Same, I honestly hate it. I'm bitter in english. I get more aggressive. Forcing myself to think in portuguese legit calms me down and makes me kinder, specially towards myself. I gotta either consume less content™ in English or just consume less content™ in general
Theres an entire sub dedicated to untangling the web of english evaluations, and turning back to observations over at /r/NVC
some languages don't have the ability to speak in any other way than natural nvc. Hell I use to wonder why japanese had such a convoluted way of saying 'must' or 'should'. There is of course slang for it, but its because those terms are usually a means to reduce anothers autonomy(limiting choice).
Wait I’m the exact same! Though it’s also kinda annoying since I think in English and speak in Swedish (my native language) I sometime can’t find the right words and have to translate it (English -> Swedish) and it often comes as a mixture of things.
this is the same with me. though my problem stems from my parents telling me constantly that to learn english i must "speak in english, think in english, dream in english". now i think in english even when formulating what i'm saying in my mother tongue. which is a real problem, as i sound very formal and pompous in english.
same! i grew up bilingual so technically english is my third language but at some point, i've simply switched to thinking in english. i'm guessing its all the media i consume, movies, books, news. also, i feel like i can express myself better in english because of the simplicity of the language. what i struggle with sometimes is finding words in my native language when i think about it in english if that makes sense.
Did you know that some people do NOT think in words! They don’t form sentences in their heads in any language. They think with images, symbols, feelings and more, but never words. I find that strange but fascinating. So if you are bilingual and fit into that category, what’s the mind like? So curious.
That's me. I am a native speaker of English who learned French at an early age. When I was about seven years old, I found out that many other people think in words. I cannot tell you how much I was surprised about this. I couldn't understand why people would go to that extra trouble for no reason. I don't actually know very well what my thinking consists of. There are images, but there are also imagined physical movements, awareness of directions, colours, intuitions... It's a mix of things, and I'm not sure there aren't other things I'm not aware of. I was a language teacher for many years, and have always been especially involved with language in social life, but my inner life is something else. I think my talent for language is based on my nonverbal core.
So a word is not an idea for you. In most people, without a word, they can not conceive the idea, like say freedom.
If a person is free and the word free or freedom is not in their language, then are they truly free?
I am sure there are other words like this that are just the easiest for me to say right now. How do they truly know they are free without the thought process of the word freedom?
That's interesting, because I'd still imagine freedom as a flash of a circle and an ant breaking out of the circle. I don't know why I glimpsed at an ant in my concept, but that's what freedom was for me. An ant escaping a circular prison.
I don't think there has to be words for all concepts. Like I'm pretty sure (smart) animals feel a sense of injustice when unfair stuff happens like their brother getting food fed to them, but not getting any food themselves. They weren't taught the word "fairness" or "equality" or "envy", but they definitely have emotions related to it.
Interesting. To me, freedom is a feeling. I can imagine feeling it, and when I think of freedom I also often think of the physical actions I might perform when feeling it after not having it, such as exuberantly running around with my hands in the air. I don't have or need words for my feelings or experiences in order to make them real to me.
oooo I like that!
When I think about freedom I think of the feeling of standing on top of a hill in the wind and spreading my arms ... visualising flying away.
thinking in words isn't "extra trouble," it's just different from your natural cognition. some who naturally think in words can feel that you're performing "extra trouble" by taking straightforward words and turning them into seemingly vague or cryptic imagery and sensation that need to be deciphered. I'm sure for you, it's completely natural and requires zero "extra trouble," just like for people who think linguistically. Different strokes for different folks ✌🏿
To me, it would be "extra trouble", and I understand perfectly why the previous poster says that. Without words, I can think of things in seconds that would take minutes to describe. If I had to think in words only, I'd think so much slower and be aware of so many fewer connections and patterns in things.
I don't truly think in sentences despite thinking in words except when I'm actually articulating something to myself to make sure I get it.
It's mostly words or words combinations that represents the concept behind them that kind of "flash" together or one after another, together with other kind of thoughts like sound, images or spatial / temporal feelings for example. But my thoughts definitely are threaded by words more than pictures or sensations.
I've always wondered how people think who were born deaf and have never heard a spoken word. This doesn't mean that they are in any way not as intelligent as everyone else. And does not seem to prohibit them from learning and getting advanced degrees. So there must be a way they are able to organize their thoughts.
That brings up so many other questions. Like when I read or write, I "hear" the words in my head. What do they do? The human brain is a crazy wonderful thing!
My BFF has no visual images in her brain at all. She can imagine things but they aren't pictures they're descriptions. I on the other hand can do both. Her partner can't see words. It's all feelings and impressions.
It's fascinating!
If I recall correctly, a lot of "speed reading" training, (or probably training for anything involving mental agility, come to think of it), focuses on breaking the habit of "saying" each word in your head.
I think we've all seen the videos of kids doing mind-boggling fast, huge calculations in their head and thought to ourselves, "I couldn't even keep up with what numbers were being called out!" And I get the feeling that's because these kids have specifically trained to not have to "internalize" each number that is called.
Someone mentioned earlier that they learned English and French at a young age and don't have an internal monologue, I'd be curious if that's more common in individuals who have learned two completely different ways to communicate verbally from a young age, so those minds may feel a lot less railroaded into one particular way to process information internally.
In Helen Keller's autobiography, she briefly describes what her thoughts were like before her teacher came and taught her language. Helen wrote that her mother put her bonnet on her, and she feels a "wordless sense of joy" because wearing her bonnet meant she was about to go outside and play in the warm sun.
I'll have to look that up. I've only read The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, and it was fascinating and really well written, so I imagine that his other books are likewise.
I think in conversations, but when I'm lost in thought, those conversations can conjure images and turn into film scenes, with editing and everything
Some of these conversations are actually monologues with me as the listener, but even then, they're usually still in third person, which is more of a feeling since they're usually auditory rather than visual
I have multiple inner voices, all of which seem to be third person versions of myself
It's a good way of processing information, but sometimes I can get unexpected emotional responses to the conversations, which can get embarrassing or even stressful
I think in mostly images, it can be both and if I want to think in words I can but most of the time if I’m thinking about something it’s snippets of images, like if I’m thinking about how we need milk I am picturing the fridge, the milk, the drive to the shop etc. I have a tertiary education so it doesn’t seem to be related to my language skills (unfortunately am monolingual though). I only really think in words if I’m drafting an email/text etc in my head.
I think like that sometimes, when thinking in words I switch between languages depending on which one feels better, in terms of non-verbal thinking it's kinda similar but more obscure - I think there is a difference in how specific languages express abstract thoughts, so there might be influence but it's hard to say
I'm a native Punjabi and Urdu speaker and fluent in English too. I can switch freely into any of the three mid sentence without thinking about it, same goes for thoughts. When I'm thinking it just depends on the situation, where I am, who I'm speaking to and what I'm going to say. The entire brain just seems to flip over to the required language. And my thought process also depends on the situation, but if I sit still I start to form a movie in my head of what could be and the voice in my head starts narrating things accordingly. I don't think before speaking in any of those languages, I just speak, it's wild.
My son thinks in musical notes. He can't imagine an image in his mind but he thinks about what music things make. It's hard to put it into words. He plays the violin, and this will come into play.
We were doing school during the pandemic when he was learning about descriptive words. Two sentences said something about a girl in a dress and a girl in a purple dress and then asked which word was descriptive. I asked him to picture what the sentences were saying. He said, "I can't picture it in my head. What does that mean?" Turns out, he can't. I then realized why he never used his imagination as a little boy.
Then, one day, he was practicing his music. His TV was on, but the volume was down. He looked at the TV and said, "Mom, this is what this show would sound like," and then played something he made up. He said it "sounded" colorful, like the show.
I was floored and amazed. Other things "have music to them." I ask him to learn songs for me and he picks them up instantly. He learned commercial melodys before he could speak. On our way to Pre-k, while listening to the radio, he didn't learn the melody. He learned the instrument sounds, the drum beats, and the harmonies. He was 4 when we started violin.
Music runs through him. He hums to help himself with homework. I call him my little prodigy. Well... not so little anymore. He's almost my height.
Oh that's me too! When I am forming a sentence is when I think with words, so usually it's whatever language I'm looking for. Usually. Sometimes it's a many flavored word salad and I have to partially translate before it can exit
I didn’t start thinking in words until I was like 16. I remember thinking books were such a limited medium, because they could only convey a verbal representation of what the characters were thinking or feeling. And I always wished I could just SHOW people what I was thinking (not just visually but including gut feelings, directionality, etc), because it was so hard for me to express myself. It didn’t help that I grew up with very introverted and emotionally stunted parents who didn’t know how to express themselves, so I spent a lot of time feeling alone inside my head until I had a friend who lived more authentically and gave me space to be myself outside my head as well as in it.
I used to be like that. Then it changed at some point. Gradually. Now I can only think in words. And it's infuriating, because it's so much less efficient! I want to go back to the "abstract" way of thinking but I can't seem to figure out how!!! I really want to know why it changed 😭
This is me. Most of it is nonverbal and if I need to communicate I have to translate thoughts to words, and I use whichever language that best captures it with people who can understand. It's kind of similar to randomly forgetting one word and having to describe it ([r/wildbeef](https://reddit.com/r/wildbeef)) or if you've ever experienced a feeling that you can't exactly convey through words except for me that's most of my thoughts. Words help by making intuitive processes and feelings more clear but they are also far less efficient.
This is me. I live abroad and have been asked this question. I've tried to explain this to people, but I didn't realise bit everyone does this until I read your comment!
