For non-native English Speakers

I'm always intrigued by people who know more than one language.

What language do you think in? What language do you dream in? What language does your family speak?

[color="#000080"] When on Southperry or the internet itself, I think in english. I speak spanish as my native language and my family speaks in Spanish as well.

I guess my brain automatically switches to the language I'm speaking instantly.

It has happened that I dream speaking other languages though, like that one dream I would speak in japanese like, copying an anime scene or something like that. [/color]

I'm dutch, so everyone around me speaks dutch, my thinking dutch and english, but I can't really keep track of it. I don't really like the dutch language myself, it's really unlogical at some points, and it has an insane load of stupid rules, so I'm glad I can think in English. The funny thing is that my english teacher at school tends to go like "You guys have a hard time doing this..." and stuff like that, and in my head I'm like "Please, just shut up, I have an easier time doing this that doing my freaking native language!".

The cool thing about being able to think in another language is the fact that if you have to do something with that language (read a text or something) you don't have to go around to translate every word, because I no longer have to do Pineapple = Ananas -> dutch definition but I just know what a pineapple is. To me pineapple means as much as ananas, at least when it's about the fruit. Saves a lot of time.

I don't really remember what I dream, so I have no idea in which language that goes.

I also understand some french and german(the latter being better than the former) and plan to get a third language sometime (those 2 I named are just about horrible, really), but I don't know which that would be.

Some dutch for fun:

Hallo mensen hoe gaat het met jullie. Dit is dus nederlands, en wie dit leest is gek.

Thing is that dutch, english and german originated from the same language so it's probably not that hard to understand. It's mainly the stupid rules of the language that suck.

• What language do you think in?
  • English. But everyone I dare generalize that everyone thinks in the language they are most fluent in.
• What language does your family speak?
  • Native. Varies from families to families. Some parents want to get better at their English so they communicate with their children in English. Others want their children to hang on to their native roots so they speak their native language.

When I think, my brain processes it as English. When I speak most of the time, it is English. I do speak in my native tongue at home though, because I am forced. I can speak it fluently, without a doubt. Just last week, a cousin from Vietnam asked me how I was doing and a bunch of crap in Vietnamese over the internet. To her surprise, I could type in Vietnamese without any accent marks and could still read and understand the language.

All of my friends here in my town are Americans, so I'm used to speaking English more than I do with my native language. At home, if I speak English at my parents, I get yelled at. My family also speaks Vietnamese fluently, and their English is .. well enough that they can communicate. Whenever it came to paper-work or anything, sometimes, my dad gives it to me since I know English a lot better than he does.

I used to be able to speak French a bit too, but I forgot all of it now.

To be rather specific, I lived in my native country since I was born, then I moved to the US at the age of (1998). I participated in school asap after moving to the United States, with no knowledge of the English language. I slowly picked it up as I heard people speak, I think my first word was "Monkey", because someone was pissing me off, so I called him that.

I think, and for the most part, speak in English. However, my best friend since middle school is Greek, so over the years I've gone with him to Greece and interacted with his family. Fluent enough that I can keep a conversation speaking only in Greek. If I'm not around them or in Greece, the only time I speak in it is when i'm mad or frustrated.

• What language do you think in?
  • English and Dutch, like Hurrycane said, it's a lot easier to think in English than it is in Dutch. Dutch grammar is extremely confusing, whilst English grammar is a lot easier and goes automatic for me.
    People around me also speak Dutch, and depending on where you are they use some English words. Pinapple is a commonly used curse word too, yet it's concidered one of the "softer" ones.
• What language does your family speak?
  • Dutch. We're living in our native country so we're constantly using our own language.
• What language do you dream in?
  • I don't know, it's been a while since I actually remembered a dream. But I think the last time I did I dreamt in Dutch.

Personally I prefer English over Dutch, as it is an easier language and doesn't change as often. (Dutch orthography does change a lot, and the grammar is very complicicated.)
Like Hurrycane said, Dutch is a Germanic language, so it's easy for us to understand German. It's a bit harder to speak it though.

Funny how prevalent the dutch are in this thread.
I was raised Dutch and emigrated to Canada as a teenager. I used to think in Dutch and translate into English. After about 2 years or so I noticed that I was thinking exclusively in Dutch. I rarely speak Dutch and neither do my family members.
I dream in English as far as I know. BTW, have you ever tried to read something up close in a dream. Nearly impossible to do and a good sign that you're dreaming.

