Can you think in a foreign language?

Do you remember when you started to do your first steps? I mean, when you still were a baby, grew up and started to walk. You did your first steps, but felt down. How many times do you think a small child fells down until the child is able to walk well? How often do we have to practice something until we will get it done? The victory doesn't mean never to fall, it means to stand up again each time to fall. That's the sense of the exercise. You have to practice until you get it done. Of course, you won't get the first, second or third time. Maybe you'll have to practice during a month, two or three, and that every day. If you follow it instead of getting disappointed, you will see that you can reach it. Remember the famous sentence: YES WE CAN. Don't let the success remaining. Carry on with the exercise.

Hi camomile,you are right again.Practice makes us perfect.I have met failure every time I tried to talk in English with someone suddenly began to talk to me in the same language when I was not prepared for it.Still I am practicing everyday,but what I lack is a conducive atmosphere.You need to be among people who always communicate in English.It is just the opposite with me.Here we talk in Hindi in our families,in the market,among our friends,in banks and even in schools.I use English only while writing articles for the article writing sites I have joined or while participating here in Mylot.Lack of conducive atmosphere is the reason behind my failure.I get time to practice only when I am alone.I talk to myself.Talking to oneself is quite a different thing than talking to someone else.That's why I fail.Still I have not given up practicing.Let me see when I succeed.

That's exactly what my teacher had once asked me to do.I followed his suggestion literally,but failed badly.I tried to think in English not once,not twice,but perhaps ten times.And every time I tried,I ended up thinking in my language.I read English newspapers and books daily.But this has not helped me in being a thinker in English.I am still trying to think in English,but success has been remaining elusive.

Hi rajendra,I heartily thank you for showing me the way.In fact,here I lack a conducive atmosphere.Everywhere I go I have to talk in Hindi or Oriya,the reigional language of Odhisa,our state.That's why I have to practice speaking in English when I am alone.I talk to myself.I imagine someone talking to me in English,and then I express myself.But you can easily understand why this does not work.Talking to a real person speaking in English is quite different a thing from talking to an imaginary person.I seldom have the chance to meet my anglo-Indian friends who talk in English.That's why I am failing to develope my spoken English.But thinking in English is something that I don't think I can ever do.I know my limitations. I agree with you that translation can never convey the real meaning of the original thought or expression or a sentence,but presently I have no other way to write in English.I have joined some article writing sites.I first think in Hindi what I have to write and then get it translated into English. You have now shown the way.I will try to follow it.But the problem is where I can get someone speaking in native English.

Hi rajenra,you are right,but my problem is that I don't know where to get people who can speak in English.People in my hometown speak either in Hindi or other Indian languages.However whenever I come across American or other tourists speaking in English,I leave no chance to talk to them.But they rarely pass through my hometown.

hello there, wish you a happy new year. Dear I would suggest you to start speaking and interacting with people who are not speaking english as their mother tounge,to be precise like americans and people from other country,it would be difficult for you to understand them.So a better way would be to interact with people who know english properly and it would be easier for you to understand. take care raj

The better practice is to talk with foreigners. Try chatting with someone else who is speaking in English, so that you may practice well in answering question. If possible just talk on skype, but be sure the guy is trusted to make the conversation going smooth.

Yes,skype may provide a solution.Thanks for suggestion.But what sjould I do to enable myself to think in English?

I agree with you,my friend.I have no problem in reading and understanding English books.Also I don't have problem in speaking English,although I am not a very fluent English speaker.Problem arises when someone asks me or when I myself try to think in English.It is here where I fail badly.I agree with you that practice makes perfect.I have been practicing for years to think in English,but feel as if I am trying to something unnatural,if not impossible.

Hiya else, English is of course my first natural language but the use I give it can get tainted by the use of another language all day long. I can think in a kind of English and Spanish not always easy to do and I cannot do it to translate either it comes out of me naturally and like you I might well have to think about what I am saying in either language first it all depends on who I am with. You have done very well to learn by yourself like that and that is in part how I learned Spanish as I had to learn by myself as well. Also seeing Films in English could help and especially if they have subtitles I think they can be of great help.xxx

English has been my third or perhaps the fourth language,lovinangel.Whatever English I have learned,I have learned it from reding newspapers and books.But I don't have a conductive atmosphere.I am an Indian and the people who I live or deal with are Indians.None of them uses English in their daily life.So I don't have any chance of speaking in this language.My accent is also Indian.A few years back I had come across an American from Chicago.He had a hard time understanding English spoken by me.And whatever I was speaking while talking to him was interrupted by pauses.I was thinking in Hindi and then translating it in English. I hope,you have got what my problem is.Proper English words to express myself don't come to my mind fluently and spontaneously.Perhaps that's why I can't think in English.