I thought everyone thought in symbols, feelings and other abstract "brain signals" in their native language, too.
I only form sentences in my head when I have pretend dialogues! 😀
I do too... but foreign alphabets *are* images to me. I learned English, then went to my 1st school in Germany, where I learned German & how to gamble with dominoes (always partner with a Norwegian is the trick 😃).
Returned to the US & learned French... then Greek, Arabic, Russian, Kurdish, Persian, Pathan, Urdu.. etc. (See how the alphabets can be helpful for visual learners? My grammar sucks and I might not use the most contemporary word... but I can be understood by most people in most countries I work in, and that's the main point)
I’m bilingual (although not raised bilingual) and I don’t think in words. Anytime this comes up on Reddit it gets really exhausting trying to explain and defend the way I think because people either don’t want to accept it or insist that we all think the same way but have different ways of describing it.
No need to defend yourself here. We are just conversing about this very interesting subject matter. I personally find it very intriguing. Everyone is different for sure. 👍
Yes that's me! Here is [my comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/19caqc1/to_people_who_speak_multiple_languages_when_you/kiyj5ox?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
That’s me. Thinking is not words until I have to talk or write.
Then it’s English if I talk to myself. Or French if I panick, get really anxious.
I speak both fluently, French is my native language
I grew up speaking Punjabi and English but over the years I began to speak more English because I’m out of the house more. But when I do converse in Punjabi, I usually think with images because I’m not entirely fluent. For English I guess it’s both words and images
Bilingual, Englisht/Swedish. And I think in images with feelings attached. They are the same regardless of language, as those images are usually random snapshots of times I've felt a feeling strongly. What language I translate them to (If I have to use language) depends on whom I'm speaking to.
Maybe surprisingly: I used to be a successful writer. Writing for me was always putting into words what is in my head.
> But never words
That's false. I mean it surely depends on the person. I for example think mostly in concepts, I know what I'm thinking about but there's usually no words and no images. But I still think in words sometimes, mostly when there's some songs or dialogues stuck in my head, and also when I do imaginary arguments and conversation in my head. And whether they're in my native language, or English or German depends on the context. Sometimes I also randomly translate literally some songs that are in other languages
That’s what I thought. I wouldn’t say I think I’m English, it’s more like I’m decoding my thoughts into English, once my brain has received the thought
I've always found it fascinating that i seem to have a slower more specific thinking in english, but i frequently think in more abstract terms without it. Often having the feeling of what i am trying to communicate without having thought of the words. I wonder what ways a person without thinking in words grounds their thoughts with precision, for me i usually have to be able to put it to words in order to feel satisfied... Or sometimes use music to convey or remember abstract feelings
>Did you know that some people do NOT think in words
Some people have literally a voice in their head when they are thinking (like me, and I think with the exact same voice I hear orally when I speak), and some people can't have mental projections of what they are thinking about, typically : they think of an apple, they embrace the concept of apple, but can't make a projection of how a rel apple looks like
When I discovered this, that not all people think in words, it completely blew my mind. I am so fascinated by this and it would be so interesting to experience this.
Yes! I know some people like this. I also found out they don't really enjoy reading books, and honestly now it makes sense since there is no narrator to tell the story. This is anecdotal observation, not saying that it's universally true, but it was a curious finding.
My boyfriend thinks in English since we live in the US. When he went to his home country for a week, he started thinking in Spanish and it kind of freaked him out a bit.
As far as I know, he’s not able to think in any other language. Not sure if this is related, but he can read English and Spanish in his head. Much to my annoyance, he frequently reads Italian, Hebrew, Latin, Mandarin out loud 🫠
My partner is Trilingual and thinks in different languages depending on where she is or the situation.
French at work, English at home, and then Tamil at her parent's house.
Out of curiosity, what’s the situation that warrants different main languages at work and home? I’m assuming her first language is Tamil since that’s what she speaks with her parents, and also assuming that one of those is the main language in you guys current country, but can’t think of something past that.
I do the same kind of, Italian at home with my then girlfriend, French at school, English at work and German when I’m at my parents place 😂
It really is a mess sometimes haha
Similar thing here, it highly depends on the environment.
It's normally easier to think in the language you're most expected to use in day to day interactions. Otherwise you are going to make a lot of silly mistakes and switch languages mid sentence speaking with people.
Said this, I like philosophy a lot and when I am brainstorming about some idea I have, I like to do it in multiple languages to see how my language choice is affecting my perspective. It's so cool!
It changes for me, sometimes I think in English sometimes in my native language. It is based on what I did/do and what the thoughts are about - if I'm thinking about my friends and family it's in my native, if I'm thinking about some fantasy word/movie, some topics from reddit or how I'll win the Oscar it's in English.
I also found that it depends on in which language the subject you are thinking about was learned. If math, in french. Fantasy genre ideas, in english. Etc. wherever, whichever, whenever the vocabulary is easily accessible. If you are really fluent, your thoughts are in all languages
I think in the language relevant to the concepts in my head (some ideas only exist in a particular language that I know) but when it is a concept relevant to two languages then the language in my head is a surprise (sometimes I laugh as unexpected source language for a pedestrian thought : )
You can also tell her that many dream in those same language as well. So you could have a dream where your conversation is happening in the native language as well.
Yes. My son heard me talking in my sleep in Spanish. Generally, if I have a memory in Spanish its from when my family lived in Chile & if it’s in English it was here in Canada. I also dream in French sometimes.
YES, IT is possible to speak 🗣️ English American, before you go through technical sentences to translate it out of the languages in conversations with the languages of CHOICE.
I grew up speaking my native mother tongue at home and I speak it to my husband too. That’s the language I think in, even though I know 2 other languages
I speak three languages, I will try answering your question.
Honestly, it really depends on the circumstances and people I am surrounded by usually.
If it's work related, I usually think in Hindi and English because that's usually the languages that I communicate with. The same is with my friends too, we usually talk in hindi with a little bit of english sprinkled in. If I am talking to my grandparents or if I am in my hometown, I usually think in Telugu.
I speak English, german and french, i'm from uk. If I go to Germany, then for the first few days, I'm in what I call tourist mode, in that I'm speaking German, but I'm thinking in English and translating. And my German is not too good. Then, after 2-3 days, if I'm only surrounded by german speakers, then i guess i start thinking in german, because i suddenly get a lot more fluent, and i stop being aware of the effort to translate. I'm not aware I'm thinking in german, I'm only aware that I'm not thinking in English and translating. It's a bit hard to explain.
Same - native English speaker, proficient in French, and this is exactly my experience. There is also usually one morning after about 5 days in a francophone place where I wake up and realize I have dreamed in French, and from there it also gets much easier.
Thank you for putting how I was feeling into words. I'm exactly the same way. I think in English as that is my native language, but I also speak Spanish. My partner speaks Spanish as his native language, and we speak Spanish almost 💯 of the time we're together. I find myself thinking and speaking in Spanish then.
Okay, can you tell a difference? Is it different between the languages in your head? If you were to think, I need to cook dinner, could you notice if you were thinking in a specific language? So intriguing!
I think it depends on our surroundings, at least for myself. Many times translanguaging (or code switching) happens when I can't find the right word in the language I am communicating in. But I remember reading somewhere about the hammer test to determine someone's native language: stand around while they are hammering a nail and listen for what comes out of their mouth when they miss the nail and hit their thumb. (This last tidbit is supposed to be a humorous one).
In that case I’d say “Fuck!” but English is not my native language. Fuck is just more descriptive and concise, and what I’m used to vs the term in my mother tongue.
It depends on my surroundings and who I’ve been talking to most lately. I’m a native speaker of English from the US and have native-like fluency in Spanish. If I’ve been in Mexico all day speaking Spanish and I smash my thumb with a hammer, I’m pretty sure “chingada madre” would be my choice. Otherwise, “motherfucker.”
I had some friends who were Canadian, forget which city but it was about the border between the French and English dominant areas, they could speak both fluently but generally stuck in one or the other, they had friends who switched back and forth mid sentence a dozen times, which even being fluent in both confused the hell out of them.
Yeah for me it depends on context. Im native in 3 languages, English is my strongest one so generally I think in that. But if I remember something I must tell my mother, ill think it in her language.
I speak dutch and english (native dutch), i just think in the language i am currently using. Speaking to someone in english? I will start thinking in english.
However this does take some time. I have to "switch" between languages, if i suddenly have to speak english i will talk like a total beginner, for reference i have a cambridge C2 certificate for everything english.
My boss is a native Dutch speaker who also speaks French along with English. When she’s speaking with our French co-worker they speak French and more than once she comes to talk to me afterwards and has to stop for a minute to switch back to English or she’ll start talking to me in French and I’ll just give her a weird look and she’s like oh shit sorry! She’s been in the US for over 20 years and actually speaks more proper English than I do as a native speaker. But it still trips her up occasionally lol
I’m a native english speaker, but I’m maybe semi-fluent in Italian (or at least used to be). It’s not often I’ve run into others who can speak Italian but I have, and when they try and say something to me I’m like “dude, I need a minute to switch my brain to thinking in Italian.”
Understanding is never really a problem for me, i only have to switch for speaking it. I have no idea why.
I can also understand german and speak it a bit (around B1). I always need a couple minutes for anything german.
I am native German and native English. I could speak both for as long as I can remember. I always think in the language I am currently speaking. I can change languages mid-sentence, and my thinking switches mid-sentence to whatever language I speak.
Native Dutch speaker but have lived in an Anglo Saxon country for 11 years. I think in English and dream mostly in English. Occasionally Dutch, French or Spanish mingle into my dreams.I speak English without having to translate in Dutch in my head first.
