By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - General Discussion - Bilingual people: What language do you *think* in??

Nintendogamer said:
Welsh but no one here knows what that is.

Diolch. That's all I know. I lived in North Wales for 6 months, in a little town called Dolgellau. And yes, I know how to pronounce that.



No troll is too much for me to handle. I rehabilitate trolls, I train people. I am the Troll Whisperer.

Around the Network

I speak 3 languages but I think in only two of them. Since I was born in french I speak french all day long and I think in french most of the time. Things changed when I started a professional a career in design and moved in a bilangual city. Everyday I live with french speaking people but my work and all programs I use are all in english. So I had to learn in english in order to keep going. I studied design in a french speaking school but everything was still in english.

If I think about work and design I immediately think in english otherwise I think in french. Also anything that has to do with the internet I do it in english. If I think about games or movies I think in english.



This is a very amusing thread I never really realised or even thought about this subject xD

Well my primary language is English and my secondary is Portuguese (know a few others but not the proficient in them).
I guess 75% of the time I think in English even though I live in Portugal and interact outside my house in Portuguese, but still my tough process seems to be English, the only occasion I seem to be working in Portuguese is during study periods and tests.
All my dreams are seem to be in English.



Troll_Whisperer said:
Nintendogamer said:
Welsh but no one here knows what that is.

Diolch. That's all I know. I lived in North Wales for 6 months, in a little town called Dolgellau. And yes, I know how to pronounce that.


  Croeso, iechyd da! Quite delightful to hear someone taking some notice of the welsh.  I've lived in North Wales all my life.



Buying in 2015: Captain toad: treasure tracker,

mario maker

new 3ds

yoshi woolly world

zelda U

majora's mask 3d

Xen said:
Marks said:
Xen said:

I know Russian (parents' lang amd my mother tongue), English (unofficial mother tongue), Hebrew (I live in Israel), and some French.
I think in Russian.


That's awesome man! I'm taking Russian classes in University and I really want to become fluent in Russian so I can go back again.

I'm not bilingual yet so of course I only think in English (unless I'm doing work for Russian class).

Good luck and SPEAK with native speakers LOTS. Russian is a pretty crazy language, and only speaking it will hand you the reins of control, mainly thanks to the big conjugation, suffix, and intonation focus in it.


Thanks! I'm gonna keep at it. I went to St. Petersburg in June and loved it, I can't wait to go back sometime! Russian is hard but I'll be the first to admit I've been lazy in practicing it. I don't know anyone besides my teacher who speaks it fluently so its hard to practice :(

Where are you from?



Around the Network

I'm from Montenegro (Ex Yougoslavia) and I'm trilingual, Serbo-Croatian (mother language), French (where I live) and English (just like now) and I'm thinking in all of them. It depends on situations, and things that I think of.
I'm currently learning Japanese, I hope that one day I'll be able to think in Japanese too, as easily as I can think in these 3 above.



miz1q2w3e said:
Troll_Whisperer said:

Edit: Actually, I'm gonna ask you: what do you tell yourself? In what situations do you think in words? Can you give me examples? I'm curious about this.

I don't know about moza but after thinking about it (lolpun) I think people experience a mixture of both

For instance while thinking about your post and how I was going to reply to it, I thought in words 100%, just assembling ideas and sentences with thought. Also, I can intentionally think about something and it'll feel like me talking

I also realized that I don't actually stop and think about much throughout my day, if at all. If a random thought does happen to pop up in my head (especially if unintentional) then it usually represents itself as an idea/concept rather than words/sentences, especially if the corresponding word is unknown/hard to describe, like the face of a pretty girl whose name I didn't know, the word girl didn't pop into my head either, just the face. Regarding feelings like hunger/thirst or heat/cold and the sort, I doubt most people would think up sentences for that stuff either

One example is just now I was thinking of what I was going to have for breakfast tomorrow, the idea of sunny side up eggs with a runny yolk immediately popped into my head but my corresponding word for that thought was just 'eggs'. When I remembered that I wanted extra salt I saw salt and thought 'salt'. Is it different for you?

OT: The fact that the words were 'eggs' and 'salt' means I was thinking in english lol

Hmmm. So you only actually think a few words in a day. It's not like in the movies either. I usually don't even do that (telling myself one word and associate it with a broader concept). Though, as I said, when I am writing, I actually think the words while I type.

If I thought about what I'm having tomorrow for breakfast, I just have the image or the idea in my mind. Like, perhaps I picture the items quickly. If I'm thinking of something I'm gonna do, I can picture myself doing it in the future, though not at normal speed, just like a few select photograms that go through my mind in a second. It's hard to describe...



No troll is too much for me to handle. I rehabilitate trolls, I train people. I am the Troll Whisperer.

Nintendogamer said:
Troll_Whisperer said:
Nintendogamer said:
Welsh but no one here knows what that is.

Diolch. That's all I know. I lived in North Wales for 6 months, in a little town called Dolgellau. And yes, I know how to pronounce that.


  Croeso, iechyd da! Quite delightful to hear someone taking some notice of the welsh.  I've lived in North Wales all my life.

Croeso I understand, the rest I have no idea of what you said.



No troll is too much for me to handle. I rehabilitate trolls, I train people. I am the Troll Whisperer.

Marks said:
Xen said:
Marks said:
Xen said:

I know Russian (parents' lang amd my mother tongue), English (unofficial mother tongue), Hebrew (I live in Israel), and some French.
I think in Russian.


That's awesome man! I'm taking Russian classes in University and I really want to become fluent in Russian so I can go back again.

I'm not bilingual yet so of course I only think in English (unless I'm doing work for Russian class).

Good luck and SPEAK with native speakers LOTS. Russian is a pretty crazy language, and only speaking it will hand you the reins of control, mainly thanks to the big conjugation, suffix, and intonation focus in it.


Thanks! I'm gonna keep at it. I went to St. Petersburg in June and loved it, I can't wait to go back sometime! Russian is hard but I'll be the first to admit I've been lazy in practicing it. I don't know anyone besides my teacher who speaks it fluently so its hard to practice :(

Where are you from?

Currently - Israel. Though I was born in the USSR.



huaxiong90 said:

Believe it or not, I think in both English and Arabic. Moreso in English, though.


same.