What language do you think in?

Question

Once on a train a British girl asked me that and I said English. She found that strange. I mean being educated in English I find it the most comfortable language to think in. My mother tongue is Bengali. I am Indian, know six languages, but still.

Rajiv Gandhi spoke in English at an important international gathering and a K.V schoolgirl protested saying that he should speak in Hindi and he had her removed.

Answer 1

When I came to USA, I was speaking English but thinking in Romanian... As time passed, I begun to think more in English. But, for example, I still swear (automatically) in Romanian when I play PC games and stuff doesn't come out the way I want it. :))) It just comes to me like that.
Thing is, no matter what language you speak more and what language you think in, you will never forget your mother's tongue.

Answer 2

My answer is English because it is the only language I speak fluently.

You say your mother tongue is Bengali yet you mostly think in English. My explanation to that is that Hindi and English are more commonly spoken in India than Bengali and perhaps you are more familiar with English than Hindi or the other languages you know.

If you find yourself using English more than Bengali or Hindi, you will eventually think in it more often too.

Answer 3

I was thinking about this same thing today--- in Spanish.
I never realized this until today.
I moved from the U.S. to Mexico 2 years ago and have begun to think in Spanish. When I get phone calls from the states, I'm told that I use half Spanish/ half English in my conversations and sometimes I say things with the words in the wrong order.

I need to visit the States!!

Answer 4

The answer is Mother Tongue. Even Rajiv Gandhi who was educated in public schools in India and abroad, exclaimed in Hindi. His grandfather, Nehru, was different. Probably he was brought up in English environment in his house.

Answer 5

I speak 4 languages, and I think in the language I'm currently speaking in. However, when I'm alone, I usually think in my native English.

Answer 6

well I think you answered your own question, of course I only know English so I am going to think in English if you were brought up in another language then you are going to think in that language because it is what you learned naturally since childhood.

Answer 7

I think in Polish, but if i chat for some time in English I start to think in this language.

Answer 8

most of my thoughts are based on two languages the social or ordinary things in my mother tangue and the school problems in my country language

Answer 9

Thinking and language are separate. That's a scientific fact. Which language do you think to yourself in? I'd say it varies.

Answer 10

im south african and live in Greece
i speak 2 south african languages and of am fluent in greek.
i think in greek when i speak greek but when speak english think in greek. and why cause i hear greek language all the time and speak it more often than english.