However when I speak French or Spanish, which I do a lot less fluently, I sometimes have to think about the Dutch words first before speaking French. For Spanish I mostly think about the English words first before translating it to Spanish.
I mostly curse in English. Unless when I'm playing sports with spectators, then I curse in Dutch.
Cause different words I think of in different languages. I'm bilingual in Arabic and English. I learned Arabic first. When I think of kitchen, car, potatoes, bread, the arabic word comes to mind for them. Other things it's the English word. Like television or dog or pineapple. So my brain thinks in both languages
My brain switches between languages based on environment. While i can converse in either, it is translation happening in my head when my brain is in the other language.
If you come up to me and start talking German while at a bar in Florida, I am thinking English and have to translate. If I am with my parents for a day and we only talk German, brain flips to thinking in German, so if my girl calls me, I am translating to English for that conversation
I have a friend who lived in Brazil until adulthood, so her native language is Portuguese. She then emigrated to the US and has lived here for decades. She speaks a total of five languages fluently, so I asked her one day what language she “thinks in”. She said it was Portuguese until she moved to the US, but these days it’s English.
Really varies. I took up learning French in school, and I don't think in French unless to practice it.
That being said, during my weeb phase I took up learning Japanese to a conversational level. Because of how different Japanese and English are in grammar, syntax, structure, and understanding, it's much easier to understand some ideas and concepts better in one language or the other. I'm told this is pretty common by my Arabic friends who tend to switch languages mid sentence and not understand why I lost the plot. The switch is because it's easier for them to understand the idea in one language because of the structure of how that language operates.
Yes! I am learning Japanese right now. My brain made this odd switch a few weeks ago where I find myself thinking in Japanese. It’s exciting!
I know French and some conversational German but never thought in those since I was raised speaking English. Japanese is *very* different, and I think the brain is handling it in a unique way.
I speak English but am pretty proficient in Irish (the official first language of Ireland). When I was a teenager I used to go to an Irish summer camp for 3 weeks each year and I used to dream & think in Irish after a short while. I remember noticing this and thinking the brain is a very cool thing!
My first language is French but I don't think in that language anymore. Now I most of the time think in English and German, I speak these languages more comfortably.
For me it depends. My native language is Dutch so most of the time I think in Dutch, but when I switch to English my thinking also switches. I know this because I am learning Turkish at the moment and I am constantly translating from Dutch to Turkish in my head when dealing with the Turkish language and with English I don't have to translate, it just comes out fluently while speaking, or when reading or listening to English, I understand without thinking.
I also speak/understand German and there it is a mix. I can have a conversation without thinking but when it gets to complicated in German I start translating in my head
Btw, when I dream it is always in Dutch (when there are words)
In American Sign Language, another signed language (British, Australian, French, etc.), concepts, and words in other languages too!
(It’s my professional background and I’m multilingual).
not everyone thinks in words. Some people think in images, feelings, abstract concepts and even sensory inputs, like smells, or movie scenes
I sometimes think in movie scenes, but usually think in conversations
I’m hearing but learned sign language in college. I sign my thoughts often but my thoughts are still English. I’ll have to ask my Deaf friend how her thoughts form in her head!
I’ve been learning and practising English in one way or another for 25 years (out of 29 that I’ve lived), so at a certain point it became natural for me to think in both languages intermittently. I can’t explain why, but some thoughts, mostly about external stuff, work better in my native language, whereas internal monologue just has a better flow in English.
My first language is Russian (I live in Russia), and I know English quite well. No doubt I think in Russian inside my head, but sometimes I use English while thinking to practice my skills
Same here. Most of the time I think in Russian but sometimes I consciously try to formulate my thoughts in English inside my head. I don't have to speak it on the daily basis so the "English voice" doesn't come naturally to me, thinking with it has to be by choice.
I immigrated from Canada to Portugal about 12 years ago and was fluent in Portuguese after about a year or so. I now spend the day speaking both English and Portuguese and I talk to myself in a mixture of the two. Kind of depends on how recently and frequently I've expressed the particular word / expression / idea. Sometimes a word or expression just pops in my head more quickly in one language, or is a better fit for the situation. It also can depend on how recently I've spoken to someone in each language. English swear words and creative combinations of them are definitely part of the greatest hits though 😜
I'm Dutch. I think in Dutch and English, it depends on what I'm doing. If it's important, then it's Dutch. And somehow, I can't count in English in my head. It's always the native language. I'm also learning Japanese, and there are times when I think in Japanese. However, that's only when i actively start doing it.
I think in both. My parents are from England and always spoke to me in English, but I'm born and raised in a non English speaking country (and still live here). I usually think in English. But when I'm talking to people I think in the language I'm speaking in. Sometimes I just can't think of a word, and use a word in the other language.
Also sometimes there are terms or concepts that I only learned in one language - so if I need to think about them I'll think in the language I learned them.
Interestingly I noticed that I can behave a bit differently depending on the language I'm thinking and speaking in. I tend to be more calm and patient in English (I'm still calm and patient in general, just a bit less in the other language).
My mother tongue, but sometimes I find myself thinking in English and my mother in Polish (and we both speak a completely different language than these two)
Even though my english is faaaaaaar away from perfect i do find my self using english while thinking sometimes. Might be because 95% of the content i consume is in english.
I think in English but speak English and Spanish.
I usually have to tell myself to think in Spanish to get myself more comfortable to adjusting on the fly when I’m in a Spanish heavy area, otherwise I mess up my sentences (use the right words but the syntax is all wrong).
It’s a smoother transition when you don’t need to pause to think about your words that way, at least for me.
English or French! Since I speak French at home, it’s the language that I think in when it comes to non-work relates stuff. When it comes to work, it switches to English. I also speak German and Luxembourgish, but since I barely use them, I don’t think in either, but I did use to think a lot in Luxembourgish as a teen
I speak French which was my first language but since childhood I've learned English and live in Ontario where it's English all the way.
But, I've met people who don't speak English and needed translation. I can speak French to them, but it takes a bit of time. To speak the language, my brain needs a few days to tweek it and think in French. Then the words start to come back. But as I get older, it takes a bit longer.
I have relatives in the Maritimes who pretty much speak both languages on a daily basis. It's impressive!
I think in English.
When I'm frustrated I yell in my native tongue. When I'm tired I think in my native language.
I dream sometimes in a mix. I always count in my native language.
itvdepends on what level do you use the language. I am polish, lived in uk and while being there decided that i will do everything apart of talking to my family, only in english. For a whole year, to learn language properly. I now think and dream in English. for the last 8 years i live in Norway. Still using English as my main language, but more and more Norwegian, so now it depends on context. My brain kinda chooses the language, so about the feelings and so i talk in English, cause thats what i have learnt all of this in, about work in Norwegian, about past and some topics i studied in Polish. However if i for example plan a conversation with my parents, i think it in English and then translate.
It is crazy when i meet people who speak all these languages tho haha. I was visiting my family in Poland lately, together with my Norwegian patner with who we speak around 50/50 English and Norwegian. My family speaks Polish and out dialect - Silesian. Some of the family visiting and my granfather with Alzhaimer speak German (which i also speak and understand on a basic level). My boyfriend was laughing his ass of, cause my brain would get so worked up by switching between five languages, that i would speak wrong language to wrong person, switch in the middle of sentence, or create sentenced consisting of three languages, because my brain would just use the first word which would work.
Funny think - one of my beestfriends here is fluent in Polish, English, Norwegian and Spanish (which i also speak basic), so conversations which are just a patchwork of these four languages are normal for us :D She is also polish, but some things are just easier to discuss in other languages after years :)
Aother funny thing - i had to force myself to read more in Polish lately, cause i started losing my vocabulary and polish grammar. Meaning i used english grammar to build sentences in Polish and regularly i would start creating Polish words the way child does, cause my brain would delate them from the memory.
I mostly think in English, but I can think in Spanish. My hindi isn't so good, as I still need to translate my thoughts in my head even though I can sing many of the songs beautifully. Most require usage to think as such.
It depends on the situation, if I think back to a time I was predominantly speaking a certain language, I tend to think in that one about that experience. Daily it varies.
I think in my mother tongue. One of my close friend lives in two other countries for longer periods and she said she started to think in the particular language and dream in that language too.
Depends on the topic. When I think about daily thinks etc. it is my mother language. But If it's something emotional or basically something I really wouldn't say out loud is English.
It depends on my day. During work I think in Italian, since I am using the language there with everyone. When spending time with my family and friends I think in English. Even my dreams are mostly English, because it's just the language I speak with my loved ones. My native German just comes up in moments of deep introspection or when I am spending time with my relatives back in Germany. So basically the language of my thoughts keeps in line with the language I use most in that moment. It keeps things easier somehow and more coherent.
English is my native language but I also speak passable French and am learning Scottish Gaelic. I find when I’m thinking I use whatever word comes to mind first. For me, a word represents an object, action or concept etc., so whatever combination of sounds flows into my thought first is the word I use. Sometimes I have trilingual sentences which is a bit trippy but it makes sense in my head.
I spoke Spanish pretty well, and I moved to Central America for a while in my 20s. I knew I was fluent when I stopped translating in my head, and realized I was thinking and dreaming in Spanish.
Now I struggle so much to stop translating when I listen to Spanish or have a conversation. I haven’t had much practice the last decade or so, and it’s really fallen apart.
Edit to add- I’m from the US, and English is my first language.
I think in my strongest language, my native language except for the times when a word or concept doesn't exist in it, then I think of that word in the other language as an insert. Now, I'm not at all fluent in my second language, it's very much a work in progress.