I watch English films,but can't understand their pronunciation.Still I am trying as much as I can.

if its so hard for you to do it, then its fine. Even if it take time for you to translate it to other language as long as the other party/person get your message then nothing for you to worry about. Do it slowly, one step at a time.(^^) Don't rushing.Learning that way will only bring you nowhere.(^^)

I am trying to do exactly that.I have joined two article writing sites and trying to write articles for them without translating Hindi sentences into English.Although it takes me a long time to write articles thinking in English,but I am doing so.

Hi Hanum,you are absolutely right.You have very rightly said that practice makes perfect.I have been pracising for many years to think in English,but success is elusive.Still I am trying.Actually most of my time is spent in market and home where I have to use only mo mother tongue to communicate with others.Seems it would take me a long time to learn the skill.

Hmm you same like me, i also learn Japanese language. I learn Japanese language from song and i very like their language. But still i just know basic Japanese language. I also want to learn Korean language.

Maybe we can expert in Japanese language if we always talking with Japanese people. I friend with a lot of Japanese friend in fb but nobody can teach me because it is hard to communicate with them. I only know 1 of them can understand english but she just can understand a simple english. Her name is Nagisa.

I have learned by watching anime. I studied Japanese for 1 year in college, but it never really helped me. Immersing myself in Japanese materials did more help than attending formal lessons. If you like Japanese songs, that would help too. :3

Actually I have taught a number of students and I feel that despite your concerns you do unconsciously tend to think in English frequently. Your sentence construction does not look too laboured and translated but they seem quite natural.

Yes,it needs practice.I agree with you that we can't write and speak English or any other language unless we think in it.My problem is lack of proper atmosphere.Here in the eastern part of our country we use either Hindi or Oriya in all walks of life.That's why thinking in English is a problem for me.However I am trying my best to learn thinking in English.

That's it.We get used to thinking in a language that we mostly use in our daily life.Words of that language come flowing into our mind.I studied in Hindi medium school where I had to interact with my friends and teachers in Hindi.Even now we use Hindi and Hindi only in our day to day life.We have to use English only in classes and when filling in some forms.Consequently I am not very fluent in speaking English.And so far as thinking in English is concerned,it's a dream for me till now.You know thinking is a very complicated mental process.I have been trying regularly to develope the habit of thinking in English.

In fact,Hindi is my mother tongue.We use it everywhere,not only in schools and colleges.Even the boys and girls who read in English medium schools speak and think in Hindi here.However in metro cities,I have heard,there are people who use English and English only. I try to think in English everyday,but only when I am alone.In fact,I want to be fluent in English- both in speking and writing- without forgetting my own language.My mother tongue is like my mother.

Also, we Indians cannot consider English as a foreign language as that is the medium of instruction in several schools and colleges. We interact with the world at large. Our families are scattered all over.

Whatever activities I have, spoken and written most of them are conducted in English. And I am ever grateful that - even if you call it imposed - English was introduced in my life right from the time I was a kid. I had a responsible job with a multi- national and if my English was not good including my accent it would have been difficult to get in there! Many like you worship their mother tongue although in terms of survival English is the language that helps them.

Hi allknowing,English is imposed on us as the medium of instruction.Still it is spoken by only less than 4 or 5 percent of our total population.....Leave it,that's another issue. Unlike you I can't think in English no matter how hard I try to do it.My teaher asked me to adopt the habit of thinking in English.I obeyed him,tried and failed.I continued trying,but have not succeeded yet.Actually most of the time we talk in our mother tongue.We use our mother tongue everywhere.So naturally it is difficult for us to start thinking in English.However I have been trying.

hi riya i agree my thoughts are in my mother tongue but i too think in English while writing. this comes with practice.while taking the management classes lecturers used to teach us this point. They brushed up our skills and we too tried very hard to adopt this habit.

