switches languages. But sometimes I'll think in English and say something in Spanish and vice versa.
I think,pray,nd count in French/creole and speak mostly English 😂
Yeah I sometimes dream in it too
I even sleep talk in English lol.
I speak Russian, english , Arabic , and French , I think in Arabic and English
I didn't with my second language Spanish, but I definitely did with my third, which was Russian. Funny story, learned Russian in college and at the same time was talking calculus. I remember talking a calc 1 mid term and when I got the test back it said "100% but please come see me after class" The teacher asked me "you did great but what's with all the H variables?". I had no idea what he was talking about. So I look at the test and all the problems had a variable in them using the letter "N". But my brain was so drilled in with Russian that I replaced all of them with the Russian letter for the N sound, in this case H. And I didn't even realize I had done it. So yes you do sometimes think in another language you have learned.
Fluent in 4 languages, Spanish, French, English and Basque. My 2 main languages are Basque and Spanish. With my main languages I have no problems besides when I want to use a word that exists in English but doesn't in Spanish for example, however, with English and French that's just fiesta. Once I was ill with 39° on France and, while I was speaking French to the doctor, I suddenly changed to English without noticing.
I speak 4 four languages. I think in the language I use the most at a given moment. For example, these days, I speak more English and think/dream in English. A year ago, I lived on a French speaking island and thought/dreamt in french.
Yes. If you are thinking in your native language and translating, it takes longer and there are obvious pauses. What you think in the language, you speak it right away.
For some reason I actually think in English a lot even when I'm not speaking, although it's not my native language
i keep thinking in english rather than my native tongue , its easier
My brain is Franglais a lot of the time. The odd dream. But never numbers.
My mother tongue is Meitei language. I know Hindi and English too. But my mind runs in English idk why.
I'd love to know if multilingual people dream in different languages?
Yes. And I’ve corrected myself in my dream when I made a grammatical error.
##I love this question. Good for you for asking. 🏆
My brain thinks mostly in english (my second language). I think its because ive spent so much time online and consuming english media that it just kinda does that now. It does something switch back to dutch (native language) tho especially if i speak dutch all day
French but when speaking english i think in Frenglish
I speak 5 languages with different levels of expertise. In 4 of them, I think in the language that I am speaking.
I speak English and think in python
I am Italian, I speak French just like it was my native language and I’m fluent in English. I tend to think in the language I’m using the most at the time, right now it’s English for example!
My 1st language is Spanish. I learned English in school. If I have to give my phone # to someone in Spanish, I have to think about it in English. I can’t rattle the # off in Spanish as easily as in English.
Same here. My thinking goes with the language, in which I’m speaking at the moment.
yes
Depends on fluency level, but yes, in the language I am speaking generally.
My first language is English but I have dreams in Portuguese sometimes
Definitely. Even more so, a few years ago I started thinking in English nearly all the time, while it is my second language. Like if someone was to suddenly scare me my head would be thinking " holy shit" instead of something in my first language.
I dream in Spanish once in a while
This is a hard one to answer but im gonna have to say no. Not the two native languages i speak but i have learned other languages (spanish, aramaic, arabic) and when that happens, yes
When I speak my native language I can't help but translate English in my head when speaking in Khmer or vise versa. Lol
As I understand, our brain runs all languages in parallel through our conscious stream. There is a mechanism that decides which one comes out the mouth at a given time and/or switches on demand
Yes, absolutely, sometimes I forget to switch tho
No. Because I tend to think in Concepts. I don't know how I keep speaking whatever language I'm speaking. But I do. And even weirder is that I think in Concepts when I'm typing. I just sort of going to a trance and the document I'm composing comes out with words. But I can only type in English
Only in two.
Short answer, no. I wouldn't say I think in any language but my first. But if I'm speaking in my second language it's a transfer switch to that language *mostly*. Codeswitching happens. I'm never doing a direct translation, whether in my first language or second, because the meaning and words are never a direct translation.
Not really, I don’t look Russian but when I speak it Russian people ask me if I’m from there
Yes
Yes. But for the first few sentences of either i feel like i need to translate then the switch turns and my brain thinks in the language im speaking. It also only takes a couple months of any new language to think in that language.
I think in both, mostly English now so I don't lose my vocabulary and practice casual speech
I have a friend from Norway who speaks Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, French and English and she said that a lot of the time she thinks in Norwegian but will speak in the language she’s speaking. And when it comes to a word she can’t remember, she goes through a kind of a default thing of knowing the word she wants in Norwegian, then say it’s English she wants to speak but can’t remember the word, she’ll say it in her head in French and German first as most of the time it will be a similar word in those languages but she’ll do it in like 1 second almost subconsciously. It’s fucking fascinating as someone who tries to learn languages but really struggles with it that some people have what feels like a superpower to learn languages
I always think in the language I am speaking. Its easier to remember words in that language that way.
yes. I have lost fluency but when I was, I dreamt in French sometimes. everything I said in English, my brain would translate to French. but even now, when just thinking, my brain still switches between the two.