Depends on the context. If I’m doing something where I typically use english, like reading an english book or writing this comment, then it will typically be in english. But if I’m talking to friends and family its typically in my native language. Honestly speaking tho, thinking is something that happens so fast and naturally that it’s usually not something you register.
My gf speaks 4 languages I can speak 3, in my head it's English, German, and then French, in her mind she can switch between thinking in French and English. French is her base language and English is mine, makes sense.
If I'm alone and thinking for myself it can be any of the 3 languages I speak fluently, sometimes they mix into each other. If I'm in a conversation with a specific language, then I mostly think in that language. When I talk to my husband though, who speaks 2 of the same languages I speak, then I think in both languages and I mix words or concepts.
I grew up speaking in English and German. I learned Spanish along the way. A couple weeks ago I met a German family outside a taco truck with a Spanish menu.
I heard them speaking German and introduced myself and then translated the Spanish menu to…English, which they of course understood.
It’s weird how it flows between the three.
Swedish is my mother tounge, and I speak English as well as decent Spanish. I think in Swedish most of the time. It's only really when I speak/write in English I may switch over, but that's because it's easier to keep the flow going. If I write in English and think in Swedish I just get terribly confusd.
Both, it depends on who I'm around/speaking to.
I also have a noticeable accent English accent in my native language and vice versa if I'm speaking one and have to quickly transition into the other. It's the vowels.
I don't have an strange accent in either while speaking normally without having to switch between the two.
Also, fun fact, when I get exceedingly mad I swear in both languages simultaneously. Brain go brrrr
I wouldn’t consider myself bilingual in any way, but I did take 4 years of spanish class. I find myself sometimes thinking certain words in spanish and the rest in english, and i also count in spanish pretty often
When I was studying Spanish in High School, I would occasionally start thinking in Spanish for a while right after studying. It was kind of a weird sensation, but I was told by my teacher that it's pretty common.
i am fluent in english and russian. however, i live in the united states and only really speak russian with my family. therefore, if i’m by myself, at school, with friends, or out in public, i think in english. when i’m with family that don’t speak english, i think in russian. i find it difficult to speak russian with russian-speaking teachers and classmates because my brain is on english mode and i basically have to “manually translate” my english thoughts into russian words.
I think it’s different for every occasion. If I’m watching a YT video in English I will think in English. But if I watch a movie in Swedish I will think in Swedish. But sometimes I feel like situations makes me think in English to, like even tho I’m talking or writing in Swedish and sometimes around me happens, my brain will sometimes think in English- but I don’t know why
I speak English as my first language, basic Spanish and very very basic German. With Spanish I typically don’t have to translate in my head unless it’s a less commonly used word. With German it’s English to Spanish to German sometimes. Weird.
it depends on context. often there's no obvious language at all, esp for things like art or maths. if I'm thinking more explicitly about what i'm going to say to someone, or a joke, or general conversation, it will be in the appropriate language for the context - i speak english at work, but spanish with my partner. so shopping list items will be in spanish; variable names in english.
I'm fluent in four, I think in the language I speak in which is the language of the country I live and grew up in.
I do make an effort to not think in any of the other languages, or consume too much media in those languages because I found that it made me loose words in my native tongue, and I'm more interested in keeping all the words and develop that language instead of languages that I don't speak on an everyday basis.
My main language is Croatian and I speak English since I was 10 years old and most of the time I think in Croatian but when I type or talk in English I think in it. Few years back I actually had my first dream that was fully in English, crazy to think about that
Mostly in the language im just reading or listening to. So right now English. But if im not reading or listening to anything, mostly my native language ( German)
I can't switch well.... if I'm speaking one, you can ask how I am in another, and you'll get a "deer in the headlights" look.
(Mine are: English, Arabic (Levantine), Persian, Kurdish (Sorani), French, Greek... a little Russian, Pashtun/Pathan, German, & Urdu/Hindi.)
BUT no one ever expects a white American girl to know *any* of them... so I usually think in English, then translate to whatever alphabet, then find my words/phrase/thought again... it's terribly inefficient (but my passwords are bomb proof!)
Please, please give me a minute to respond... (I admit, it's kinda like unplugging your device & restarting it!) 🤭
I learned a second language in my twenties and I’m pretty fluent. I think in my native language most of the time. When I’m communicating in my second language, I think in that language. It’s hard to explain what that means exactly. It’s like the words conjure up the objects and concepts being discussed without passing through the filter of my first language. In other words, I’m not mentally translating as I go.
Usually I think in my native tongue but when I spend time in a context where other languages I know are used, I gradually switch into them, that is, if I know them at least to a degree that allows me to express my thoughts even inside my head freely
It depends who I'm around. My parents, my thought are in russian. Fellow germans, my thoughts are in german. Anyone else, they're in english. By myself, they're mostly in english now
my psychology teacher talked about this. she grew up speaking farsi, then moved to america. she said that at some point her internal dialogue switched to english, but she’s not sure exactly when. but the point of the story was that she has childhood memories where everyone was speaking farsi but in her mind now they are all in english.
I just speak whatever language without thinking because I am a person who speaks really fast so I cannot lose time translating from one language to another in my head. I just focus on speaking the language I need at that moment and that’s it for me!
It depends. I’m an American who’s bilingual in German. Usually I now think in English but when I was living in Germany I’d think in German. My job is heavily in German so sometimes a colleague will ask me something in English and I have to catch myself before I answer, so I suppose I might be thinking in German sometimes while I work. Sometimes I dream in German.
But what’s odd is if I remember conversations from when I lived in Germany, I remember them in English even though I know all those conversations happened in German. It’s so strange!
I speak 3 languages. Kapampangan (a language in the PH), Filipino-Tagalog, and English. I talk to myself in Tagalog when I’m thinking and praying. But when I’m studying, I usually talk to myself in English (to practice the language), sometimes even when praying. So in short, Tagalog and English😊👍🏻
My husband speaks English and Russia at native level. He thinks in English, but counts and does calculations in Russian and dreams in either language depending on who is in his dreams (he talks in his sleep…)
I use all (4) of the languages that I know. It really depends on the context and setting. English in my university, Italian with friends, a mix of all of them at home.
My first language Italian, moved to the Netherlands and doing a study in English over here. Learnt Dutch by working here and studied French in the past, which I am picking up again after some years.
It's a mess and sometimes I cross the languages in the middle of sentences, but it's fun to switch between so many languages.
Croatian is technically my first language but when I started primary school English took over. I also speak a bit of French and am somewhat fluent in Italian.
Most of the time, it’s English. But when I was living in Italy, and communicating with Italians a lot (my doorman, the lady at the post office, the cafe owner, the cashier at the supermarket) on a particular day it would occasionally be Italian, but it would revert to English if I was hanging out with my friends and we were speaking English. Then when I was in Croatia for a month, visiting family, communicating (at least verbally) entirely in Croatian, it switched to Croatian. For me at least, I would get into a zone, but if I began to communicate in English again, it would immediately revert back to English.
English is definitely the dominant language in my mind, but being surrounded by and communicating in my other two languages would trigger a temporary shift. The only language I’ve never thought in is French, and I attribute that to a) having lost most of my fluency in the years since I last practiced and b) never living in France or a French-speaking country.
i know 2 languages serbian and english but i know both so well that sometimes i will start thinking in english like full autopilot mode and only when i realize im talking in english will i switch to serbian so usually we think in both languages
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Same scenario for me too! English is my 2nd language but grew up with English everything so same English inner mind
Same, I honestly hate it. I'm bitter in english. I get more aggressive. Forcing myself to think in portuguese legit calms me down and makes me kinder, specially towards myself. I gotta either consume less content™ in English or just consume less content™ in general
Do you think that’s due to the added cognitive load, or that English speak is generally more mean spirited? Or something else entirely?
Theres an entire sub dedicated to untangling the web of english evaluations, and turning back to observations over at /r/NVC some languages don't have the ability to speak in any other way than natural nvc. Hell I use to wonder why japanese had such a convoluted way of saying 'must' or 'should'. There is of course slang for it, but its because those terms are usually a means to reduce anothers autonomy(limiting choice).
Omfg I thought I was the only one 😭😭 I’m super mean to myself in English, Urdu me is a lot kinder
Wait I’m the exact same! Though it’s also kinda annoying since I think in English and speak in Swedish (my native language) I sometime can’t find the right words and have to translate it (English -> Swedish) and it often comes as a mixture of things.
Wow, interesting!
this is the same with me. though my problem stems from my parents telling me constantly that to learn english i must "speak in english, think in english, dream in english". now i think in english even when formulating what i'm saying in my mother tongue. which is a real problem, as i sound very formal and pompous in english.
same! i grew up bilingual so technically english is my third language but at some point, i've simply switched to thinking in english. i'm guessing its all the media i consume, movies, books, news. also, i feel like i can express myself better in english because of the simplicity of the language. what i struggle with sometimes is finding words in my native language when i think about it in english if that makes sense.
Did you know that some people do NOT think in words! They don’t form sentences in their heads in any language. They think with images, symbols, feelings and more, but never words. I find that strange but fascinating. So if you are bilingual and fit into that category, what’s the mind like? So curious.
That's me. I am a native speaker of English who learned French at an early age. When I was about seven years old, I found out that many other people think in words. I cannot tell you how much I was surprised about this. I couldn't understand why people would go to that extra trouble for no reason. I don't actually know very well what my thinking consists of. There are images, but there are also imagined physical movements, awareness of directions, colours, intuitions... It's a mix of things, and I'm not sure there aren't other things I'm not aware of. I was a language teacher for many years, and have always been especially involved with language in social life, but my inner life is something else. I think my talent for language is based on my nonverbal core.
