I have always wandered, say you and a friend are both native English speakers and you both move to Germany. You’re both trying to learn German, but when you casually talk to each other it is in English obviously. Say a few years go by and your rather fluent in German, and use it in the day for your job. But when you go home at the end of the day you and your friend still converse in English. Would you think in your mind in German because of how much more you use it more than English, or would you think in English because it is still your native language. Also, which language would you dream in?
I would think that you would think in German when you are speaking German in the day, and possibly think in English when your speaking it to your friend or calling English speaking friends or family on the phone. I wouldn’t think you would dream in German however, because you English being your native language.
I lived with a Swedish family for a full year when I was 16 years old. My Swedish mother was an expert instructor in other languages and told the family they were not allowed to speak to me in English. It was a fabulous way to learn quickly. For the first 6 months, I was translating Swedish into English in my head. Then I had a one week period when my brain was frozen. I tried to think of what I wanted to say in Swedish. Nothing! Then I tried to think of what I wanted to say in English. Also nothing! At the end of that bizarre week, it felt like had someone flipped a switch in my head. I thought in Swedish and dreamed in Swedish. I was conversationally fluent. After I arrived back home, I was teased for having a Swedish accent for a while although I found my brain converted back quickly to my native language.
It is possible I suppose to dream in both English and German. I have had experiences dreaming in a foreign language for one reason or another. Did I ever think in the other language? Well… not really, although, I wasn’t fluent in the language either. Most on my dreams have of course been in English, but the rare occasion when they’re not, is fun. I should qualify this, however, by dreaming in the language I am not suggesting the entirety of the dream was in the language foreign to me, just that parts of the dream were in the foreign language. So if you want to know if your whole dream would be in German or what not, couldn’t say at this point.
I can speak as a native Spanish and Catalan, but my thoughts are always in Catalan. If I have to speak in Spanish, I won’t translate at all. This is perfectly natural for me and for most of people in Catalonia.
I can speak as a native Spanish and Catalan, but my thoughts are always in Catalan. If I have to speak in Spanish, I won’t translate at all. This is perfectly natural for me and for most of people in Catalonia.
No matter how many languages I’ve studied… my mind is always thinking in Spanish, unless I’m in an environment where another language is needed, i.e. at work where everything around me is in English, and even then is mostly 50-50.
I think that thinking in a language means that we do not translate to our native one - learning a language is be able to understand it and to communicate with it. Translation is another step.
I don’t know about thinking in another language, but I do know that I’ve had dreams in Chinese, and it is often that I have a conversation or hear one where and I can’t recall whether what was said was said in English or Chinese.
I always find those experiences interesting, because I can recall the content of the conversation, but not what language. I wouldn’t say I’m translating to English, but if I try to recall a conversation I often recall it in English regardless of whether it was or not. It’s like as though the memory is stored as an experience stripped of any language.
I’m pretty sure I’m not translating because if I actually try to translate it takes more time and more concentration.
“Try to think in English!”
It’s what I’ve often been told by friends of mine who were quite good at English or at least thought they were. But I guess they didn’t think in English. They were just convinced that they were thinking in English because they felt comfortable when speaking. I feel comfortable when using English but I definitely don’t think in English and will probably never do it.
I’ve often dreamed that I was able to fly, like a bird. Nevertheless, I guarantee you I will never climb on the roof of my house to give it a try
I definitely don’t ‘think’ in French yet. I think I would have to be living in a French speaking country, using it all the time to get to that stage. I like lsims’ story, about going through that transitional phase.
I don’t remember a dream ever having enough language in it for me to remember that it was in either English or Finnish. I usually day dream in English (some might say too much), though I’ve been told that I sometimes talk in my sleep in Finnish. I definitely think in English, but some things like basic thoughts and calculations are readily available in both Finnish and English.
I listened to a French radio program in Australia today (on my mp3 player) and the French ex-pat guy said that he doesn’t use much French and may have forgotten a few words. Every-so-often he would throw in an English word (one example was ‘name tag’) when the French one didn’t come to mind. I would argue that he thinks in English, but that could easily be changed after a decent visit to France. In any case, he is a native speaker to me.
I believe this is a very interesting psychological subject. My grandmother taught me to count in German when I was 3. Having lived the most of my life in Russia I continue counting in German and I have to make an effort to count in Russian.
I think by learning new languages we create new connections between cells in our brain, and sometimes it could be possible to think or to dream in different languages leaving one language as a main. I often dream at night in German or English(especially if I was learing or reading in these languages more than two hours the day before), but if I ‘forget’ in my dream some words in one language I automaticly substitude it by the word from another language and then also automaticly return to the ‘main language’ of the dream.
After visiting my friends or relatives in Germany it’s difficult for me during the first week to speak Russian. It means, I can of course speak Russian, but first words in my head appears within a week in German and only after an effort also in Russian. For example going by bus I would like to say firstly(and sometimes I say really): “Steigen Sie aus?”(Do you get out?)- and only after making an effort in Russian: “Вы выходите?”
Of course, rohr4842, thinking and dreaming are occurring as a range of pictures, but ‘heros’, characters of them speak (doch!) in some language, and their languages can be different!
At least the ‘heros’ of my thoughts speak both in Russian, German or English.
And our studying or just using of any language reflects involuntarily to the action that we do instantly after it.
For example I make spelling mistakes in English if I spell at once after my French studying but usually I hardly make them.
And if these neuron connections were engrained in our childhood, they remain for ever like with my counting in German.
I had always wondered about this subject, one of the kids I teach is half Norwegian and half English. He said that when he is in Norway and speaking Norwegian he thinks in Norwegian but when he is England and speaking English he thinks in English. Oddly he said he finds it difficult to speak in Norwegian when he can hear English being spoken around him, so I am not entirely sure what is going on there maybe he is just ‘wired up’ wrong. Lol.
maybe he is just ‘wired up’ wrong. Lol.