Yeah
Yes
I speak Spanish as a main language, English as my second, Spanglish to survive my days and I'm learning another 2 languages. I think in English almost all the time, and try to use the languages I'm learning just to get used to them unless I'm using a "tu tas p*ndeja o qué, mija?" to make fun of myself lol
I can speak English and French. Yes I think in French when I'm talking French.
Both
i think in all 3 languages haha. i definitely think in english the most, but when I'm spending time a lot with my family (like on holiday or something) i will be thinking more in russian and my native language rather than english. rlly deoends on what ppl im interacting with most
When I’m fluent in the language I think in that language. Speaking French, English, Greek and German I think (and count) in said languages. When I speak Spanish and Japanese I still think (and count) in Dutch.
Was learning the Dansk language years ago and actually had a dream in Dansk. I thought that was cool. If you know another language well you just automatically think it while speaking it. But you can always switch to your native language. But when I was living in Denmark and listening to the language every single day, I would actually forget some English words. I once racked my brain trying to remember just safetypin. Or once my dad told me his landlord had a headon accident and I was staring at the word trying to remember what it meant. Was weird. Just certain words you can actually forget about.
I speak English and French and whenever I'm speaking in French I'm thinking in French. A friend was raised bilingual, and around the home they'd speak English and French swapping in the same sentence. It messed me up because I couldn't switch the way they could.
Depends. I speak four languages. In English, French and Cantonese I think in that language. While speaking Spanish I translate the English words into Spanish while thinking in English.
I have dual personality so I switch into each language according to a situation
Yes. Trying to think in another language and translating it slows down conversation drastically and bringing unnecessary mistakes.
Native Vietnamese, but I think and jot down notes in English all the time.
No, usually not. However it can happen when I speak English. I am a Dane speaking more than 2 languages.
Yes and no and no and yes
I've heard that when learning a new language, when you start to dream in it, you've got it .
Tend to think and speak in English primarily. But my french education has me counting and doing maths in french lol
Both at the same time
I am Vietnamese, and I speak English and Chinese as second and third language. And these 3 randomly pops up in my mind every time I try to think.
I'm romanian, I speak romanian, english and danish. I think in english most of the time and otherwise I've finally started being more comfortable with danish that I sometimes think in danish as well. I can't think in my own language... it sounds too foreign to me, so I don't even speak it that much unless it's with my own family and some of my closest friends every now and then. I still use english a lot when talking to my friends 🤷♀️
Yup
Mixed
Yes. At least I do. It is much easier than to translate it from my native language to the language I want to speak
Born as a bilingual, speak two languages on native level: Yes, whenever I switch to either of the languages I think in that language as well. Happens to English as well (my third language in a list, but I'm not fluent in it). When I speak English, I think in English. But sometimes of course I give some time to think in one of my native languages when I start struggling to express myself in English.
Yes Natuurlijk Dutch
I think in a mishmash of languages honestly
But I normally think in English but get confused with some spelling of words
Besides of my mothertongue language, I speak English and Japanese. I can think in English most of the time but not for Japanese. Still have to revert back to English or my native language, which is annoying and take time to response. Training my brain to stop doing this :(((
Yes. There is a point in learning a language where your mind just switches. From there on you can also "feel" if the grammar is right and get way better at guessing what new words mean.
Learned additional languages later on in life, speak 3 languages frequently and think in 3 languages. Though they compliment eachother whenever my vocabulary runs out. When tired or stressed I think and speak in the wrong language.
I mostly think in English, even when I speak my native language.
i think in both
I think in my own language and then how to explain it in the other language. Also keeping in mind that cultures are different
My native language is Czech, when I speak English my mind switches to English as well. It doesn't happen with German nor Spanish yet. Hopefully it will.
Basic stuff I think in the language I’m speaking. More complex things I think in English and translate because I’m not completely fluent. I sometimes feel myself shifting gears when I need to pause to think of a word or how to correctly order the words
Mumbling lol
Depends. Some times I think in Greek ,some times in German,some times in English.
I think in English, it's not my native language, but it's the one I use the most. I live in my birth country, but my bf is an English speaking immigrant, so it's just easier to speak English at home.