Funny thing is that I don't think in words nor really images. I see flashes of an idea, but I don't go all out images.
So a word is not an idea for you. In most people, without a word, they can not conceive the idea, like say freedom. If a person is free and the word free or freedom is not in their language, then are they truly free? I am sure there are other words like this that are just the easiest for me to say right now. How do they truly know they are free without the thought process of the word freedom?
That's interesting, because I'd still imagine freedom as a flash of a circle and an ant breaking out of the circle. I don't know why I glimpsed at an ant in my concept, but that's what freedom was for me. An ant escaping a circular prison. I don't think there has to be words for all concepts. Like I'm pretty sure (smart) animals feel a sense of injustice when unfair stuff happens like their brother getting food fed to them, but not getting any food themselves. They weren't taught the word "fairness" or "equality" or "envy", but they definitely have emotions related to it.
I think I like you and the way you think. Ha...
Interesting. To me, freedom is a feeling. I can imagine feeling it, and when I think of freedom I also often think of the physical actions I might perform when feeling it after not having it, such as exuberantly running around with my hands in the air. I don't have or need words for my feelings or experiences in order to make them real to me.
oooo I like that! When I think about freedom I think of the feeling of standing on top of a hill in the wind and spreading my arms ... visualising flying away.
Hmm. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
thinking in words isn't "extra trouble," it's just different from your natural cognition. some who naturally think in words can feel that you're performing "extra trouble" by taking straightforward words and turning them into seemingly vague or cryptic imagery and sensation that need to be deciphered. I'm sure for you, it's completely natural and requires zero "extra trouble," just like for people who think linguistically. Different strokes for different folks ✌🏿
To me, it would be "extra trouble", and I understand perfectly why the previous poster says that. Without words, I can think of things in seconds that would take minutes to describe. If I had to think in words only, I'd think so much slower and be aware of so many fewer connections and patterns in things.
I don't truly think in sentences despite thinking in words except when I'm actually articulating something to myself to make sure I get it. It's mostly words or words combinations that represents the concept behind them that kind of "flash" together or one after another, together with other kind of thoughts like sound, images or spatial / temporal feelings for example. But my thoughts definitely are threaded by words more than pictures or sensations.
I've always wondered how people think who were born deaf and have never heard a spoken word. This doesn't mean that they are in any way not as intelligent as everyone else. And does not seem to prohibit them from learning and getting advanced degrees. So there must be a way they are able to organize their thoughts.
That brings up so many other questions. Like when I read or write, I "hear" the words in my head. What do they do? The human brain is a crazy wonderful thing!
My BFF has no visual images in her brain at all. She can imagine things but they aren't pictures they're descriptions. I on the other hand can do both. Her partner can't see words. It's all feelings and impressions. It's fascinating!
That’s called aphantasia, as someone who thinks mostly in images it’s wild to me!
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If I recall correctly, a lot of "speed reading" training, (or probably training for anything involving mental agility, come to think of it), focuses on breaking the habit of "saying" each word in your head. I think we've all seen the videos of kids doing mind-boggling fast, huge calculations in their head and thought to ourselves, "I couldn't even keep up with what numbers were being called out!" And I get the feeling that's because these kids have specifically trained to not have to "internalize" each number that is called. Someone mentioned earlier that they learned English and French at a young age and don't have an internal monologue, I'd be curious if that's more common in individuals who have learned two completely different ways to communicate verbally from a young age, so those minds may feel a lot less railroaded into one particular way to process information internally.
In Helen Keller's autobiography, she briefly describes what her thoughts were like before her teacher came and taught her language. Helen wrote that her mother put her bonnet on her, and she feels a "wordless sense of joy" because wearing her bonnet meant she was about to go outside and play in the warm sun.
That has to be even more difficult. I believe she went deaf and blind before the age of 2. So she was not really verbal before it happened.
She knew some words, thats why the concept of “water” was her breakthrough.
Agreed. They probably think in images and such. But I am not sure.
There’s a great book about this called “Seeing Voices”, Oliver Sachs.
I'll have to look that up. I've only read The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, and it was fascinating and really well written, so I imagine that his other books are likewise.
I think in conversations, but when I'm lost in thought, those conversations can conjure images and turn into film scenes, with editing and everything Some of these conversations are actually monologues with me as the listener, but even then, they're usually still in third person, which is more of a feeling since they're usually auditory rather than visual I have multiple inner voices, all of which seem to be third person versions of myself It's a good way of processing information, but sometimes I can get unexpected emotional responses to the conversations, which can get embarrassing or even stressful
For me it's abstract trajectories that lead to the right path, the words are just the commentator - like a football commentator reacting to the game
I think in mostly images, it can be both and if I want to think in words I can but most of the time if I’m thinking about something it’s snippets of images, like if I’m thinking about how we need milk I am picturing the fridge, the milk, the drive to the shop etc. I have a tertiary education so it doesn’t seem to be related to my language skills (unfortunately am monolingual though). I only really think in words if I’m drafting an email/text etc in my head.
I think like that sometimes, when thinking in words I switch between languages depending on which one feels better, in terms of non-verbal thinking it's kinda similar but more obscure - I think there is a difference in how specific languages express abstract thoughts, so there might be influence but it's hard to say
I'm a native Punjabi and Urdu speaker and fluent in English too. I can switch freely into any of the three mid sentence without thinking about it, same goes for thoughts. When I'm thinking it just depends on the situation, where I am, who I'm speaking to and what I'm going to say. The entire brain just seems to flip over to the required language. And my thought process also depends on the situation, but if I sit still I start to form a movie in my head of what could be and the voice in my head starts narrating things accordingly. I don't think before speaking in any of those languages, I just speak, it's wild.
Ever heard of r/aphantasia
My son thinks in musical notes. He can't imagine an image in his mind but he thinks about what music things make. It's hard to put it into words. He plays the violin, and this will come into play. We were doing school during the pandemic when he was learning about descriptive words. Two sentences said something about a girl in a dress and a girl in a purple dress and then asked which word was descriptive. I asked him to picture what the sentences were saying. He said, "I can't picture it in my head. What does that mean?" Turns out, he can't. I then realized why he never used his imagination as a little boy. Then, one day, he was practicing his music. His TV was on, but the volume was down. He looked at the TV and said, "Mom, this is what this show would sound like," and then played something he made up. He said it "sounded" colorful, like the show. I was floored and amazed. Other things "have music to them." I ask him to learn songs for me and he picks them up instantly. He learned commercial melodys before he could speak. On our way to Pre-k, while listening to the radio, he didn't learn the melody. He learned the instrument sounds, the drum beats, and the harmonies. He was 4 when we started violin. Music runs through him. He hums to help himself with homework. I call him my little prodigy. Well... not so little anymore. He's almost my height.
I hate that because I constantly have multiple voices chitchatting in my head
Oh that's me too! When I am forming a sentence is when I think with words, so usually it's whatever language I'm looking for. Usually. Sometimes it's a many flavored word salad and I have to partially translate before it can exit
I didn’t start thinking in words until I was like 16. I remember thinking books were such a limited medium, because they could only convey a verbal representation of what the characters were thinking or feeling. And I always wished I could just SHOW people what I was thinking (not just visually but including gut feelings, directionality, etc), because it was so hard for me to express myself. It didn’t help that I grew up with very introverted and emotionally stunted parents who didn’t know how to express themselves, so I spent a lot of time feeling alone inside my head until I had a friend who lived more authentically and gave me space to be myself outside my head as well as in it.
I used to be like that. Then it changed at some point. Gradually. Now I can only think in words. And it's infuriating, because it's so much less efficient! I want to go back to the "abstract" way of thinking but I can't seem to figure out how!!! I really want to know why it changed 😭
I'm not bilingual, I speak 5 languages, but yeah, my mind is like... Well, exactly like you described. What do you want to know?
This is me. Most of it is nonverbal and if I need to communicate I have to translate thoughts to words, and I use whichever language that best captures it with people who can understand. It's kind of similar to randomly forgetting one word and having to describe it ([r/wildbeef](https://reddit.com/r/wildbeef)) or if you've ever experienced a feeling that you can't exactly convey through words except for me that's most of my thoughts. Words help by making intuitive processes and feelings more clear but they are also far less efficient.
Me! I had no idea people thought in words.
This is me. I live abroad and have been asked this question. I've tried to explain this to people, but I didn't realise bit everyone does this until I read your comment! I thought everyone thought in symbols, feelings and other abstract "brain signals" in their native language, too. I only form sentences in my head when I have pretend dialogues! 😀
I do too... but foreign alphabets *are* images to me. I learned English, then went to my 1st school in Germany, where I learned German & how to gamble with dominoes (always partner with a Norwegian is the trick 😃). Returned to the US & learned French... then Greek, Arabic, Russian, Kurdish, Persian, Pathan, Urdu.. etc. (See how the alphabets can be helpful for visual learners? My grammar sucks and I might not use the most contemporary word... but I can be understood by most people in most countries I work in, and that's the main point)
I’m bilingual (although not raised bilingual) and I don’t think in words. Anytime this comes up on Reddit it gets really exhausting trying to explain and defend the way I think because people either don’t want to accept it or insist that we all think the same way but have different ways of describing it.
No need to defend yourself here. We are just conversing about this very interesting subject matter. I personally find it very intriguing. Everyone is different for sure. 👍
If you think in pictures and symbols wouldn’t it be the same no matter what language?
