Which language do bilingual people think to themselves in?

Answer 1

I speak English, Spanish and Japanese....English is my first language...i always speak and think in English...even when I am spoken to in another language I translate it into English to myself first. I never really know I did this until you asked this question....so I tested myself and that is the answer I came up with.

Answer 2

I am multi-lingual - It depends on where I am. For some reason, I have a tendency to think in whatever language I hear at that time. Hope this helps. I don't actually translate what I want to say from one language to the other. It just comes out in whatever language I am trying to speak. I do have issues with Chero-Spanglish (Cherokee, Spanish and English) I'll be thinking or speaking one language in particular and a stray word will creep up from another language.

By the way, you'll probably find I don't think like most people - LOL

Answer 3

Bilingual people generally think in the language they are most familiar with. If one can speak two or more languages equally well, then one will think in the language he or she is currently speaking. I have studied many languages in my lifetime, and I often find myself mixing them up together when I am just thinking by myself. But when I hear French, I begin to think in French. Same with German and Thai. But I will often think in Latin or Greek or Luxembourg when I am daydreaming.

Answer 4

I think in English, mostly, with some German and Spanish. It's all pretty mixed up - words and sentences will just bump in sometimes. But the dominant language I think in is whatever I've been speaking most recently. (English now most of the time - since I'm in America.)

Answer 5

Well what about Trilingual?

To be quite honest I think in the language I use most, but I really do not have to think about translating the words per se.

I can switch in mid sentence from Italian to English or French and vice versa.

Answer 6

I'm trilingual (English/Swedish/Finnish), and I think to myself in all three languages.

Most of the time, I think in whatever language I happen to be using at the time. If I'm talking to people in English, or reading/watching something in English, then my thoughts will naturally tend to be in English. However, there are words that don't translate accurately from one language to another, so sometimes I mix in a Finnish- or Swedish-language word that more accurately conveys the precise nuance I have in mind.

This happens when I talk to my brothers, too... we regularly have conversations where we use words in all three languages.

Answer 7

Both!. I know I do (English/Italian). For me, it depends on WHAT I am thinking about. If I am going over, say, a book I read in English or a conversation with my family, I think in English. If I am thinking of something I saw or heard in Italian (a movie, a conversation with Italian friends), then I rethink it in Italian. Oh, and I usually dream in English (my first language) but I do occasionally dream in Italian.

Answer 8

My native language is English, but I live in Italy. Many times I think in Italian though.

Answer 9

I am speaking Russian and English, understand Ukrainian and Polish. Whatever i am talking about, my language coming from my hard. It is does no matter what sound you can hear, more important what people want to say and how they thinking.It no big dill of what language is. I do not know what language i am thinking inside of me, i am just thinking, from my hard, from my brain.

Answer 10

It depends on the issue, for instance when related to work, most Spanish speakers in my office think in English mostly, when it comes to family, it's almost always Spanish and so forth.