Can you think in a second language or need you translate in your head first?

I am never certain which is my first and which is my second language these days. When I am in Italy and talking in Italian every day, I think and dream in Italian. When I return to UK after I few days I think in English there too. It is not immediate though as I have less difficulty with Italian than English now as I use it more often.

English is my second language and feel comfortable expressing myself in this language. It is widely spoken in my family in between speaking my mother's tongue, chinese and our national language. It is rarely that I need to think first and translate my second language or any languages that I am proficient in. I am so used to speaking 'salad languages' at home that is more like jack of all languages, master of none.

Hi Thea! As part of my Job training I lived and worked in Germany over 18 months..That's many years ago now,but although my speech may be getting a little rusty from being out of practise,I'm still able to think in the Language..I was listening to the Duet Nena did with Kim Wilde today of her hit "Irgendwie,Irgendwo,Irgendwann" and was thinking about the Lyrics and how a direct translation wouldn't work..there's a line "Ich bau' Dir ein Schloss aus Sand",the rhythm of which is lost translated directly into English (I'll build You a Sandcastle!) Being able to think in a Language is how I'd define being fluent in that Language..I would have some knowledge of French and Spanish too,but not enough as yet to think in those..

Hi Thea, My first language is definitely English and I could speak Asian languages like Malay, the Bahasa (Indonesia), a bit of Mandarin, and some Tamil words too. Not that much, but I try. I only know bad words in Hokkien though, LoL.. There are lots of multi-racial people living in Singapore and I grew up with most races; you name it; Asian, Caucasian, Eurasian, Pan-Asian and whatnot. But all of us are united in the common language: British English. We learn British English here but those whom have studied abroad like in Australia and America; they've gotten their accents changed a bit due to a long time being abroad. I would love to learn fluent French and Greek though. Is it hard? I know this word someone taught me before: Volim Te.. which means I Love You. I think that's a gorgeous word.

Hi thea, I am not good in my second language and most of the time I need to translate it. Not only in my head but sometimes I need a dictionary to do that. It is more harder when it come to a grammar and when I had to use the words that I am not very sure about. It is hard for me because I hardly use my second language in my daily conversation. Most of the time I used it on the net and my second language is English. My writing skill might be improve but my speech and pronunciation will not change much.

Dear Thea, I am a Malaysian, our national language is Bahasa Malaysia. Our second language will be English. Since we learned English from Primary One, one subject only ie. English Language... we are quite fluent in conversation...even though there are error in grammar, or past, present tense. I normally do not think it first in my head, I just speak out and it just flows. However, when I need to speak in Mandarin which I learned / pick up from watching televisions, at times, I need to think for the right words before I speak...lol I have been married for 17 years and we normally speak English at home. This has a very bad effect on my own dialect which is a 'Hainanese' (Hainan Island, China)...many times I really can't think of the right word for certain item that is not common...I really have a hard time thinking of the word when I need to converse with my mum All the best and do keep in touch !

I'm used of thinking in English when I'm reading English articles or listening to English audio books, or writing something in English. I think I'm able of switching to thinking in English any time I have to. It's not the case for some of the other languages I understand, like French, Italian or Spanish. I have to spend some time in an environment where that language is spoken before I start thinking in that language, without having to translate in my language in my head.

If You Can Speak That Language,it Shouldn't Be Much Of A Problem Communicating .. Some People Have the Habit of Making Completely Sure Of Their Grammar, Such People Do take their time Once the Speech Goes on in the Mind And then it Becomes Vocal .. I Can Speak 3 Languages Very Fluently .. I Never Do Mind Speaking With These Languages at All .. Am I Short of Your Expectations For An Answer ..