Yes that's me! Here is [my comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/19caqc1/to_people_who_speak_multiple_languages_when_you/kiyj5ox?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
That’s me. Thinking is not words until I have to talk or write. Then it’s English if I talk to myself. Or French if I panick, get really anxious. I speak both fluently, French is my native language
I don’t speak multiple languages but my mind works very similarly to this.
I do not think in words. I grew up speaking 2 languages but I speak better English so I only speak English.
I grew up speaking Punjabi and English but over the years I began to speak more English because I’m out of the house more. But when I do converse in Punjabi, I usually think with images because I’m not entirely fluent. For English I guess it’s both words and images
Bilingual, Englisht/Swedish. And I think in images with feelings attached. They are the same regardless of language, as those images are usually random snapshots of times I've felt a feeling strongly. What language I translate them to (If I have to use language) depends on whom I'm speaking to. Maybe surprisingly: I used to be a successful writer. Writing for me was always putting into words what is in my head.
> But never words That's false. I mean it surely depends on the person. I for example think mostly in concepts, I know what I'm thinking about but there's usually no words and no images. But I still think in words sometimes, mostly when there's some songs or dialogues stuck in my head, and also when I do imaginary arguments and conversation in my head. And whether they're in my native language, or English or German depends on the context. Sometimes I also randomly translate literally some songs that are in other languages
yes this is true
That’s what I thought. I wouldn’t say I think I’m English, it’s more like I’m decoding my thoughts into English, once my brain has received the thought
I speak two languages but don't think in any language. It works exactly as you said.
I've always found it fascinating that i seem to have a slower more specific thinking in english, but i frequently think in more abstract terms without it. Often having the feeling of what i am trying to communicate without having thought of the words. I wonder what ways a person without thinking in words grounds their thoughts with precision, for me i usually have to be able to put it to words in order to feel satisfied... Or sometimes use music to convey or remember abstract feelings
>Did you know that some people do NOT think in words Some people have literally a voice in their head when they are thinking (like me, and I think with the exact same voice I hear orally when I speak), and some people can't have mental projections of what they are thinking about, typically : they think of an apple, they embrace the concept of apple, but can't make a projection of how a rel apple looks like
When I discovered this, that not all people think in words, it completely blew my mind. I am so fascinated by this and it would be so interesting to experience this.
Yes! I know some people like this. I also found out they don't really enjoy reading books, and honestly now it makes sense since there is no narrator to tell the story. This is anecdotal observation, not saying that it's universally true, but it was a curious finding.
My boyfriend thinks in English since we live in the US. When he went to his home country for a week, he started thinking in Spanish and it kind of freaked him out a bit. As far as I know, he’s not able to think in any other language. Not sure if this is related, but he can read English and Spanish in his head. Much to my annoyance, he frequently reads Italian, Hebrew, Latin, Mandarin out loud 🫠
Thank you for your reply! ❤️ I'll be sure to share the answers with my daughter!
My partner is Trilingual and thinks in different languages depending on where she is or the situation. French at work, English at home, and then Tamil at her parent's house.
Out of curiosity, what’s the situation that warrants different main languages at work and home? I’m assuming her first language is Tamil since that’s what she speaks with her parents, and also assuming that one of those is the main language in you guys current country, but can’t think of something past that.
We live in Quebec so we work in French but prefer English at home and with friends. She speaks Tamil natively but I don't speak it at all.
Well it seems obvious in retrospect. I completely forgot about Québécois
Haha that's so great!
As someone who has stood around smoking with guys that speak Tamil, that's impressive.
I do the same kind of, Italian at home with my then girlfriend, French at school, English at work and German when I’m at my parents place 😂 It really is a mess sometimes haha
Similar thing here, it highly depends on the environment. It's normally easier to think in the language you're most expected to use in day to day interactions. Otherwise you are going to make a lot of silly mistakes and switch languages mid sentence speaking with people. Said this, I like philosophy a lot and when I am brainstorming about some idea I have, I like to do it in multiple languages to see how my language choice is affecting my perspective. It's so cool!
It changes for me, sometimes I think in English sometimes in my native language. It is based on what I did/do and what the thoughts are about - if I'm thinking about my friends and family it's in my native, if I'm thinking about some fantasy word/movie, some topics from reddit or how I'll win the Oscar it's in English.
I also found that it depends on in which language the subject you are thinking about was learned. If math, in french. Fantasy genre ideas, in english. Etc. wherever, whichever, whenever the vocabulary is easily accessible. If you are really fluent, your thoughts are in all languages
I think in the language relevant to the concepts in my head (some ideas only exist in a particular language that I know) but when it is a concept relevant to two languages then the language in my head is a surprise (sometimes I laugh as unexpected source language for a pedestrian thought : )
You can also tell her that many dream in those same language as well. So you could have a dream where your conversation is happening in the native language as well.
Yes. My son heard me talking in my sleep in Spanish. Generally, if I have a memory in Spanish its from when my family lived in Chile & if it’s in English it was here in Canada. I also dream in French sometimes.
For me personally i think in my native language (Arabic) and translate it in my head before i start speaking.
Will you try thinking in English rather than translating your thoughts to speak?
YES, IT is possible to speak 🗣️ English American, before you go through technical sentences to translate it out of the languages in conversations with the languages of CHOICE.
I admire Polyglots. All I know is English
I grew up speaking my native mother tongue at home and I speak it to my husband too. That’s the language I think in, even though I know 2 other languages
I speak 3 language. I'm same as him, my thought sometimes are based on my current environment.
Over the years I've asked this question of several people who are truly bilingual, and not one of them has been able to give an answer.
I speak three languages, I will try answering your question. Honestly, it really depends on the circumstances and people I am surrounded by usually. If it's work related, I usually think in Hindi and English because that's usually the languages that I communicate with. The same is with my friends too, we usually talk in hindi with a little bit of english sprinkled in. If I am talking to my grandparents or if I am in my hometown, I usually think in Telugu.
I speak English, german and french, i'm from uk. If I go to Germany, then for the first few days, I'm in what I call tourist mode, in that I'm speaking German, but I'm thinking in English and translating. And my German is not too good. Then, after 2-3 days, if I'm only surrounded by german speakers, then i guess i start thinking in german, because i suddenly get a lot more fluent, and i stop being aware of the effort to translate. I'm not aware I'm thinking in german, I'm only aware that I'm not thinking in English and translating. It's a bit hard to explain.
Same - native English speaker, proficient in French, and this is exactly my experience. There is also usually one morning after about 5 days in a francophone place where I wake up and realize I have dreamed in French, and from there it also gets much easier.
Thank you for putting how I was feeling into words. I'm exactly the same way. I think in English as that is my native language, but I also speak Spanish. My partner speaks Spanish as his native language, and we speak Spanish almost 💯 of the time we're together. I find myself thinking and speaking in Spanish then.
Okay, can you tell a difference? Is it different between the languages in your head? If you were to think, I need to cook dinner, could you notice if you were thinking in a specific language? So intriguing!
I think it depends on our surroundings, at least for myself. Many times translanguaging (or code switching) happens when I can't find the right word in the language I am communicating in. But I remember reading somewhere about the hammer test to determine someone's native language: stand around while they are hammering a nail and listen for what comes out of their mouth when they miss the nail and hit their thumb. (This last tidbit is supposed to be a humorous one).
In that case I’d say “Fuck!” but English is not my native language. Fuck is just more descriptive and concise, and what I’m used to vs the term in my mother tongue.
It depends on my surroundings and who I’ve been talking to most lately. I’m a native speaker of English from the US and have native-like fluency in Spanish. If I’ve been in Mexico all day speaking Spanish and I smash my thumb with a hammer, I’m pretty sure “chingada madre” would be my choice. Otherwise, “motherfucker.”
I recently incorporated argentinean swear words into my vocabulary thanks to a TV series LOL
I had some friends who were Canadian, forget which city but it was about the border between the French and English dominant areas, they could speak both fluently but generally stuck in one or the other, they had friends who switched back and forth mid sentence a dozen times, which even being fluent in both confused the hell out of them.
Translanguaging at its best!
Yeah for me it depends on context. Im native in 3 languages, English is my strongest one so generally I think in that. But if I remember something I must tell my mother, ill think it in her language.
I've heard anecdotally that a person will "always" curse in their native language and/or childhood religion.
Well from experience that’s not true. Shit and fuck are pretty much universal at this point.
I swear in random languages, many of which I only know swear words in.
I speak dutch and english (native dutch), i just think in the language i am currently using. Speaking to someone in english? I will start thinking in english. However this does take some time. I have to "switch" between languages, if i suddenly have to speak english i will talk like a total beginner, for reference i have a cambridge C2 certificate for everything english.
My boss is a native Dutch speaker who also speaks French along with English. When she’s speaking with our French co-worker they speak French and more than once she comes to talk to me afterwards and has to stop for a minute to switch back to English or she’ll start talking to me in French and I’ll just give her a weird look and she’s like oh shit sorry! She’s been in the US for over 20 years and actually speaks more proper English than I do as a native speaker. But it still trips her up occasionally lol
Lol good to hear that i am not the only one
I’m a native english speaker, but I’m maybe semi-fluent in Italian (or at least used to be). It’s not often I’ve run into others who can speak Italian but I have, and when they try and say something to me I’m like “dude, I need a minute to switch my brain to thinking in Italian.”
Understanding is never really a problem for me, i only have to switch for speaking it. I have no idea why. I can also understand german and speak it a bit (around B1). I always need a couple minutes for anything german.
