Do people think about things in their head, in their own native language?

Question

When I think about things in my head, I think in English because that is my language, but do Japanese people for example think in Japanese?

If you can speak more than one language, then what is the language you think in when you think about things in your head? If you're French, but you can speak English, do you think in French, or in English in your head?

Answer 1

People will naturally speak in their mother tongue. So yes, Japanese people think in Japanese.

Bi- or multi-lingual people think in different languages. If I'm in an environment where everyone is speaking English, I think in English. If I'm in an environment where everyone is speaking Spanish, I think in Spanish. If you're actively functioning in a place where a certain language is spoken, you'll by default think in that language if you're fluent or near-fluent.

I know people who have described the exact same thing with Polish, Creole, and Russian.

Answer 2

Yes, people for the most part think in their native language. However, those who have learned several other languages as children, or even as adults, often think in the learned language. When I am in France for example for more than a week or so, I begin to think in French on occasion.

Answer 3

Of course, if Japanese is the only language you speak what else would they think in?

For people who speak two or more languages, most start by thinking in their native tongue and translate until they become more fluent.

Children who learn more than on language from birth think in a pollyglot of their native tongues (all jumbled together).

Answer 4

Yes, Japanese people think in Japanese. Although this question presupposes that we always think with language, which I don't necessarily believe is true.

In answer to your first question, I speak different languages, and I think in different languages. If I try to think in English and translate to Spanish, for example, it doesn't come out as very good Spanish sometimes. If I think in Spanish it's a lot more natural.

Answer 5

I would say that I normally think and dream in English as it is my native language. But I was in school studying to become an American Sign Language Interpreter, and I had a good part of my dreams in sign language. I think that we mostly dream in the language that we use the most. But if you are bilingual, I bet it would be some of each.

Answer 6

You think to yourself in the first language you were raised to use- in your case, English, in a Japanese person's case, Japanese. I speak English, but also some Spanish and French, and I do occasionally catch myself thinking in Spanish or French terms.

Answer 7

In the first time of spending in another country you think in your own language. After a few months, when you just speak the language of this country, it will change also in this language, but this could depent on oneself. But when you change between two languages (mothertongue and foreign language) it could happen that you will always thing in your native language. As soon as you think in this foreign language your brain except these as the easy language. Then it could be that your mothertoungue is first foreign to you. And you could mixes them up.

Answer 8

You know, I am German and I think in German, of course. But e.g. when I went to England for just about one week I already started thinking in English (and also dreaming in English). When I got back home I said "hi guys" to my friends...without thinking. After a few embarassing seconds I realized the problem and tried to talk German again. Was hard at first, but worked after some days.

So we can change the language we think in..

Answer 9

I am Puerto Rican but I was born in the US and I speak both spanish and english.
I do think in both languages. I know of a lady who speaks 3 languages and she thinks in all 3.

Answer 10

When you are multi-lingual you think in whatever language is currently the most necessary or useful to you. eg. When I am with my mum, I think in Polish because that is the language that we speak together. The ultimate test is to find out which language you count in, that language is then your first or mother tongue.