I came to U.S. when I was barely 14 years old. There's a term regarding immigrants, 1st generation, 2nd generation & so forth. I'm considered 1 & 1/2 generation Korean. I was born & raised in Korea long enough to know the language & be fluent in it to hold an everyday conversation with anyone. Also I've been in U.S. long enough to understand & fluent enough in English to hold everyday conversation. It goes for other aspect as well. There are times I think & dream in Korean & others I think & dream in English. But most of the times, I find myself think & dream in both languages. Granted that at this point in my life, I've lived in U.S. longer than I have in Korea, English pops into my head first. That's not to say I have any problem with Korean. One thing though, being that I was 14 years old when I came to U.S., my korean is pretty much at 14 year old level & haven't improved as much & as fast as I'd like it to since then. Growing up with mom, dad & siblings of course helped a lot but I still find myself get stuck on few Korean words & expressions that my mother is used to. I don't know, it's weird. I don't have any problem switching back & forth but at times, I do have to think about what I wanna say in one language or another & translate it, weather it's Korean to English or vise versa.

Hi there thea09 When I was first with my husband (now ex) we used to communicate in French because English wasn't his first language, and I would be like at work and think I must remember to tell him something and then I would have like the conversation in my head but when it came to actually talking to him I never had to think about what I was going to say, it would just come out! Only today actually I saw some ants and was talking to my son but the word for them in his father's lanuage came to me first but I did actually say ants or else my son would have looked at me really funny!

thinking in different languages is quite a possibility. it would depend on how comfortable are you with the language. there are many people who are bilingual or even multilingual on a daily routine basis. Here (India) formal language is English. so in offices we communicate in English and during breaks we talk (with our colleagues) in native language. so almost everyone here knows atleast two languages which they use in routine. i personally know three languages which i am comfortable with and can communicate and think more or less equally well.

I have married a person from a diffrent state in India and before marriage we used to converse in english but after coming to this state, and staying with his parents I slowly started learing the local language...It wasnt a problem, I picked it up in less than six months, now I can fluently converse and think in the language...I feel if you want to be very free with the second or new language, you need to think more in that language. But I am most comfortable in my mother tongue, more in english and okay in bengali which I learned recently...and while trying to learn a new language, I most of the time translate so i understand better.

This is a very interesting topic. If you need to translate it into your native language first before speaking in another language, then you are using the Grammar Translation Method of learning.The response time is twice as long as compared to a person who think and respond in the same language. You should use the communication method;just get the gist of the message and then you respond. I do not know about dreaming in languages. Someone may have to do a study on that tone.

Growing up in a place like where I am from, It was made sure that i understand a number of language. Like, I can converse fluently in about 3 languages (English, Hindi, Punjabi), and i can understand 5 (English Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Sanskrit). I can write in 3 (English, Hindi, Sanskrit) different languages as well. apart from these i want to learn German as well, maybe Spanish someday too. So it is not hard for me to think in a language which is different from my mother tongue. I find myself thinking in all different languages depending on the company or the situation i am in.

Happy friday Niece, i don't speak but one language & don't always do it well, lol.

I think, i dream I do many things in my second language. Most of the time I use it even more than the first language cause I work with it. So sometimes I forget in what language I thought, read or wrote something and have to get back to remember. It´s funny to be like that. Also sometimes I know a word in my second language that I forgat in my first so I have to use a translator to discover it in my own language and vice-versa.

Depends what I'm thinking about... but since I speak 8 Languages I damn sure think in all of them and if I need to translate into English then I do so..

I speak Danish and English fluently (danish beeing my native) And i do also think, dream and so forth in the languages. Then when i have to use German i need to translate the sentences first before i say them, and the same more or less counts with the very little Dutch i can speak (Though i will soon begin on real Dutch lessons, so eventually i will be fluent in Dutch aswell)

For common words and conversations, i don't need to translating it in my head first. But for certain words which are not common used by me, i usually have to open my electronic dictionary. Usually i use my mobile phone which i have installed a dictionary software on it. Although it's just a common and not a complete dictionary, but i think it really helpful for my quick translation. I'm sure which one is my second language because i have learnt many language and most of them are using on my daily activities. I think i have a double second language. Good luck and have a nice day. Happy mylotting.

Hello, Thea. I found that when I'd spent six months in Spain, I was actually thinking in Spanish. And I impressed both the expats and the locals when I was working out the answers to a Spanish gameshow which was a bit like Countdown. I even surprised myself, as I don't really consider myself fluent in Spanish.