Is it normal to think in a language that's not your native language?

[Not Matt]

I am a full blooded Norwegian, I've lived here in the black and white land of ice and oil for my entire life. But my brain still switches between telling me things in Russian and English.maybe every language has it's own traits and options that others don't have, what you're born as or learned first doesn't matter, it's what you make of it

 

[maxben]

Putting aside that I was never that good at learning other languages, and therefore think and speak in english, I am not certain that this is normal. The mind should default to what language it learned first, from childhood. The deeper it is, the more natural it feels. If you are thinking in Italian, say, than you have the rare quality of feeling more comfortable with another's language by instinct. Not common, I think, on a global scale.

That's an interesting question, is your first language always the one that is more "comfortable"? From my experience, if you learn a second or third language early (younger than 10 years old) you can be equally comfortable with it even if it is not your first or, if you use the second language more often, even more comfortable. I think purely in English, a language which I learned when I was 8 and I lived in an English country for 15 years before returning to my home country. Now my native language is just awful, I make mistakes and my accent is completely wrong.

On the other hand, my dad who learned English when he was in his 30s will never think in English.

 

[Dismal purple]

I'm swedish, we are pretty good at english here.
Over 90% of the media that I consume is in english. I read and write in english every day so it's natural for me to think in english.

It depends on the situation which I'll use, though. Swedish is good for everyday occurrences because that's when I use it the most. English is good for tech stuff and ideas that I read about and discuss on the internet. I find english to be very structured. There is probably a word for anything that you want to describe.

I wish I was better at Swedish to be honest. It's very common in Sweden for people to mix up the languages because it's more convenient and I tend to do it too, it sounds very awkward.

I generally don't spend a whole lot of time thinking in any language.

Language is rigid and inflexible, while in my mind I can generally bring the whole concept to bear without having to rely on language.

The truth is always bigger than the words we use to describe it.

I'll only really think in language if I'm thinking about something I'm going to say or write or buy or experience.

I use language for memory. I will formulate whatever I need to remember in words and it's easier to remember that way.

 

[Karelwolfpup]

I'm English yet I think I spend about a third to half my time thinking in German, and more often than not when I'm surprised by something I make exclamations out loud in German or Swedish or occasionally Russian.

I dunno, depends where your headspace is at tbh.
Must admit I have trouble setting my head straight when people ask me to translate things in German to English, I tend to get stuck in a Germanic headspace and my English suffers terribly XDD

but mostly I think in 2 languages: bad English and very bad English XD

 

[Vale]

Yeah, I have that with English. Hungarian is a perfectly fine language, but I simply stopped using it for thinking apparently. It's probably mental illness or something.

 

[Ytomyth]

Yup, same here. I sometimes even have to think about what language I'm using at the moment. Dutch being my own language and catching myself thinking, talking or whatever in English.

 

[Mersadeon]

It happens even if you haven't moved to the country of that language. I kinda switch between english and german in my head, depending on which one is more adequate for what I'm thinking about. Casual conversation and small talk seem so much easier in english - at least for me.

EDIT: Also, once you become fluent enough you won't really notice a switch. I often have to think pretty hard to remember what language a text was in after I read it.

 

[Psychobabble]

Pretty much as the title says.
I've been wondering this for a while now and no one's been able to really give an answer.
Also, do any of you do that aswell?

Normal? No it's a bit unusual. Nothing bad about it though and in fact I feel it's a healthy mental exercise. With the added benefit of helping you to steal the worlds fastest fighter jet. (Clint Eastwood reference)

Er ... well nothing bad about it unless it's a strange language such as ancient Chthonian, binary, or Martian. In that instance you should turn yourself in to a mental institution ... or The Men In Black.

 

[TheKrigeron]

Well I spend most of my time watching and listening to English shows than talk to my Algerian Comerades, but it mostly stems from the fact that our official (Complicated but very complete) Arabic language is not the spoken Language, no what we use in day to day life is some kind of Hibryd between French and Arabic, so I think in English because your language is EASY (there I said it)
So to answer your question... meh who cares.

 

[Laurents van Cauwenberghe]

My dominant language (English) is not my native language (Dutch), so I spend virtually all my time thinking and speaking languages other than my native one.

I think that's fairly common for people who are in immigrant/expat situations or are minority language groups in their own countries, and so end up studying and/or working in a second/third/etc language - you really have to think in the dominant tongue to succeed.

That's not the case for me though, my native language is dutch aswell and i tend to think (without realizing it at first) in english. I still live in Belgium and there aren't a lot of english people there as far as i know.
It's very useful though, english at school is incredibly easy and if i'd ever want to move to England, America or any other country where they speak english

 

[Laurents van Cauwenberghe]

Pretty much as the title says.
I've been wondering this for a while now and no one's been able to really give an answer.
Also, do any of you do that aswell?

