do foreign people THINK in foreign?

Question

how do they know what theyre thinkin about???

Answer 1

Are you trying to be funny, or is your IQ lower than 70?

No, obviously native German speakers think in English.

That is one of the most infuriating things I've heard in a long time.

OF COURSE a Greek-speaker would think in Greek, a Japanese-speaker would think in Japanese, and so on! As if everyone alive speaks their language and thinks in English.

You are the epitomy of why I hate humans. Bravissima.

Jackass.

Answer 2

Depends on what you mean by that.
Language could be compared to the operating system on a computer. Most PC's run on DOS/Windows, and Apples run on MAC OS. Your brain runs much the same way...language is like your operating system. It's said by Linguists that a good way to know when you're becoming fluent in a language is when you begin having dreams in that language. Funny thing is, its not uncommon for computer programmers to have dreams in computer code.

So foreign people 'think' in whatever language they've been trained in. Sometimes multiple languages.

Answer 3

I speak fluent Spanish & think in both English & Spanish. I also speak French & learning Serbian so sometimes those words get mixed up in my thinking but not when I'm talking. I normally dream in whatever language I've spoken most that day.

Answer 4

Define "foreign" please.

I am fluent in 2 languages. I dream in both. Sometimes when I'm telling someone about something I heard or read I cannot remember what language it was said or written in.

Answer 5

i speaqk spanish at home and i guess i think in it when i'm talking but i mostly think in english i guess i mean i don't think about (no pun intended) but sometimes most of the times actually i guess i would say i think in spanglish. and foreign people might think that it's weird that ppl think in english this actually a very stupid question if i may say so

Answer 6

I'm bilingual and I think in both languages. Generally when I talk to somebody I think in the language they speak, without having to think ABOUT the language I should use. If I read a German newspaper I am thinking German, but when somebody approaches me talking English then I automatically respond in English. No problem at all, no thinking involved.

I dream in both languages, I count in both languages and form time to time I mix them up, so I will talk to somebody in German but suddenly an English word would come up.

That said, I only think in languages when I'm thinking about languages. While doing maths, or playing music, or thinking about philosophy I won't think in any language. As soon as I imagine a conversation or a paper to write I think in one language, and sometimes it will be English and sometimes German. No real pattern there.

While writing this post I think in English, but simultaneously my brother talks to me in German. No problem at all.

Answer 7

They think in the way how they're brought up, no matter which language. They do know what they're thinking about. When my ancestors THOUGHT to invent gunpowder, papermaking and compass thousands years ago, there was no English letter in this world.

Answer 8

I'm sure everyone thinks in their mother tongue. So it's not always going to be English! Of course they know what they're thinking, only you can understand your own thoughts surely. Have fun with the other answers.

Answer 9

People tend to think in their native tongue. If they grew up speaking multiple languages, then most likely they'll think in multiple languages with ease. Learned languages are different... they really depend on how much you practice them every day.

Answer 10

I'm Italian and I speak also english, french and spanish.
When I've to talk to someone or to write, I think in the language I've to do those things.
So I don't think in italian and then I translate in my mind and then I write/speak and then..blabla.
Just think in english, french or spanish