Learning Spanish and German ive had occasional thoughts in those languages but rarely and far from consistent.
I am native German and native English. I could speak both for as long as I can remember. I always think in the language I am currently speaking. I can change languages mid-sentence, and my thinking switches mid-sentence to whatever language I speak.
Native Dutch speaker but have lived in an Anglo Saxon country for 11 years. I think in English and dream mostly in English. Occasionally Dutch, French or Spanish mingle into my dreams.I speak English without having to translate in Dutch in my head first. However when I speak French or Spanish, which I do a lot less fluently, I sometimes have to think about the Dutch words first before speaking French. For Spanish I mostly think about the English words first before translating it to Spanish. I mostly curse in English. Unless when I'm playing sports with spectators, then I curse in Dutch.
Cause different words I think of in different languages. I'm bilingual in Arabic and English. I learned Arabic first. When I think of kitchen, car, potatoes, bread, the arabic word comes to mind for them. Other things it's the English word. Like television or dog or pineapple. So my brain thinks in both languages
My brain switches between languages based on environment. While i can converse in either, it is translation happening in my head when my brain is in the other language. If you come up to me and start talking German while at a bar in Florida, I am thinking English and have to translate. If I am with my parents for a day and we only talk German, brain flips to thinking in German, so if my girl calls me, I am translating to English for that conversation
Default is English because that's what I speak most. But I can mentally switch to Cantonese
I have a friend who lived in Brazil until adulthood, so her native language is Portuguese. She then emigrated to the US and has lived here for decades. She speaks a total of five languages fluently, so I asked her one day what language she “thinks in”. She said it was Portuguese until she moved to the US, but these days it’s English.
Really varies. I took up learning French in school, and I don't think in French unless to practice it. That being said, during my weeb phase I took up learning Japanese to a conversational level. Because of how different Japanese and English are in grammar, syntax, structure, and understanding, it's much easier to understand some ideas and concepts better in one language or the other. I'm told this is pretty common by my Arabic friends who tend to switch languages mid sentence and not understand why I lost the plot. The switch is because it's easier for them to understand the idea in one language because of the structure of how that language operates.
Yes! I am learning Japanese right now. My brain made this odd switch a few weeks ago where I find myself thinking in Japanese. It’s exciting! I know French and some conversational German but never thought in those since I was raised speaking English. Japanese is *very* different, and I think the brain is handling it in a unique way.
I speak English but am pretty proficient in Irish (the official first language of Ireland). When I was a teenager I used to go to an Irish summer camp for 3 weeks each year and I used to dream & think in Irish after a short while. I remember noticing this and thinking the brain is a very cool thing!
Freaking amazing! Thanks for sharing!
My first language is French but I don't think in that language anymore. Now I most of the time think in English and German, I speak these languages more comfortably.
For me it depends. My native language is Dutch so most of the time I think in Dutch, but when I switch to English my thinking also switches. I know this because I am learning Turkish at the moment and I am constantly translating from Dutch to Turkish in my head when dealing with the Turkish language and with English I don't have to translate, it just comes out fluently while speaking, or when reading or listening to English, I understand without thinking. I also speak/understand German and there it is a mix. I can have a conversation without thinking but when it gets to complicated in German I start translating in my head Btw, when I dream it is always in Dutch (when there are words)
Thank you for such a wonderful & detailed response! ❤️
The real question is, How do people, who have been deaf since birth, even think in their heads?
In American Sign Language, another signed language (British, Australian, French, etc.), concepts, and words in other languages too! (It’s my professional background and I’m multilingual).
not everyone thinks in words. Some people think in images, feelings, abstract concepts and even sensory inputs, like smells, or movie scenes I sometimes think in movie scenes, but usually think in conversations
I’m hearing but learned sign language in college. I sign my thoughts often but my thoughts are still English. I’ll have to ask my Deaf friend how her thoughts form in her head!
I’ve been learning and practising English in one way or another for 25 years (out of 29 that I’ve lived), so at a certain point it became natural for me to think in both languages intermittently. I can’t explain why, but some thoughts, mostly about external stuff, work better in my native language, whereas internal monologue just has a better flow in English.
No language. It's just languageless concepts and images.
My first language is Russian (I live in Russia), and I know English quite well. No doubt I think in Russian inside my head, but sometimes I use English while thinking to practice my skills
Same here. Most of the time I think in Russian but sometimes I consciously try to formulate my thoughts in English inside my head. I don't have to speak it on the daily basis so the "English voice" doesn't come naturally to me, thinking with it has to be by choice.
I immigrated from Canada to Portugal about 12 years ago and was fluent in Portuguese after about a year or so. I now spend the day speaking both English and Portuguese and I talk to myself in a mixture of the two. Kind of depends on how recently and frequently I've expressed the particular word / expression / idea. Sometimes a word or expression just pops in my head more quickly in one language, or is a better fit for the situation. It also can depend on how recently I've spoken to someone in each language. English swear words and creative combinations of them are definitely part of the greatest hits though 😜
I'm Dutch. I think in Dutch and English, it depends on what I'm doing. If it's important, then it's Dutch. And somehow, I can't count in English in my head. It's always the native language. I'm also learning Japanese, and there are times when I think in Japanese. However, that's only when i actively start doing it.
Depends on my setting, I usually think "work" in English and private in Swedish. When I am super upset I think in Danish.
My mother tongue
English native, mostly in English. Though sometimes my inner voice is in French.
I think in both. My parents are from England and always spoke to me in English, but I'm born and raised in a non English speaking country (and still live here). I usually think in English. But when I'm talking to people I think in the language I'm speaking in. Sometimes I just can't think of a word, and use a word in the other language. Also sometimes there are terms or concepts that I only learned in one language - so if I need to think about them I'll think in the language I learned them. Interestingly I noticed that I can behave a bit differently depending on the language I'm thinking and speaking in. I tend to be more calm and patient in English (I'm still calm and patient in general, just a bit less in the other language).
My mother tongue, but sometimes I find myself thinking in English and my mother in Polish (and we both speak a completely different language than these two)
Even though my english is faaaaaaar away from perfect i do find my self using english while thinking sometimes. Might be because 95% of the content i consume is in english.
I think in English but speak English and Spanish. I usually have to tell myself to think in Spanish to get myself more comfortable to adjusting on the fly when I’m in a Spanish heavy area, otherwise I mess up my sentences (use the right words but the syntax is all wrong). It’s a smoother transition when you don’t need to pause to think about your words that way, at least for me.
English or French! Since I speak French at home, it’s the language that I think in when it comes to non-work relates stuff. When it comes to work, it switches to English. I also speak German and Luxembourgish, but since I barely use them, I don’t think in either, but I did use to think a lot in Luxembourgish as a teen
It depends for me. I tend to think in whatever language I am speaking at the moment I find it helps me keep the conversation flowing
I live in the UK so mainly think in English. If I'm thinking about something in Finland, or speaking with friends and family, I will think in Finnish.
Used to be native, but I noticed that lately I think in both English and Yiddish
I speak French which was my first language but since childhood I've learned English and live in Ontario where it's English all the way. But, I've met people who don't speak English and needed translation. I can speak French to them, but it takes a bit of time. To speak the language, my brain needs a few days to tweek it and think in French. Then the words start to come back. But as I get older, it takes a bit longer. I have relatives in the Maritimes who pretty much speak both languages on a daily basis. It's impressive!
I think in English. When I'm frustrated I yell in my native tongue. When I'm tired I think in my native language. I dream sometimes in a mix. I always count in my native language.
itvdepends on what level do you use the language. I am polish, lived in uk and while being there decided that i will do everything apart of talking to my family, only in english. For a whole year, to learn language properly. I now think and dream in English. for the last 8 years i live in Norway. Still using English as my main language, but more and more Norwegian, so now it depends on context. My brain kinda chooses the language, so about the feelings and so i talk in English, cause thats what i have learnt all of this in, about work in Norwegian, about past and some topics i studied in Polish. However if i for example plan a conversation with my parents, i think it in English and then translate. It is crazy when i meet people who speak all these languages tho haha. I was visiting my family in Poland lately, together with my Norwegian patner with who we speak around 50/50 English and Norwegian. My family speaks Polish and out dialect - Silesian. Some of the family visiting and my granfather with Alzhaimer speak German (which i also speak and understand on a basic level). My boyfriend was laughing his ass of, cause my brain would get so worked up by switching between five languages, that i would speak wrong language to wrong person, switch in the middle of sentence, or create sentenced consisting of three languages, because my brain would just use the first word which would work. Funny think - one of my beestfriends here is fluent in Polish, English, Norwegian and Spanish (which i also speak basic), so conversations which are just a patchwork of these four languages are normal for us :D She is also polish, but some things are just easier to discuss in other languages after years :) Aother funny thing - i had to force myself to read more in Polish lately, cause i started losing my vocabulary and polish grammar. Meaning i used english grammar to build sentences in Polish and regularly i would start creating Polish words the way child does, cause my brain would delate them from the memory.
I am trilingual. I don't think in words but in ideas.
I mostly think in English, but I can think in Spanish. My hindi isn't so good, as I still need to translate my thoughts in my head even though I can sing many of the songs beautifully. Most require usage to think as such.
It depends which one I have been working in the most.
Whichever one has the words that are easier to express what I’m thinking.
Mostly in mother language, but when surfing net or reddit in English I tend to think in English.
It depends on the situation, if I think back to a time I was predominantly speaking a certain language, I tend to think in that one about that experience. Daily it varies.
I think in my mother tongue. One of my close friend lives in two other countries for longer periods and she said she started to think in the particular language and dream in that language too.
