What language do the multilingual THINK in?

It is, in fact the person’s mother tongue. I speak English and Chinese but I generally think in English.

1. 3
2. spanish, english, italian
3. english
4. 3

I think in spanglish

I am nearly fluent in Spanish and can read Interlingua perfectly. When I am relaxed and hear Spanish I think in Spanish. However, if my mind is anything but tranquil I can only think in English (my first language) and have to translate in my head.
I must admit that even when my mind is relaxed I have a bit of difficulty with some Puerto Rican speakers. Not only do they talk soo fast, they tend to cut off the end of their sentences.
As for question #4, that’s a trick question. You aren’t holding up any fingers.

1. 2
2. English, Spanish
3. English
4. None. Your hands are down.

I think in English when I am in the US, but I find that I switch over to thinking in Spanish if I am living in Spain or South America. Oddly, though, when I try to speak French or German, languages I have studied but in which I am not fluent, it often comes out in Spanish.

You think in any of them, really. If you learn a language it becomes part of you, it’s not as if you’re temporarily holding on to it. I think in English (my second language) more than I do in Spanish (my first) and every so often I do so in French as well. This starts to happen as soon as you start to get dominion over the new language. Remember, once you learn a language, it is no longer foreign.

1. 2 (though I guess this qualifies me only as bilingual)
2. English and Spanish, working on French and Arabic
3. Spanish, then English
4. 6.. on one hand ;)

I always think in English, whether I’m speaking Spanish or anything else. Since I’ve always spoken Spanish though, and it was, technically, my first language, the mental translation happens very quickly or it just flows naturally, if that makes any sense. But if someone is explaining something to me I do translate it in my head.

You know, I have never thought about that so therefore, I don’t really know what language I think in. I guess it depends on what I am doing. I speak English and Spanish fluently but I find myself speaking “spanglish” a lot of the time. I suppose I think in both.

My mother speaks 5 languages; English was her 5th, but she’s lived in the US for nearly 50 years. She’s told me that she mostly thinks in English, but she counts in her native language.

1. 2
2. English, Gibberish
3. Toddlerese (a language restricted to those known collectively as toddlers).
4. 18 on one tentacle.

I have a friend that is fluent in at least five languages. I’m not sure what language he thinks in, I would asume it is English, but when he swears, he mixes them all up, making for a great mishmash of insults.

1. Two.
2. Dutch, English.
3. Dutch.
4. Seven.

It really depends. Usually, it’s Dutch, but when I use English a lot (e.g. on holiday), I start thinking in English too. It’s really a matter of habit, I suppose. I do recall in the past (when I was also less fluent in English) that I would think in English, then get stuck with my thoughts for a while as I couldn’t find the word I was looking for, until realising I could just continue my thoughts in Dutch…

1. Eight, but I’m only fluent in three of those.
2. English, Greek and German.
3. English.
4. Eleven.

Since all of my answers start with “E” I think the solution to your problem in your class of Espanol is e=mc2.

Seriously, I was born more or less bilingual (we spoke English at home but I learnt Greek quite young, almost simultaneously). I don’t think in English and then translate. Instead, I think in ideas. When I am speaking in German for example, I don’t think of “table” and then try to remember the German word for it. I think of that wooden thing with the four legs, and then translate that idea directly into either “Tisch” (if I remember the German word) or “table” or “trapezi” or “tabale” or whatever else comes to mind, picking the word that fits the language I’m using.

Thanks everyone! This is was an odd question, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t interesting!

@Jack79 So what about ideas, e.g. “peace”? You really think of the concept of peace? If so, when you think of a table, you don’t “visualize” the table but really think of the concept of a table?

If so, that is really interesting, considering there’s not really a good way to define table (e.g. a chair can be of wood with four legs, a table can be of something other than wood, and if you sit on a table, is it still a table of has it become a chair?). I wonder how you solve that problem while thinking.

It’s the same with ideas. You know how sometimes you’re speaking and you forget the word? It’s at the tip of your tongue, you know what word you mean, but try to remember it (imagine you want to characterise a person as “guillible” and you know it’s some word with “g” that means something like naive). That sort of thing. I know what I want to say, then translate the idea into the appropriate language.

@Jack79 That’s a great explanation. So I suppose we all do this to some extent, then…

I’l remember this, it’s a really cool insight :)

1. Two
2. English and Russian
3. Russian
4. Fingers? I am looking below that :)~~
5. I think in English ( I learned it 13 years ago)

English is the only language I’m fluent in, but I know bits and pieces of several others, and every now and then I’ll have a random thought in one of them. It happens most commonly with French.

@evelyns_pet_zebra I love swearing in Arabic or Turkish. It somehow fills your mouth better, you have all this built-up anger and say something really powerful, rather than the puny insults some other languages have to offer.

@Jack79 Ah, I have exactly the same with German. And I always have to laugh when a Flemish person swears or expresses anger. It’s just cute.

@Vincentt: “And I always have to laugh when a Flemish person swears or expresses anger. It’s just cute.”

I bet that makes them feel better. XD

1. 4
2. English, Afrikaans, French, Sign Language
3. English and French
4. Unless you are typing on the ceiling, none.

So the answer to the real question: I find that I think and dream in alternating languages. Sometimes I dream in english, sometimes I actually have dreams in sign language. Othertimes I speak afrikaans or french in my dreams. Though, other times, I think in something other than a linguistic language.

I don’t really think it matters exactly what language one thinks in…. Language is only one layer of cognition. At a deeper level, your brain does not operate by sending english messages around. Just something to think about.

I’m completely fluent in two languages (English, which is my mother tongue, and Hebrew) and know a third (Arabic) passingly well.

I think in the language in which I’m speaking, or which I’m reading or writing. If I’m reading in one language, and someone asks me a question in one of the others, it can take me a minute to “readjust” my thinking…

The two Semitic languages have completely superseded my prior knowledge of French; I have to really really concentrate to get the French back…

I dream in all three languages – it depends on the content of the dream, and to whom I’m speaking in the dream(!). In fact, I speak Arabic better in dreams than I do in waking life. I’m not making this up: Freud noted this phenomenon in “The Interpretation of Dreams” [1909].

Lastly, a curious thing: Although I am completely fluent in Hebrew, and can speak street Arabic with similar ease, if I meet someone for the first time and find my language skills faltering, I know there’s something about the person that’s making me uncomfortable. In other words, my language skills have become a barometer for my comfort level, and warn me of danger or discomfort before the rest of my cognitive/emotional receptors have “wised up”.

1. 5
2. English, Spanish, French, Italian, Hebrew (working on Greek)
3. Spanish, English
4. 5

Its funny, but I think in English.

1. 1
2. English
3. English
4. As many as you want.

I can’t speak from experience, but based on my psychological research it is the language used most frequently inside the last few weeks (some can switch in as little as a week). Students in language immersion programs are a great example. Within about three weeks most of them think in their immersed language.

1. Two.
2. English and Spanish. (Working on Japanese!)
3. Both English and Spanish.
4. The one in your nose.

Although I learned English and Spanish at the same time growing up, I mostly think in English. I guess it has something to do with living in America and being more exposed to the language. However, I will sometimes think in Spanish.

i know a very limited amount of french, but occasionally a french word pops up in my mind in place of an english one. i don’t think i really count though, as i am not multilingual, but monolingualandahalf.

1. 1
2. English
3. English
4. Depends

Even though I can’t speak another language fluently, I would expect that, if a person is truely fluent in a language, they can have their thoughts in that language.