Normal? No it's a bit unusual. Nothing bad about it though and in fact I feel it's a healthy mental exercise. With the added benefit of helping you to steal the worlds fastest fighter jet. (Clint Eastwood reference)

Er ... well nothing bad about it unless it's a strange language such as ancient Chthonian, binary, or Martian. In that instance you should turn yourself in to a mental institution ... or The Men In Black.

I do occasionally tend to drift off in binary daydreaming, I'll go to the men in black if I'm allowed to work for them after they cure me!

 

[Raikas]

My dominant language (English) is not my native language (Dutch), so I spend virtually all my time thinking and speaking languages other than my native one.

I think that's fairly common for people who are in immigrant/expat situations or are minority language groups in their own countries, and so end up studying and/or working in a second/third/etc language - you really have to think in the dominant tongue to succeed.

That's not the case for me though, my native language is dutch aswell and i tend to think (without realizing it at first) in english. I still live in Belgium and there aren't a lot of english people there as far as i know.
It's very useful though, english at school is incredibly easy and if i'd ever want to move to England, America or any other country where they speak english

Heh, well, nothing is universal, so there are always exceptions to everything - but I think English is unique in that there's so much Anglophone pop-culture that it's hard to avoid, whereas with other languages it's possible to virtually never hear them.

I look at the older immigrants in Toronto (the little old men and women talking to themselves on the bus, which I take to mean they're thinking in that language), and while the people who can keep exposure to their mother-tongues usually mutter in those (Cantonese, Mandarin, Italian, Hindi, Portuguese), the smaller-language folks mutter in English, generally (and French in Montreal). It's hard to keep your other languages in mind when you've almost no one to speak them with, y'know?

 

[Laurents van Cauwenberghe]

My dominant language (English) is not my native language (Dutch), so I spend virtually all my time thinking and speaking languages other than my native one.

I think that's fairly common for people who are in immigrant/expat situations or are minority language groups in their own countries, and so end up studying and/or working in a second/third/etc language - you really have to think in the dominant tongue to succeed.

That's not the case for me though, my native language is dutch aswell and i tend to think (without realizing it at first) in english. I still live in Belgium and there aren't a lot of english people there as far as i know.
It's very useful though, english at school is incredibly easy and if i'd ever want to move to England, America or any other country where they speak english

Heh, well, nothing is universal, so there are always exceptions to everything - but I think English is unique in that there's so much Anglophone pop-culture that it's hard to avoid, whereas with other languages it's possible to virtually never hear them.

I look at the older immigrants in Toronto (the little old men and women talking to themselves on the bus, which I take to mean they're thinking in that language), and while the people who can keep exposure to their mother-tongues usually mutter in those (Cantonese, Mandarin, Italian, Hindi, Portuguese), the smaller-language folks mutter in English, generally (and French in Montreal). It's hard to keep your other languages in mind when you've almost no one to speak them with, y'know?

hehe, fair enough

 

[Eamar]

It's probably all to do with how immersed you are in the language in question. Sadly I don't speak any modern languages, but there was one time when I was revising for an exam and hitting the Latin seriously hard, and I did end up dreaming in Latin one night. Definitely one of the weirder experiences of my life.

So yeah, if that can happen to me I'm sure it must happen to bilingual folks/people living in a country other than their home country all the time.

 

[BeeGeenie]

Thinking in a second language is perfectly normal and healthy.

When you learn a language, you don't do it in isolation, so it's natural that certain contexts and situations make using a particular language feel more natural. Your brain can code switch automatically whenever it subconsciously feels a particular language, or even dialect, is better for the situation.

For some reason, I usually code switch in the car (because there's nothing like Spanish for complaining about traffic). XD

 

[Jark212]

I actually asked a friend of mine from Brazil this very question a few months ago. He said that when he's around us he speaks and thinks in English, but when he's at home he speaks and thinks in Portuguese.

 

[Someone Depressing]

I don't think in any language... brain language? Am I the next step in evolution?

AM I GOD? ANSWER ME, WHORE MOTHER.

Thinking isn't a physical thing. It's entirely mental, I've... never honestly thought about the language I think in. and I can't really... it? I don't know? My native language is English, and when going through intense mental processes, I mentally evaluate thingsi nEnglish, but it's rare, so... that?

 

[TheRiddler]

Nah. I mostly think in English, though I will occasionally slip between it and Marathi (my native language). I mean, it makes sense. I live in America, and most of my media, social interaction, and writing is in English. Even though I'm reasonably fluent in Spanish (took classes in school and lived in Spain for a couple months), I don't really think in it. So, I don't know. Depends, I guess.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Well no, as normal goes, it's normal to think in your native language. It's all good if you do though. I think in English all the time and my native language is Spanish.