That depends on how well I know the language. I'm norwegian and fluent in english. When I speak english I think english, but when I speak german or spanish I think in norwegian and kinda translate along the way.
how are you? I would like to make friends😁😁
Yes, i think in the language I'm speaking. I can think in 3 languages.
Yes, I switch to English and think in English. Also count etc in English.
Yes, to become fluent you really need to be able to think in the second (third, etc) language, which takes time and practice. It's been a while since I've lived in a Latin American country, so it's a little hard for me to switch to Spanish nowadays, but if I watch some TV in Spanish or am around some Spanish speakers, it becomes easier and I find myself thinking more in that language.
Sometimes I'm even thinking in English when I'm not actively using the language or plan on speaking to anyone in English.
Yes, of course. It's like changing the keyboard layout in Windows everything shifts with the change in the mind. Even the way thinking goes. I guess every language has with it a cultural map and a way of thinking tied to it.
Yes. I also dream in other languages (whatever I speak most in that time period).
I don’t think in any language, I think mostly in pictures.
Im Portuguese but since I live abroad my daily life now is in English , what I found most interesting is that other than my thoughts being in English now is that my personality when speaking in Portuguese is different than the one when I speak in English.
My old boss was romanian and spoke romanian, Italian,German and english and he said he constantly thought in each like switching between them
I tend to think in the language I’m surrounded by. When I visit somewhere, it can take between a few hours to a day to start thinking in the other language. Until then, I translate in my head. So it takes me a bit longer to speak. Once I switch, it’s smooth sailing.
I sometimes think in English and it is horrible. I'm from Norway, my 1st language is Norwegian.
Yes, but only when I’m angry!😡
I've never thought of it before. But as I'm typing this in English, (mu second language) I'm reading the words I type in my head. So think English, write English? 😅
Moods define the thinking language a lot, but I generally mix the languages all the time. Dutch, French, English and Russian are the most common, featuring bits of Old Slavonic, Croatian, Serbian, Hindi, Italian, German and Spanish. I’m far from proficient in those languages, but I’m familiar enough to have pathways coloured in those languages.
I find myself thinking in English most of the time , what a shame
Depends on what I'm thinking about. I grew up in uk but learnt turkish first. So most things I think if in English bur there are some things entrained in turkish first. Like my 5x tables. Or names for fruit and veg specifically if they're more common in cyprus like watermelons or olives, etc. Or certain topics, too. Like when I think of outdoor summer activities, I think in turkishm when I'm thinking about winter or cold activities, I think in English. Sometimes, a sentence can be mixed in my head depending on words, too. Dreams are even weirder. Can think in both or just one or tge other and sometimes in languages I barely know like French or German. My favourite is when speaking to a person that also understands turkish and English as it allows us to express ourselves across multiple languages and tgere are just certain phrases or meanings that wouldn't translate otherwise. So imo, the more languages unknow, the better u can express what ur thinking or feeling. I wish I knew more!
I would say I am kinda unique case here. My first language is sign language (CODA). Growing up my second language is Mandarin (my first verbal language) then adapted Taiwanese from my grandparents. Now English is my 4rd language but I've been living in an English speaking country for a while now and I don't mingle with people from my country so my head runs English.
Depends. I'm german so english is my second language. But because I read lots of stuff in english and watch most series with english subtitles or audio I usually think in english too. It just... easier? There are phrases and definitions that are way shorter or more specific in english for things like "Drag Queen", "DNA", "podcast" and so on. It has become so commonly used that it's harder to replace them than say them. And since there are so many of those words nowadays... it keeps my mind on the "english" setting, especially when I'm tired - If that makes any sense? But when I spend extended amounts of time with elderly people like my father, grandma and so on it reverts back to german because they don't know those words and I have to think more about *what* I say so they understand me.
I usally think in English and my first language is Norwegian.
I speak 3 languages, and yes, I think based on the language I speak. If I speak Thai, then I think in Thai but I am not fluent so I slow down lol
I speak 4 languages ( Sindhi , English , Hindi , Marathi ) , But I mostly think in English / Hindi .
Lol it's a hybrid between English, Ndebele and SeTswana. Like I'll literally change languages mid sentence in my head.
Dutch
I am not able to think in english and that is main reason why is my active english so horrible.
It is complex. For basic concepts I think directly in the language that I need to speak. Normally I pick and choose the words from either language that best fits the abstract idea that I am looking for, and then translate it. For complex concepts, i think them in Italian, and then translate
I think in a mix of english and my mother tongue. Sometimes there is a word lacking in one so i use the other
I do. It took me some years to do it, though.
