Bear with me here.

[Super_Nintendo_Chalmers]

I just had a very interesting thought, brought on by another thread. I'll post my ramblings here, and if anyone can make out what I'm saying, I'd love to hear their thoughts on it.

Have you ever really noticed that the train of thought isn't some kind of super fast mechanism within the mind? I mean, I'm presuming that all of you, whilst thinking to yourselves, actually iterate what you're thinking. For example, when you get mixed up, you don't just switch onto the right path, you think to yourself; "Oh dear, wait no, that isn't right. How about.."
Another point; if you think to yourself in English, does that thereby mean that people who speak other languages will think to themselves in their own language?
I'm not sure if it's just me that has these random thoughts, which is why I posted it here.

 

[Trifixion]

Bilingual friend of mine told me the latter does happen to him, and sometimes he has moments of confusion when his thought process switches over from English to Spanish or vice versa.

 

[Kollega]

Yes, my train of thought tends to get derailed rather often. As for iterations, sometimes they even find their way in my speech - i repeat some thing a few times before i can formulate it perfectly. And despite i'm Russian, i think in English half of the time. I wonder if i will also think in German when i learn it.

Spoiler: Just because you asked to bear with you...

[HEADING=2]Ba-Dum-Tish.[/HEADING]

 

[DazZ.]

Some people think in visuals as well, I'm not one of them but I've thought this before and looked into it a bit.

That's the only bit of information I remember, but yes people think in their own language when talking to themselves because it's how they communicate.

Seeing how babies and people who don't know a language think would be interesting.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[Nickolai77]

Responding to your first point, i'm not sure what your getting at, you would have to explain it better. To me, my thoughts are detected by my consenousness, they can come up quite randomly, usually triggered by the external enviroment. e.g- "oh look, its snowing"

Alternativly, i, myself, consenousness, can summon thoughts at will. e.g-"I wonder what will be for dinner tonight?"

Altough, i don't usually mentally verbalise my basic thoughts, that tends to occur if i am thinking at deeper level. Ususally my basic thoughts are wordless impulses.


Secondly, bi-lingual people can think in both languages, sometimes one language takes presidence over the other, depending on the situation. Mono-lingual people of course just think in their native language.

 

[ScarlettRage]

Bilingual friend of mine told me the latter does happen to him, and sometimes he has moments of confusion when his thought process switches over from English to Spanish or vice versa.

its the same for my boyfriend except french instead of spanish
i speak some japanese and and french but it never happens haha

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

Non-english speakers do indeed think in their own langague first and then translate it to english if they are replying.

I think in the language I am spoken to, so English or French

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

I remember a guy on my bus asking if I thought in English or Chinese (English. Never did learn Chinese very well).

I've been curious as to which language my parents think in. Genetically Chinese, born and raised Vietnamese, immigrants to the U.S., speak the first two languages fluently. I'd definitely hazard a guess at Viet since most of my (applicable) family seems to default to it when they speak to each other (similar backgrounds all around)

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

Non-english speakers do indeed think in their own langague first and then translate it to english if they are replying

Maybe you do
I sure as hell don't

Yet another reason why Psych 2123 was a bullcrap course. Then again maybe you are broken.

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

Yet another reason why Psych 2123 was a bullcrap course. Then again maybe you are broken.

What are you talking about?
I'm not bro-kfrtzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
.....................
.................-ken!

I probably am though.
I think in anime style too

How do you think in anime style?. Is it like you see a leaf and then think about the 7400 different ways that you can shred it with your awesome eyelash?. Or is there a narrator inside your head with Japanese music playing in the background?

 

[wordsmith]

Spoiler: now just bear with me a sec...

The mind IS a super-fast mechanism, and as a gamer everyone will have experienced flying past that turning as your vehicle hits 300mph and you think "Buggered that one up...", that's all that's happening mentally. When a person dreams in a foreign language (or dreams in English but is unable to remember certain words, so uses the foreign word), that is when they become fluent in my opinion.

Yes, my train of thought tends to get derailed rather often. As for iterations, sometimes they even find their way in my speech - i repeat some thing a few times before i can formulate it perfectly. And despite i'm Russian, i think in English half of the time. I wonder if i will also think in German when i learn it.

EDIT:

Spoiler: Just because you asked to bear with you...

[HEADING=2]Ba-Dum-Tish.[/HEADING]

Damn ninja's >.>

 

[TheNamlessGuy]

DELETED

 

[Earthmonger]

English is my native tongue, but I do have an odd tic. I often think outloud, bits and pieces of internal dialogue, but when I do it's in norsk, not english. Inside my skull I sometimes think in a non-existent language while using abstracts and images to represent any meaningful course of logic.

My wife is norwegian but claims she thinks in english.

 

[Jedoro]

I know some Spanish, but not enough to be considered fluent so I always think in English.

As for the super train of thought, sometimes I have to consciously change tracks but other times I can instantly jump over.

 

[rokkolpo]

ofcourse, why would you think in a different language?
people always think in their native language.

 

[Cargando]

I think I know what you mean. You are saying that thoughts are not instantaneous because we say them in our heads, correct? But, it is also possible to think without words, merely the impressions of them. For example, when reading a book, you don't read [i/]every[/i] word, but you still know it's there. As for languages... well, what is a language? Words, with meaning attatched to them. It is possible to... think without words.

 

[Floppertje]

ofcourse, why would you think in a different language?
people always think in their native language.

wrong, I don't.
At least, not always. It depends on how well you speak the other language.

Thinking doesn't happen in words, more like in images or ideas, which you attach words to. so if your control of any language is good enough, you will automatically attach the images in your mind to words in that language, without going through the trouble of translating them first.
It saves time, why should I think in my own language when I'm talking to someone in english? I'm talking in english, I'm listening in English, so I don't bother translating the words, I already know what we're talking about. besides, some words just don't translate, you attach them to an image which you needed a whole sentence to describe in your own language.

am I making any sense?

edit: bloody ninja's...