Do people think thoughts in their native language?

Question

If a person grew up speaking, lets say Spanish, even when they learn to speak English, do they still think thougts in Spanish? Or do they think in English? Does anyone know?

Answer 1

I was born and raised in Norway, speaking Norwegian.. Dream and think in Norwegian.
Learnt English in school from like 2nd grade, but still kept thinking and dreaming in Norwegian.
Spent a year as an exchange student in America, and suddenly after a period there using English as my main language discovered that I had started dreaming and thinking in English...
Even when I came back to Norway again it took a while before I went back to dreaming and thinking in Norwegian..

This isn`t really something you can controll, just something that happens.. :-)

Answer 2

I work with a gentleman that was born using French as his native language. He is fluent in English and uses it everyday at work. Sometimes he also has to speak French as well. I asked him the very same question and he replied that it depends on what language he needs the answer in. If he is on an English roll that day he will remain speaking and thinking in English. He knows that the people that he has to relay information to speak English so there's no point thinking French, then translate... extra step not needed.

Answer 3

I think about thhat kind of stuff all the time
I know that you definitely CAN change the language you think in. my native language is Spanish, and I'm sure that's what I use to think in, but now I speak English most of the time, so my though language is now English....it's weird. And I have a friend who grew up in Germany and has been in the US so long they say they just realized they are starting to think in English. So your thought language can change, but only if you want it to I think

Answer 4

Once I pick up a language, I generally think in the one I am speaking in. I know this because even though English is my native tongue, there are words and phrases in French and German which I know intuitively to be but can't come up with the English translation very easily.

Otherwise, it's not always easy to tell what language you're thinking in.

Answer 5

Here's my two cents on the issue. My native language is English and I'm fluent in Spanish. I speak English at home and Spanish at work (I'm an ESL teacher). I find that most of the time when I'm primarily speaking English like I do at home, I think in English. But when I'm at work speaking in Spanish roughly 95% of the time, I tend to think in Spanish. Also if I'm watching a TV show in Spanish or listening to a lot of Spanish music, my thinking tends to switch over. I seem to adapt my thinking to whichever language I'm hearing more at a given moment.

Perhaps I'm just insane. :D I think in whatever language the voices tell me to.

Answer 6

You thought in both language i speak spanish and english, and im still learning english i came like one year and a half, and depends in the situation i think that language, like if im in a place that speak only english, and someone call me or im thinking in someone i think in spanish, and if is about the topic of the meeting then i think in english, does that help you?

Answer 7

People generally think in the language they grew up speaking. My mother was fluent in French in high school, and says that she often dreamed and thought in French. If this happens it proves you have become very comfortable with the language. My friend is bilingual in English and French. One day everyone was speaking english, when my mom said something to my friend in French. It took her several seconds to even realize they'd switched languages. Once you learn a language well, it becomes an unconcious thing to switch into a second tongue, however, people probably think in their first language.

Answer 8

My native language is French....Whenever I'm around my family and friends, I think in French for obvious reasons :p

But if I'm watching an American TV show, or if discussing with an English speaker (well basically if I'm "doing" anything in English) my thoughts are more likely to be in English...
It's just more convenient that way, and there's less to translate if you gotta speak/write afterwards :p

Answer 9

I am not native English but leaving and working abroad, using the English language as a tool of communication, I often think in English. As a matter of fact I often dream in English too. In most of the cases, of course, I do so in my mother tongue.

Answer 10

I have no idea but that was a cool question!! I never thought of that but i think people think in their native language because when my Spanish is talking to herself under her breathe she is speaking Spanish.