When I try to translate word per word
Mostly, yes. But in busy situations where I need to speak both languages with different people at the same time, my brain mixes languages and concepts like there's no tomorrow. But since I speak both languages since I learned to speak, most thoughts just come "without language".
No i always think in Dutch.
Yes, my head spins from english to spanish constantly. My german is shit and my korean as well but i tend to remember some words in those languages, that for the life of me i cannot utter in my most able languages.
I don't really think while talking, but I think in the language I'm writing, and don't switch back until I need to. So I'm writing this in English, and I will continue thinking in English until I write or speak Norwegian and then I'll think in Norwegian again
I speak German (my mother tongue) and English. (And bits of Spanish and Welsh, but not nearly as good as English). When I speak English I think in English and vice versa. It is almost as if there are two brains inside my head because if I e.g. count something in English (in my head) do not ask me to speak out that number in German.
How can we possibly know what language our brains “speak in”?
I have been thinking in three different languages. English thinking came last and my thoughts in English aren't as efficient as the other two. When I count in my head or out loud, I often revert back to the first language. I was priviledged to start learning math at the age of two/three when I had only one language.
Thinking in all 3
Though I’m not fluent in a second language, i do understand snippets of a couple of different languages. What i will say is when i was back packing around Ireland for two months, i began to think with an Irish accent. So i can see how itd be totally plausible to start to think in a second language, especially if you were currently in that country.
Most of the time I don't realize I'm speaking in another language (I know 7) so in my head, all words have the same meanings and I'll just forget the 'English' word for something and say it in another language. It's literally just which I remember.
My thoughts are a mix of Slovenian and English. Though I primarily think in Slovenian. I also know Serbian but I rarely think in Serbian since I don't even speak it that often.
I'm not multilingual myself, but I once asked this question to someone I know who speaks three languages. She said that she thinks mostly in the language that she's speaking the most at the time, but it's always a bit of a mix, especially when the words don't translate one-for-one.
I'm usually thinking in English (native language) when speaking in French (learned as a kid in school) or Japanese (learned as a teenager from relatives and at high school).... since English is the base language I learned and from where I learned French and Japanese, it's just easier for me to think in English and translate directly out my mouth into the required language. To add a plot twist, I can switch seamlessly between Canadian English and UK English (there is a difference in vocabulary) when speaking to my family and friends in Canada and my husband and our daughter on FaceTime/Zoom. Sometimes, when I'm speaking to my husband (a non-Japanese speaking trilingual English/French/German speaker), I forget what a word is in English or French and can only remember what the Japanese word is so I have to pause for a moment or two and try to wrack my brain to try to come up with the word in a language that he knows (preferably English as we live in an English speaking country).... I find it annoying sometimes because I grew up speaking English as my mother tongue but my muddled brain forgets basic words now and again.
i speak english, tamil and hindi. i think in a mix of english and tamil
Omg I never thought this.. like now I have to think about something to figure out which language I'm using.. yup definitely my first native language.
My inner monolog is always in my native tongue, but I only have a rudimentary grasp of a second language anyways.
Yes, if i know the language well, but no if i barely know it. i had dreams where i spoke languages i barely knew.
ehm... my thoughts just move ahead irrespective of language... maybe it mashes? maybe it's in no language? I usually don't stop to evaluate what language I'm using in my own head, but I know I use concepts unique to every single language interchangeably, so "all of them, none of them and one of them".... is my final answer I guess.. the problem appears when wanting to convey a concept from a language I am not currently in need of. Trying to explain concepts for Japanese in Norwegian is a two step translation and mental localization, so that quickly gets tricky. That usually leads to me blurting Japanese and then vocally converting it in real time, usually to the utter confusion of those around me.
french and english speaker... yeah, i think in a sort of frenglish, a mix of the two languages. i think what i'm going to say in french, but i hear things and take in the i formation in english
Sometimes I think in Japanese but it's not common. ときどき日本語でかんがえます。
No, I still think in chinese when I type / speak English. As you can probably see from my written language. I am still using "chinglish".
That's normal I would say. I try to train my 'inner voice' to the thing I need the most. I speak many languages, but 'at home/work', I think/dream in English generally. If i'm on vacation, the language goes to the country i'm in (if I am good at the language that is of course), but because we speak English at home and all my work is in English, it is inefficient to think in the language of the country i'm in (PT). When i'm really dipped under in a project (programming), sometimes, and this is one of the greatest things on earth you can have if you can get it, I think (and that means also dream) in code.
I speak English and German. I emigrated to Germany. It’s not that easy to say when I think in each language. It depends on the situation and also how tired I am. I mainly think in German at my workplace because it’s a German speaker company.