I’ve found that the creative process is largely without words. It’s a mindset, an attitude, a way of seeing. I oscillate between thinking and non-thinking when I am engaged in art and music.
So, whether multilingual people are more creative is sort of missing the point.
Do taller people get more wet when standing in the rain that shorter people? hehe
Hi Maitee,
When I speak in Spanish I think in Spanish and when I speak in Catalan I think in Catalan. There’s no translation and no effort at all!
When I’m not speaking, that I suppose is what you asked, I usually think in Catalan. In a general rule, I speak Spanish with my mother and some friends, and Catalan with my father, my sister, my wife and some other friends. So percentually, I speak more Catalan than Spanish in my everydays life.
A funny thing: My mother has always spoken Spanish to my father and my father has always spoken Catalan to my mother. Me personally I can’t do it!! If someone talks to me either in Catalan and Spanish, I just unconsciously switch to that language.
It’s the same as when I get used to speak to someone either in Catalan or Spanish, afterwards I can’t change, it’s always that language. I just have 1 friend with whom I can speak both languages naturally! It’s weird, insn’t it?
No, just how the brain is wired at the moment. You have a pattern/rule somewhere of who does which language with whom.
A slightly different scenario illustrates how wiring can change: Only a few months ago I would again and again use French when talking to my Spanish tutor, Berta, especially if I had had a French conversation a couple of hours before our session. It drove me to distraction! I mentioned this to Steve and (I think) his reply was that that served a useful purpose. Curiously enough, since then I’ve been able to separate the two languages better.
I suppose you’re right Susanne! I must be something unconscious somewhere within the brain!
“It’s the same as when I get used to speak to someone either in Catalan or Spanish, afterwards I can’t change, it’s always that language”
alsuvi, I have a catalan friend who told me JUST THAT hahaha
SanneT that’s true, you don’t switch to french anymore. I guess your brain is switching to autopilot now :)))
Yeah, it may sound stupid, but it’s true!
I remember some years ago, we had my grandmother living at my parents’ house for a couple of months. She was from a small town near Ponferrada, and she was almost 86, so she just spoke Spanish, of course. So obviously we (my sister, my father and I) had to speak in Spanish between us to let her understand us… wow!! The first days it was a nightmare!!! It was exhausting!! We were constantly apologizing and repeating sentences!! Fortunately, after some days, it was easier, but even after 2 months, I really didn’t find myself confortable speaking to my father and sister in Spanish and the other way round! It was like artificial, unnatural!!
hahahah alsuvi. It’s funny how the mind works! 
Thanks for your answer. I think it added a lot to the discussion here. Yes, you guessed it. I wondered in what language you think when you aren’t speaking to anyone.
Most bilinguals and trilinguals (since childhood) I’ve known or heard of, stick with one language with one person.