Can you "think" in other languages?

[2952-0-0]

We've asked whether you can speak other languages; I would like to ask whether anyone here can think in another language, and not simply translating their thoughts when speaking in a foreign language.

I often weave back and forth between thinking in English and thinking in Mandarin. Usually this is not a problem, but when explaining abstract thoughts this sometimes creates confusion. As for the other languages I know: French, Spanish, Cantonese, it's clear I'm not a native speaker of those.

[Franzl]

Well obviously I can think in English and German, but I suppose learning them both as a kid did help

My French is semi-fluent actually when I stick to writing, but I have some difficulty speaking and following a conversation. I can't honestly claim I have any ability to think in French.

[k-onmmunist]

Sadly, no.

[Hash]

I think in both French and English, and ironically often tend to think in French way more often than in English.

[Holmes]

I can do it... it just requires extra effort and most of the time, I don't. I usually translate what I hear/say in my head to/from English. It's different for my family though. My mom's always known French, my sister went to a total French school since the start, but I went to a French immersion school in pre-k and kindergarden, so I learned my French base in English, and never got out of the habit. For some reason, my parents didn't have me learn French and English as a baby compared to my sister, hence going to a French immersion preschool.

[RosettaStoned]

I can think in both English and Russian, but I think in Russian most of the time.

[Mint]

Sort of, if I'm writing occasionally I'll mentally hear specific spanish phrases.

[Psychic Octopus]

No, but my grandmothers can.

[Ronnie]

I can, but I never do.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Hell I can't even think in my own..... 

[Vepres]

That would be cool, though you may have some F##$ed up dreams at times

[Platypus]

I can when i'm in a conversation with a spanish speaker, but just by myself rarely.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Yes, though only in fairly simple phrases.

[Хahar 🤔]

I suppose I have to, having grown up speaking two languages. I don't translate in my head when I speak Bengali, but I usually code-switch at home. Because my Bengali is extremely colloquial and I don't know how to express most abstract concepts, the utility of doing heavy thinking in Bengali is not great. European languages pop up occasionally in my thoughts as well in bits and pieces, French in particular. Occasionally, garbled bits of half-remembered German are present as well.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

I don't consciously attempt to do so, but phrases and words from Italian, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Russian and especially Latin often seem to pop into my head. The latter two are the only languages I have actually studied.

[JSojourner]

I spent a summer in the Dominican Republic and got to the point, at the end of my stay, where I was thinking as much in Spanish as in English.  But that ship sailed long ago.  The old saying, "use it or lose it" is so true.

[Hash]

The old saying, "use it or lose it" is so true.

That's why I still try to practice the German I learned in Germany, though I did sadly forget all my Bavarian.

[Franzl]

The old saying, "use it or lose it" is so true.

That's why I still try to practice the German I learned in Germany, though I did sadly forget all my Bavarian.

I love Bavarian!

[JSojourner]

The old saying, "use it or lose it" is so true.

That's why I still try to practice the German I learned in Germany, though I did sadly forget all my Bavarian.

Good for you, Hashemite.  On practicing, I mean.  I really have no excuse...there are enough Spanish speakers around here that I could resurrect it.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Not much, but a little bit sometimes. A few Welsh words and phrases really - nos da, bara, llafur, and so on. The amount and volume is increasing, but only slowly.
If you count English dialect words as being part of "other languages" then all the time.

[Magic 8-Ball]

Unfortunately not.  If I had taken Spanish more seriously in high school, and actually learned the language - instead of only what I needed to get an A - then I probably would.

It's always fun to listen to my Hispanic friends on the phone with their parents.  They sprinkle English phrases and sentences in a predominantly Spanish conversation and never realize it.

[Hans-im-Glück]

I think in German, but in an upper franconian dialect. When I speak Portuguese, then I think in a mixture between German and Portuguese. I dream only in German

[Inmate Trump]

usually just when i'm drunk or high

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Yes, and in fact that's almost a problem.

This forum used to become the main one on which i debated of stuffs, getting bored or no more attracted by French places, so more and more i surprised myself to elaborate thoughts, debates, in English, when thinking alone. And it becomes a problem by the fact that my English vocabulary is pretty poor! (on the other hand i tend to think that a short vocabulary can help to the synthesis). And the worst is that it also had an impact in my communication with others in the real life, damn, sometimes when i wanted to say something i had the English word in mind, and impossible to find the French one in my head. Anyways, since recently i'm being back in French places, which is good since i love all what you can do with the language and it is with the French that i can give the best of myself.

And btw, personally, i don't translate English in my head, it's automatic.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Yes, I think frequently in English and now starting to think in Arabic