What language do you think in?

I'm bilingual, English/French, with English being my mother tongue. There have been times when I've wanted to tell my husband something and I can only think of the French word LOL Since he was born in KY and only moved here to be with me a few years ago, he doesn't have the French language yet. So, between us, we manage to figure out what I'm trying to say LOL If it happens with my kids, I just tell them in French because they're doing well in the second language now. But I almost always think in English, then translate to French, when there is time to think about what I'm going to say. If I'm already in a French conversation, I follow it exclusively in French - no "translating" in my head.

i usually think in mother tongue then i try to translate in which ever language i want. and i am multi lingual. i know four language and trying to learn other so many languages also. i think before speaking one should think in mother tongue and then translate that will more easier.

Hi there Rhino, I am back. I actually speak German as well as English, it is getting a bit rusty now, lol, as I hardly speak it anymore.

I am bilingual. In fact most of the Indians should be bilingual. In India it is compulsory to know Hindi the official language and your own mother tongue. This is so because there are 415 languages in India. That's the reason. So I am basically a trilingual. I know Hindi, Bengali and English. I do speak in my mother tongue first which is Bengali before translating it.

It is natural to assume that one always think in one's mother tongue. But it is not always true. The language which one speakes in his day to day life, and he uses most often, that language his mind will use. But that is a slow process. For example, I spoke in my mother tongue for my first 15 years. The next 6 years I have been speaking in english ( due to a change in location ), so now I started thinking in english.

well i speak spanish, my native language, english and gallego fluently. Then a lil french. When i speak in english or gallego i don't need to translate all the time, since it's fluent enough in my head already. But in french i am not as skillful yet, so yes, sometimes i need to stop and think about it in spanish first and then try to find the words in fench. But hopefully i will reach a great level in a year or two. Then i will go for another language!

I speak 5 languages but I think in English.

When I came to USA, I was speaking English but thinking in Romanian... As time passed, I begun to think more in English. But, for example, I still swear (automatically) in Romanian when I play PC games and stuff doesn't come out the way I want it. :))) It just comes to me like that. Thing is, no matter what language you speak more and what language you think in, you will never forget your mother's tongue.

i usually think in english, but ive also also found myself thinking in dari, pashto, or french sometimes which are the other languages i am fluent in. i guess it all depends on what i'd done that day, who i'd been with, where i'd been, and what language i had been speaking throughout the day. i dont think in english first and then translate it before speaking the other languages. it just comes out naturally, so i guess at those times im consciously or sub-consciously thinking in those languages.

Well I am not bilingual, but I always try to think in English. But unfortunatelly my vocabulary is very poor, that is why I can not express myself well, and I have to search for words in the dictionary. (for example now I searched the "vocabulary" If I had translated the hungarian into english I would have said: "wordtreasure" instead of "vocabulary")

I think both in French and English. French is my mothertongue so it is very natural for me to think in french. But now I live in the United States and I think in English as well. Now I even catch myself thinking in English when I speak french ! LOL but only for short expressions or words But I remember when I first arrived, I was still thinking in french and having to concentrate and make an effort all the time to undertstand would tire me and after a month I had like an "English-language-fed-up" ... It was just too exhausting having to concentrate all the time. Because when it is your mothertongue you don't have to do that, your brain undertsands everything naturally, but in another language you have to get used to it. Anyway I think after three months I was no longer having such a hard time with concentrating, and now after a year I watch TV in English just as I was in French, it is no longer an issue ... Hope it will help you ;)

For whatever country we came from , its important that we study, know and learn ENGLISH because Eng lish is a Universal Language. It is necessary that we can understand and can speak English Language.

i think in my mothertongue...hindi..always...n yes i always translate into other languages before speaking

I'm an American, so English is my first language. My dad is the french teacher at my old high school, so naturally, I learned french. When I practiced it enough, i could think in french without having to translate in my head. But like you said, lack of practice kills that technique. My vocabulary nowadays is almost nil.

arabic for sure

I am like you..I am English. My husband is French and I did learn some, but like you..we sort of let it slide. I have asked my husband, though and i know that he thinks in French and then translates it in English. He said that's the only way he can do it...he speaks pretty good English, but his mind still works in French. :)

since here in our country we have differents dialects in some areas though our national language is tagalog. I speak Tagalog, Bisaya, a liitle bit Ilonggo, English and some basics in Nihonggo (Japanese Language).

Here in the Philippines, we have so many dialects perhaps more than 80 because every city has its own language but then our national language would have to be Filipino also known as Tagalog. But of course though English is only the 2nd language, it's what we primarily use in the Govt. and its also being taught in school (from nursery till college). SO for me, I do speak, English, tagalog and hiligaynon/ilonngo (my native tongue). But i would also love to learn how to speak other languages like spanish, french and italian. Well maybe someday, ill enroll myself in order for me to be multi-lingual.

english only

I know Spanish very well, I would say I am bilingual at it. I know the basics of Italian. Sometimes it has happened where someone asked me what a word means in Spanish in English. I couldn't think of the English word and I had to explain to them what it means, that has happened in Spanish too, I would be thinking and I cannot think of the English word and only think of the Spanish word! One time, when I was in Spain, I could only think of the Italian phrase and not the Spanish phrases so I had to ask one of my host brothers how to say it in Spanish (because he knew Italian). I normally think in either language English or Spanish, but I usually don't translate unless someone asks me too. When I first began to learn Spanish I would translate between the two languages, but if you think about it, you should really not do that. When you are in another country they speak that language and they don't translate back and forth and when you learn English you don't translate back and forth. Of course, I know people want to know the translations :). Regards, Pablo