Bilingual people: What language do you *think* in??

[hatmoza]

Troll_Whisperer said:

hatmoza said:

Troll_Whisperer said:

hatmoza said:
Frankly, I think the people who are saying they think purely without words are full of shit. But that's just me.

The example of food Trollwhisperer provided above is true, and I'm sure there are many other instances of thinking with "feelings". But don't tell me, someone who speaks several languages doesn't have words going through their minds when they're working through their thoughts. That's absurd.

In my personal opinion, that would only be true if you were living by yourself on an island your whole life. If anything, the formation of words and languages helped develop cognitive abilities throughout history. Ever heard of constructivism in education? The idea of constructivism is pretty big in schools these days and it's basically the concept of how we build on past knowledge to increase our learning skills ... mainly thinking.

You're right, it's definitely just you.

Don't believe me, but it's 100% true. I really only think with words when I read or write those words. Why would I and several other people be lying?

I can easily find a few discussions online about this and you'll find many people think in concepts:

http://intjforum.com/showthread.php?t=24280

http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=844786

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/8gu1p/do_you_think_in_words/

http://able2know.org/topic/175479-1

 

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.

Notice how I said "purely without words." I'm very familiar with different learning styles and how they can be associated with thinking. I'm well aware that some people lean towards being visual learners/thinkers. However, my argument (and again this is a personal opinion) is that as long as you know a language, you will have a stream of words going through your head at any given time.

I believe that you are  predominantly a visual/abstract thinker. But I absolutely refuse to believe that that completely substitutes words.

As I said I only hear the words in my head when reading/writing (although faintly and accompanied by the images I picture) and perhaps when remembering/imagining conversations. If you don't want to believe me, whatever...

I just asked my girlfriend and she actually laughed at the concept of thinking with words. She said it would be 'time consuming'. So at least I know I'm not weird...

I seriously always thought that only happened in movies/series, when you hear the character's mind's sentences while they gesticulate. I never until know believed people actually do that (and apparently a majority).

Can you give me some examples of what you tell yourself?

My regular thinking occurs when I'm listening to lectures, listening to people talk, radio and reading. When I'm at school listening to a professor talk I start to pick up on key words he/she's discussing and digest them into words I can better manipulate and regurgitate -forming new concepts of my own. When I'm really bored in class I start staring at people and think to myself ,  "I wonder if the teacher ever gave anal," "I wonder if that girl across the classroom ever did anal ... I bet she did," or stuff like , " geesh that kid has fucked up teeth, I wonder if he ever brushes them." Yes, those are all self discussions I have in my head when I'm thinking. On the radio, when I'm driving I always review commercials in my head. I would say stuff like, "boy, that was pretty clever I wonder how they ... etc" or " GOD FUCKING DAMMIT that commercial was so annoying. Why did they think that commercial would  appeal to ... etc". Get this, I do try to picture how radio show hosts look! Althugh it's not dominate, I do visually think. I'm not gonna claim my word thinking is absolutely dominant.

My hardcore "word" thinking occurs when I'm trying to solve problems. Mostly when I'm doing homework. I literally have to map out my word processes on a sheet of paper so I don't forget them. It's associated with figures and visuals, but for the most part my brain keeps asking questions (I form questions in my head a lot [scientific method is fascinating]) and finding solutions. I assess myself by giving myself feedback in the form of words.

When I'm playing games or watching television , just random thoughts like about graphics and dialog, accents, thinking through the plot etc run through my head ... and the occasional, "I wonder if she does anal?"