What language do you think in? Do animals use language to think?

Question

Do we need language to think? How do animals, birds and insects think? They don't have well developed language like ours.

Also if you are multi-lingual, do you think in one language over the other?

Is thinking same as speaking to yourself while brainstorming? I don't know whether I use language to think or not. What are your thoughts?

Answer 1

I guess every person has their own codes to think, not necessarily a language... I personally hear my own voice talking to myself and it could be in english, spanish or german.

Answer 2

Speaking as a matter of philosophy not as a scientist!

Humans depend on their language for much. They can work their way through a sentence and check its logic. This animals cannot do.

I have pondered this question since I have a lot of pets, and it is clearly evident that they possess intelligence.

If you observe a dog, you see how much it depends on it sense of smell. It is therefore my belief that while they have the ability to remember human words, names, commands, they think in chemical naming. Your name would logically be how you smell; this is why they keep smelling their fellow dogs and their owners - to update their names. (An idea) Direct programming - right?

I am multi-lingual - and it seems that there is some difference to how various people handle this. I think only in the language I use at the moment. However, poorly I master that particular language.
My wife tells me that she thinks in English and translates into the other language she knows. She tells me that mostly she thinks in English but on occasion thinks in that language.

This is very strange to me because she speaks that particular language better than I do - and I think exclusively in that language when using it.

But you probably have to admit that many of our thought processes are hidden some times.

How do you add 50 and 25 in your head, how does it work? It is not by word, it is simply: 25 and 50 is 75. How did we get 75 - this is an invisible process. probably rote memory when doing simple calculation.

There you go. That is my 5 cents worth. There should be a dollars worth on the net or from scientific sources!?

Answer 3

I am multi-lingual. My first language is English but I also speak Arabic and some Spanish...I used to speak some French from lessons as a child and then as a teen but have forgotten most. I usually think in English but, as I have gotten older, I switch back and forth between English and Arabic (the languages I use the most). I talk in my sleep too...when I was a child, my mom would catch me speaking in all four languages (using a different language each time or using maybe two at a time...but never all four at one time)...so, I wonder if I think in all four languages unconsciously (or consciously as REM sleep often resembles a waking state??)??
I think more in a certain language if I am immersed in that language's environment. I once asked my father what language he thinks in...he has lived in the U.S. for over 2 decades and his first language was Arabic...after thinking (!) about it, he said English.
About animals: scientists and other people who study animals are finding that animals actually have more complex language skills than once thought. That is a very thought-provoking (!, sorry cannot resist the puns) question! I think that they do think using some sort of language as they have been shown to make decisions...
Your question has made me question whether people, who speak in sign language but are mute or even deaf, use language to think the same way that non-mute or non-deaf people use language. Do blind people use language differently to think than those who are able to see?...as blind people might have a different idea of language or might "see" language differently (through other senses perhaps).
I guess one's answer to this question might also depend on one's definition of language.
Great question! :)

Answer 4

I haven't really thought about how animals think, but I will be now...!

I'm uni-lingual, so I only think in English, but my father and uncle both have Latvian as a first language and have both had "brain trauma" (stroke/disease). While of course it's awful to see, it can also be fascinating to stand back and "study" their deterioration.

In both cases they have had major events whereby they lost speech altogether, and in both their first language came back first, and then, gradually, English. (My mother wanted pa to teach us Latvian as kids but he refused, so I live in constant trepidation that one or both will revert permanently. Ma had the same problem with her Norwegian grandmother, which of course made Nan even more isolated in her senility). With my uncle there was a phase where you could actually observe the mechanism by which he understood what others were saying to him. It became apparent that he would hear the English, translate it into Latvian, formulate an answer, translate that back in English, and then respond. I worked this out because sometimes he'd miss a step or two and come out with garbled nonsense, or sometimes he'd go through it all out loud. I figure this process was something which usually happened instantaneously, but the "muscles" responsible had been damaged and had to be rehabilitated.

Like I say, it's with a kind of morbid fascination that my brother, husband and I watch this stuff happening with the old guys. I suppose in a way it's bit of a coping mechanism...

Hmmm, interesting question, thanks for asking it.

Answer 5

Yes, we do need language to think, however language does not have to be spoken or written in order for their to be communication.

Animals, birds, and insects communicate with each other not only thru sound but with actions as well.

This how bees communicate with others to show where honey is found.

I speak a second langauge, but think in my native language as long as I am in my country. When I am in the country that requires the other language that is all that I think in. Thinking is speaking to yourself, but only in your mind.

Answer 6

I can't answer any of those, but I'm multilingual, (Speak both Persian and English fluently), and I can answer that part of your question: what i usually do, when i'm in a (for instance) persian environment, i think persian, but when i'm watching an english movie, or reading an english book, or things like that, i think in english. it's really really wierd once you learn a second language.

But the language you're best with is the one you mostly think with. in my case, that' s anglais.

My guess is birds and insects don't have brains big enough to think of anything other than food and etc., so when they think of how to get to food (guessing), they visualize the way to get it.

You definitely use your language to think. It's almost like hearing your left hemisphere try to persuade your right, or vise versa. like i said, it can get very creepy.

U a poet? nice blog. check mine: shadowsandsmoke.blogspot.com

Answer 7

For me: the language of mathematics!

I think in terms of mathematics.....I break everything down into probabilities and numbers......series and sequences......basically, just good old math!

I believe that we can think and do thinks entirely without words: words come in the way of true intelligence, but are really our only way of communicating such intelligence.

I believe that animals can think in whatever their tongue is, i.e. a dog barks, so he probably thinks in terms of a bark.

no, i don't think thinking is the same as speaking while brainstorming because thinking is a process in the brain that we cannot fully explain....we know it happens, but why? speaking aloud while brainstorming is simply a byproduct of thinking itself, as you must "think" before you can brainstorm.

Answer 8

I use English instead of my mother tongue when I think in words since I'm trying to learn English.

I think in more than words, I think in feelings, memories of events and pictures too. Things that doesn't need a language for me to understand them.

Language isn't necessary for forming thoughts but it is essential for being able to communicate.

Animals don't need a language to think, but they use different kind of "languages" to communicate their thoughts. Animals have ways to figure out what actions is best to be taking for them, their offspring or their flock/herd/group and communicate that to the others.

Answer 9

Body language... international.

Answer 10

I appreciate your question, but I will have to think about it some more. Often things left unsaid, have the most impact.