2006-07-18 04:08:05 · 18 answers · asked by GABRIELLA 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
I have been asked this question before.I am originally from Germany but I've lived in the USA since 97 now. I think and dream in English now. When I talk to my Family in Germany I sometimes have to think real hard what a certain English word in German is. Sometimes I even have to explain the word and my family normally figures it out for me. I also sometimes speak English(Deutsch=German+ English). After I talk a while on the phone in German and than try talking to my husband or kids I sometimes talk to them in German and they just laugh at me. Until I realize what I did and than I laugh to. I think it depends on what language you speak most that.s what you think and dream in.
2006-07-18 06:11:42 · answer #1 · answered by Share Bear 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I speak 4 languages and I think in all of them when I'm using them. It really depends on context. In general life, I think in English because it's my first language and the one I use most. I also tend to mix words in my head, using English grammar but words from the other languages I speak or words I know in languages I don't speak.
2006-07-18 13:24:06 · answer #2 · answered by Cunning Linguist 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the language that I'm using more at the time. Ex, if Im visiting spain I start thinking in spanish, but if I'm in the States I think in English, in brazil or Italy I eventually start thinking in the language
2006-07-18 11:40:32 · answer #3 · answered by Mr. Sly 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your primary language, but if you live in a foreign country that speaks a different language and you get used to it than you begin to think in that language. I think in English but my nightmares are in French.
2006-07-18 11:27:49 · answer #4 · answered by bumpocooper 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Although I have been brought up in a French environment and still live in one, I basically only think and dream in English ( which is a foreign language that I have learned in school since grade 3), which is kind of awkward since no one in my family actually fluently speaks English and neither does any of my coworkers
2006-07-18 23:07:45 · answer #5 · answered by fan1906 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
actually both. you would think that it would be the FIRST or your native language, but I find myself thinking in whatever language I was most recently communicating in, or whichever language the thing I am thinking about took place in.. and I speak 3
2006-07-18 11:14:01 · answer #6 · answered by Jackie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First, you think of what to say in your own native language then your brain will translate the words to a foreign language.
2006-07-18 11:23:59 · answer #7 · answered by yzkorpyo17 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would guess your primary language.
A good friend of mine moved to the US from Russia when were in highschool, she also knew like 3 other languages other than Russian and English and we asked her once and she said she dreamed and thought usually in Russian.
2006-07-18 11:12:17 · answer #8 · answered by unknwndreamer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
English was my first language, but I think in French. A lot.
2006-07-18 21:30:34 · answer #9 · answered by Cillian 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think in english - my first language - most of the time. but when i am talking to someone in french i think in french.
when you read french poetry you have to think in french - otherwise you could never understand it. and this is even truer of welsh poetry and latin poetry.
this is why it is so important to speak and understand at least two languages. until you know at least one other language you cannot use another language to show you how much your first language colours and alters what you think.
until you know at least two languages you don't really know even one.
2006-07-18 11:26:42 · answer #10 · answered by synopsis 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