A Silly Question for the Bilingual

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Replies

  • warmachinejt
    warmachinejt Posts: 2,162 Member
    in english, because i basically grew up here. However i am very proud of my spanish and will speak it to anyone who i think is hispanic. I also know elementary german and have awesome pronunciation.
  • genuinelyfrans
    genuinelyfrans Posts: 584
    in english, because i basically grew up here. However i am very proud of my spanish and will speak it to anyone who i think is hispanic. I also know elementary german and have awesome pronunciation.

    ^ Agreed with the first sentence. I don't know other languages other than English and Spanish
  • hlouisej
    hlouisej Posts: 45
    My native language is English but I have lived in France for 16 years so I use both and think in both.
  • LiteBrite007
    LiteBrite007 Posts: 294 Member
    lol Cute question. :flowerforyou:

    I think mostly in English, my native tongue but I often speak French in my head when I am angry. When I am angry I think so hard I can't remember the words in French so it allows me to be angry far less often and for a seriously short amount of time.
  • BosLady1
    BosLady1 Posts: 83
    You are the 2nd person to ask a question like this. One on MFP and the other being my brother lol. I love this question. When I was 16 I lived in Mexico for 8 months as a foreign exchange student. I nearly forgot English (no joke) and would think in Spanish. When I came back and felt like I was relearning English, I still thought in Spanish lol. 12 years later, I still sometimes think in Spanish, especially if I am thinking a thought that I don't want anyone else around me understanding if I happen to think aloud lol.
  • Dethea
    Dethea Posts: 247 Member
    Mostly I think in English, but when I'm speaking and reading in Spanish I think in Spanish also. And sometimes I make an effort to think in Spanish in order to practice.
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    At one point I used to speak 9 languages. That was when I was in the old country. I used to think in Urdu.

    Since I came to US and have been here for almost 10 years, I mainly speak english only and now speak 4 languages only but I now think in English.

    For me its more to do with the environment and what language you speak day to day more than your mother tongue. I sometimes talk to my family and I can't help myself talk in english primarily even though I can speak and read other languages fairly well
  • CajunNino
    CajunNino Posts: 269
    English & LA French

    Like some have said..It depends. I suppose most of the time I think in English, except when I'm actually using my Louisiana French, then I think in Louisiana French. The barbershop here is exclusively French and you can get behind pretty quick if you're not thinking in French, too. Understand?
  • PeaceCorpsKat
    PeaceCorpsKat Posts: 335 Member
    Depends on the situation... most of the time English, because it's my native language.

    However, as my strongest western language is Dutch when I am learning new languages I think in Dutch.
  • maylene1853
    maylene1853 Posts: 58
    it depends but here in america i think in english my first language, if im among all spanish speaking people or especially out of the country in guatemala, i think in spanish cause ill have no use for the english.
  • mielchat
    mielchat Posts: 41 Member
    English about 90% of the time. A little less when I'm actually in France.
  • virginiejaubin
    virginiejaubin Posts: 497 Member
    Mother language: French. I'm from Montreal.
    Working a lot in English so I often think in English, but I always count in French.
    Speaking Spanish everyday too with my coworker who is from Colombia, so I always switch from French to English with him.
    Learned German when I was 17 and using it from time to time.
  • gmleo
    gmleo Posts: 1
    Depends on the language and level of fluency. As I am completely fluent in French, I always think in French when I'm speaking it. My Spanish is functional but not perfectly fluent, and my German is laughable, so in those languages I'm usually thinking in English and doing a rapid translation in my head.
  • BSummers321
    BSummers321 Posts: 94 Member
    I tend to think in English, but sometimes I'll think in Punjabi (my mother tongue) and on occasion urdu/hindi, usually when something is really bothering me lol. I turn into my mother.
  • paolathore
    paolathore Posts: 1 Member
    I've been living in the states for 4 years now, i'm originally from Mexico and my thoughts are in Spanish but sometimes I dream in English....
  • KaleidoscopeEyes1056
    KaleidoscopeEyes1056 Posts: 2,996 Member
    I'm not exactly bilingual, I am taking ASL classes, but I'm not fluent. However, when I speak ASL, I think in ASL. It's easier and less time consuming to think in the language I'm speaking than to think in English and then translate to ASL.
  • catshark209
    catshark209 Posts: 1,133 Member
    English, always. But I lose my English when I'm upset. I never think in Spanish though.
  • smiley245
    smiley245 Posts: 420 Member
    For the most part I think and count in french....We mostly speak english at home though
  • Papabear0428
    Papabear0428 Posts: 63
    I am so jealous of you!!! I would love to be fluent in something other than English, and you 've got three!!
  • BeckiCharlotte13x
    BeckiCharlotte13x Posts: 259 Member
    Thinking back, when i was living in france, there was no thought process as to what the person said, and how i needed to reply.

    so i guess, yes, that little voice in your head does change language.
  • F__7
    F__7 Posts: 371 Member
    I don't feel a difference at least on two out of three languages..
  • iRebel
    iRebel Posts: 378 Member
    my first language is English, however I also speak Spanish to an advanced level. In times of crisis my first thoughts are in Spanish (Ay, Dios mio!)
  • journalistjen
    journalistjen Posts: 265 Member
    I know some Spanish--I had to study it for two years in college on top of two years in high school. I probably could become fluent, but I have no one to talk to in Spanish. I was at the point where I was learning verbs in different tenses and reading short stories (mainly simple ones or children's tales) in Spanish. It's difficult because, I can only "think" in Spanish with simple things. I spend a lot of time translating in my head.
  • ShyFeather
    ShyFeather Posts: 138 Member
    I think in whatever language I'm using at the time, but I'm also very visual so sometimes I'm not really even thinking in a language either if that makes sense.
  • MariaLivingFit
    MariaLivingFit Posts: 224 Member
    When I was younger and lived in Greece (grade school - junior high) I thought mostly in Greek. However, after moving to the US I started thinking in English and now even have trouble speaking in Greek! ;-)
  • SA_80_2012
    SA_80_2012 Posts: 45 Member
    I've been in Australia since I was 9yrs old, so even though I'm from Central America and Spanish was my first language and the only language I knew well for the first 9yrs of my life, I now mostly think in English. And yeah, I still speak Spanish fluently, even though we aren't surrounded by Hispanics/Latinos or whatever you guys in the USA classify Spanish speakers as
  • JacquelineD35
    JacquelineD35 Posts: 279 Member
    depends.. If I am around my family I am thinking in Spanish around my friends and co-workers English and if you have managed to piss me off then definitely Spanish lol

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