I too think,or try to think in English while writing articles for online article writing sites.You may say that I think in my mother tongue first and then try think the same thought in English.Thinking directly in English is very very difficult for me.To achieve the ability of thinking in a foreign language needs practice,as you have written here.I agree with you.

I learned English when I was a child in the US. I read a lot in English, but speak it seldom. I doubt that I have really taslked in English more than 4 months all put together in the last 50 years. Still, I haven`t lost it.

You got a conductive atmosphere.You lived in the USA for 12-13 years.That's why you can now think in English which is something you would not have been able to do if you had not got the chance to live in a English speaking country.Now you have got used to thinking in English.I have never been abroad nor do I have English speaking friends living in the proximity of my place.My anglo-Indian friends live at the outskirts of my hometown and we rarely meet.That's why I can't think in English.

That's natural.Any sentence or any thought that comes to our mind is in our mother tongue.Then we translate it in English or any other language that is foreign to us.That's why I think first in Hindi and then then translate it in English.

Yeah but i hope people can understand my english even my sentences look weird.

No,I am not so fluent in English.If I have to talk to someone in English,my mind gets busy in thinking in Hindi and then mentally translating my thoughts into English.I fully agree with you that thinking in our mother tongues is normal,or,say,natural for us.Switching on to thinking in any other language is difficult.For me,it is impossible and I have admitted my limitations.I can learn any language,read and write in it,but can't think in it.

else22- me too :) my language is Filipino but when I am posting some comments or chatting I can easily write in English BUT whenever I am talking to a foreigner just like my friend's husband who is from Missouri, I got really lost hahah I don't know what to say and all I can say was "yeah" "oh, no" "really?" haha that was really funny but I know that if you do it frequently ( I mean talking to a foreigner in English) you can really learn and I would love to learn more :)

Hi chantalle,I can understand your problem,because I too face it when someone suddenly starts talking to me in English.Actually while talking to someone,we have to think instantly and then then express it in words.This is something we are not used to do.Writing is quite a different think.While writing we take our time to think,frame sentences in our mind and write it in words.Writing in any language other than our mother tongue is easier than speaking in it.

Neither of them, wishjui. Your native language is divisible into two compartments each of which is a named language.

That means you have two mother tongues.It's nice that you are fluent in four Indian languages.But it does not mean that you can think in all these four languages.The other two languages are Indian languages,but they are not your mother tongues.You have two mother tongues and so you can think and even dream in both of them.I can also think and dream in Hindi and Oriya.I have studied English as the third language.I can write and read in English and also with a little more effort can speak in English,but thinking in English is something that I can't do.

You are right,ma'm.Recently I chanced to talk to a group of nuns from Mumbai.They talked to me in English and I was responding to them in English although with pauses.I know English and I read English books.Now I have been writing articles in English for article writing sites,and while writing them,I admit,I was thinking in Hindi and translating them in English quickly.This happens when I talk to someone in English.While talking I have to respond quickly,but while writing I have time to think which English words I should use to express myself.While speaking I have no time.I get confused which ENglish words I should use.I think,being fluent in speaking English needs a conductive atmosphere and time.I lack the former.Hence the problem.

You have been at an advantage.You got a conductive atmosphere.I lack it.Everybody here in my hometown thinks,reads and writes either in Hindi or the provincial language Oriya.I am trying to practice thinking in English and I am sure I will make it sooner or later.

Then you have no problem thinking in English.English is your mother tongue,so it is natural for you to think in this language.My mother tongue is Hindi and I do everything-reading,writing and thinking- in Hindi.

Actually we can use only the language correctly in speaking and writing that we use frequently in our daily life.Some of us live in an atmosphere that is conductive to using English.So thinkng in that language is not a problem for them.It is a problem for people like you and me who don't have such a conductive atmosphere.

That's the problem similar to mine.You lived with Italians and so you have no problem expressing yourself in Italian.I am an Indian and so I have no problem in expressing myself in Hindi.I can speak English only with pauses.English words don't come flowing in my mind.Thinking in English is even more difficult for me.

I have already tried it.It didn't work for me.They speak so fluently that I fail to get what they are saying.I have tried English news channels as well.