My first language is Cantonese, but I'm exposed to English a lot more than Chinese. I normally think in English now compared to when I was younger, and dream in English too although my skills in English aren't the best.

I barely speak in Chinese anywhere besides at home and karaoke. My family speaks Cantonese and Mandarin although for the sake of my sister we are speaking English now.

I usually think in what language sounds the best according to the topic on my mind. Sometimes it takes several words, if not an entire sentence, in danish to describe something that can be done with a single word in english.

We speak danish, being in Denmark and all. Unless I'm trying to piss off Jacob by rambling phrases from just about any language that comes to mind.

I dream in gibberish. Think Midna, but less understandable and without subtitles.

So, am I the only weeaboo with no actual understanding of the Japanese language who will catch themselves thinking the easy-to-catch-and-understand phrases like yatta, etc after marathoning an absurd amount of anime in a short period of time?

In my family we all speak spanish, I mostly think in english (for some bizare reason)

I dream in spanish o.0 (what kind of question was that Fiel?? o.o...)

I'm always intrigued by people who know more than one language.

What language do you think in? What language do you dream in? What language does your family speak?

I speak about 4 languages fluently.
In my head, I guess I kind of "switch languages" without the need to convert to another language to understand what they're saying, although sometimes I'll admit I'll do it sometimes. In my dreams the languages tend to be more so based either on Japanese or English. As for my family, they speak Arabic, English, and Spanish. We're a multi-lingual family

What language do you think in? What language do you dream in? What language does your family speak?

I don't really understand what one mean by "what language I think in", as I don't think in any language. I can't seem to wrap my head around someone saying "I think in English", as English is a language, not thinking! This also yields in dreams.

When you're talking with someone and want to express something, in order to make word a phrase correctly, I'll obviously "think" in the language we're talking about.

As for the language my family speak, it's either Dutch, Norwegian or German depending on which part of the family.

I'm always intrigued by people who know more than one language.

What language do you think in?
English if i'm in an English environment, Chinese if i'm in an Chinese environment, something that's not a language when I'm doing math
What language do you dream in?
Usually nothing is spoken when you dream (maybe it's just me, but I never talk to people in dream, we just kinda know what we're doing), with some rare cases that you hear voices/music etc, sometimes there's english, sometimes there's chinese, sometimes there's french (I learned in high school) sometimes it's a language I can make out what it is, (e.g Japanese) but don't understand the meaning.
What language does your family speak? Chinese most of the time

[COLOR="Red"]Hungarian. /endthread

But no, it's a lot easier to describe in Hungarian[/COLOR]

I don't really understand what one mean by "what language I think in", as I don't think in any language. I can't seem to wrap my head around someone saying "I think in English", as English is a language, not thinking! This also yields in dreams.

When you're talking with someone and want to express something, in order to make word a phrase correctly, I'll obviously "think" in the language we're talking about.

As for the language my family speak, it's either Dutch, Norwegian or German depending on which part of the family.

Here's a test!

Try learning a new language. Then as you first begin to speak/write, I find you'll most likely translate in your head a preconceived sentance in the language of your brain! Thought I guess it's also just the same as the language you're most comfortable in, like whatever language you use when you talk to your self/ remind yourself of things.

I do see your point though, just seems very philosophical =P

I defintely think in english, and have for as long as I can remember despite it not being my mother tongue.

I don't know If I'm considered a non native speaker. my siblings and I always speak english mixed with hebrew and my parrents speak hebrew. I'm from the u.s but now I'm living in israel.
but if your wondering. I think in english and most everyone here speaks hebrew.

I think in either Vietnamese or English, depending on the conversation I'm in. Although it doesn't explained why I mixed up the languages when I was chatting with 2 friends on 2 separate windows, I answered the Vietnamese friend in English and vice versa.
Suddenly switching from one to another poses a problem for me, though. I once had to think for 5 minutes to find an equivalent word in Vietnamese for the concept of an English word.
I also dream in both languages, but mom said I mumbled something unintelligible so I assume that'd be English.

@ Nikkie: I assume "thinking in a language" means promptly structuring a sentence to express whatever idea you're thinking without even thinking about that sentence, such as myself thinking of and saying out an answer to a question in the wrong language.

EDIT: Oh, everyone around me speaks Vietnamese, I still live in Vietnam, after all. I mostly speak English to myself, consider that an eccentricity or my own way of practicing English, whichever pleases you.

I`m from Germany-----> native german speaker. I Also dream in german lol.

I also understand Dutch very well but cannot speak it. *weird* And of course english.
furthermore is speak spanish and french.

Thats all..