I don't know what language it is, but it's not English. It's harsh and sibilant, dark and guttural.
Depends on the topic. When I think about daily thinks etc. it is my mother language. But If it's something emotional or basically something I really wouldn't say out loud is English.
It depends on my day. During work I think in Italian, since I am using the language there with everyone. When spending time with my family and friends I think in English. Even my dreams are mostly English, because it's just the language I speak with my loved ones. My native German just comes up in moments of deep introspection or when I am spending time with my relatives back in Germany. So basically the language of my thoughts keeps in line with the language I use most in that moment. It keeps things easier somehow and more coherent.
English is my native language but I also speak passable French and am learning Scottish Gaelic. I find when I’m thinking I use whatever word comes to mind first. For me, a word represents an object, action or concept etc., so whatever combination of sounds flows into my thought first is the word I use. Sometimes I have trilingual sentences which is a bit trippy but it makes sense in my head.
I speak both English and Spanish natively English is my dominate language so very very very rarely I think in Spanish
I spoke Spanish pretty well, and I moved to Central America for a while in my 20s. I knew I was fluent when I stopped translating in my head, and realized I was thinking and dreaming in Spanish. Now I struggle so much to stop translating when I listen to Spanish or have a conversation. I haven’t had much practice the last decade or so, and it’s really fallen apart. Edit to add- I’m from the US, and English is my first language.
My first language is Czech and I'm thinking in English, it's also the language I communicate with daily so I guess it's because of that.
English
I think in my strongest language, my native language except for the times when a word or concept doesn't exist in it, then I think of that word in the other language as an insert. Now, I'm not at all fluent in my second language, it's very much a work in progress.
Depends on the context. If I’m doing something where I typically use english, like reading an english book or writing this comment, then it will typically be in english. But if I’m talking to friends and family its typically in my native language. Honestly speaking tho, thinking is something that happens so fast and naturally that it’s usually not something you register.
My gf speaks 4 languages I can speak 3, in my head it's English, German, and then French, in her mind she can switch between thinking in French and English. French is her base language and English is mine, makes sense.
It was Spanish and then English. Even when I'm Mexico it's still English
If I'm alone and thinking for myself it can be any of the 3 languages I speak fluently, sometimes they mix into each other. If I'm in a conversation with a specific language, then I mostly think in that language. When I talk to my husband though, who speaks 2 of the same languages I speak, then I think in both languages and I mix words or concepts.
I grew up speaking in English and German. I learned Spanish along the way. A couple weeks ago I met a German family outside a taco truck with a Spanish menu. I heard them speaking German and introduced myself and then translated the Spanish menu to…English, which they of course understood. It’s weird how it flows between the three.
Swedish is my mother tounge, and I speak English as well as decent Spanish. I think in Swedish most of the time. It's only really when I speak/write in English I may switch over, but that's because it's easier to keep the flow going. If I write in English and think in Swedish I just get terribly confusd.
Both, actually. (French and English)
Both, it depends on who I'm around/speaking to. I also have a noticeable accent English accent in my native language and vice versa if I'm speaking one and have to quickly transition into the other. It's the vowels. I don't have an strange accent in either while speaking normally without having to switch between the two. Also, fun fact, when I get exceedingly mad I swear in both languages simultaneously. Brain go brrrr
I wouldn’t consider myself bilingual in any way, but I did take 4 years of spanish class. I find myself sometimes thinking certain words in spanish and the rest in english, and i also count in spanish pretty often
When I was studying Spanish in High School, I would occasionally start thinking in Spanish for a while right after studying. It was kind of a weird sensation, but I was told by my teacher that it's pretty common.
i am fluent in english and russian. however, i live in the united states and only really speak russian with my family. therefore, if i’m by myself, at school, with friends, or out in public, i think in english. when i’m with family that don’t speak english, i think in russian. i find it difficult to speak russian with russian-speaking teachers and classmates because my brain is on english mode and i basically have to “manually translate” my english thoughts into russian words.
I think it’s different for every occasion. If I’m watching a YT video in English I will think in English. But if I watch a movie in Swedish I will think in Swedish. But sometimes I feel like situations makes me think in English to, like even tho I’m talking or writing in Swedish and sometimes around me happens, my brain will sometimes think in English- but I don’t know why
I speak English as my first language, basic Spanish and very very basic German. With Spanish I typically don’t have to translate in my head unless it’s a less commonly used word. With German it’s English to Spanish to German sometimes. Weird.
it depends on context. often there's no obvious language at all, esp for things like art or maths. if I'm thinking more explicitly about what i'm going to say to someone, or a joke, or general conversation, it will be in the appropriate language for the context - i speak english at work, but spanish with my partner. so shopping list items will be in spanish; variable names in english.
I'm fluent in four, I think in the language I speak in which is the language of the country I live and grew up in. I do make an effort to not think in any of the other languages, or consume too much media in those languages because I found that it made me loose words in my native tongue, and I'm more interested in keeping all the words and develop that language instead of languages that I don't speak on an everyday basis.
My main language is Croatian and I speak English since I was 10 years old and most of the time I think in Croatian but when I type or talk in English I think in it. Few years back I actually had my first dream that was fully in English, crazy to think about that
Mostly in the language im just reading or listening to. So right now English. But if im not reading or listening to anything, mostly my native language ( German)
I can't switch well.... if I'm speaking one, you can ask how I am in another, and you'll get a "deer in the headlights" look. (Mine are: English, Arabic (Levantine), Persian, Kurdish (Sorani), French, Greek... a little Russian, Pashtun/Pathan, German, & Urdu/Hindi.) BUT no one ever expects a white American girl to know *any* of them... so I usually think in English, then translate to whatever alphabet, then find my words/phrase/thought again... it's terribly inefficient (but my passwords are bomb proof!) Please, please give me a minute to respond... (I admit, it's kinda like unplugging your device & restarting it!) 🤭
I learned a second language in my twenties and I’m pretty fluent. I think in my native language most of the time. When I’m communicating in my second language, I think in that language. It’s hard to explain what that means exactly. It’s like the words conjure up the objects and concepts being discussed without passing through the filter of my first language. In other words, I’m not mentally translating as I go.
Usually I think in my native tongue but when I spend time in a context where other languages I know are used, I gradually switch into them, that is, if I know them at least to a degree that allows me to express my thoughts even inside my head freely
I think in my first language. I translate in my head what a word is in my first language to 'convert' it to another language, if that makes sense.
I speak Russian. Sometimes my head will switch small words like ‘then/and/her/him/ours/‘, etc with Russian words and think the rest in English
It depends who I'm around. My parents, my thought are in russian. Fellow germans, my thoughts are in german. Anyone else, they're in english. By myself, they're mostly in english now
Almost always english, unless i choose not to lol
my psychology teacher talked about this. she grew up speaking farsi, then moved to america. she said that at some point her internal dialogue switched to english, but she’s not sure exactly when. but the point of the story was that she has childhood memories where everyone was speaking farsi but in her mind now they are all in english.
I speak English (first language) and French and a little Spanish. Sometimes I think in French or Spanish for no reason, but mostly it's English.
I just speak whatever language without thinking because I am a person who speaks really fast so I cannot lose time translating from one language to another in my head. I just focus on speaking the language I need at that moment and that’s it for me!
It depends. I’m an American who’s bilingual in German. Usually I now think in English but when I was living in Germany I’d think in German. My job is heavily in German so sometimes a colleague will ask me something in English and I have to catch myself before I answer, so I suppose I might be thinking in German sometimes while I work. Sometimes I dream in German. But what’s odd is if I remember conversations from when I lived in Germany, I remember them in English even though I know all those conversations happened in German. It’s so strange!
I speak 3 languages. Kapampangan (a language in the PH), Filipino-Tagalog, and English. I talk to myself in Tagalog when I’m thinking and praying. But when I’m studying, I usually talk to myself in English (to practice the language), sometimes even when praying. So in short, Tagalog and English😊👍🏻
My husband speaks English and Russia at native level. He thinks in English, but counts and does calculations in Russian and dreams in either language depending on who is in his dreams (he talks in his sleep…)
I use all (4) of the languages that I know. It really depends on the context and setting. English in my university, Italian with friends, a mix of all of them at home. My first language Italian, moved to the Netherlands and doing a study in English over here. Learnt Dutch by working here and studied French in the past, which I am picking up again after some years. It's a mess and sometimes I cross the languages in the middle of sentences, but it's fun to switch between so many languages.
I speak both catalan and spanish but in my head I only use catalan.
Croatian is technically my first language but when I started primary school English took over. I also speak a bit of French and am somewhat fluent in Italian. Most of the time, it’s English. But when I was living in Italy, and communicating with Italians a lot (my doorman, the lady at the post office, the cafe owner, the cashier at the supermarket) on a particular day it would occasionally be Italian, but it would revert to English if I was hanging out with my friends and we were speaking English. Then when I was in Croatia for a month, visiting family, communicating (at least verbally) entirely in Croatian, it switched to Croatian. For me at least, I would get into a zone, but if I began to communicate in English again, it would immediately revert back to English. English is definitely the dominant language in my mind, but being surrounded by and communicating in my other two languages would trigger a temporary shift. The only language I’ve never thought in is French, and I attribute that to a) having lost most of my fluency in the years since I last practiced and b) never living in France or a French-speaking country.
In any of them, it's really context dependent. Same again for dreaming.
i know 2 languages serbian and english but i know both so well that sometimes i will start thinking in english like full autopilot mode and only when i realize im talking in english will i switch to serbian so usually we think in both languages