Weird question... what language do you think in?

SantaHoe

This is something I've been curious about lately... and it's for the bi-lingual people out there.
When you're thinking something out, like planning a shopping list in your head... which language do you use?
Is it always the same one?
Do you ever mix them in the same sentence?

I suppose you'd have a dominant language, but I wonder sometimes.
My Irish language skills are lacking and I don't use it in every day speech, but I find myself using "agus" instead of "and" a lot of the time in my head (yet never in speech)... which prompted me to wonder about this.
Maybe a deep-rooted psychological desire to cling to my heritage in the face of increasing globalisation... God who knows?!

Any experiences/comments?

luckat

I think you mostly think in the language that's dominant for you, but certain phrases and concepts will always be in their language of origin. So if you go and live in a country where a different language is spoken, for the first couple of years you'll think in your current language, but then gradually more and more of your thinking (assuming you're immersed within the new language and culture, living with people who speak that language to you, working in it, etc) will be in the new language.

On the question of particular things being in a particular language, there's probably a fair number of English-speakers in Ireland who can only add at speed in Irish, because they learned their arithmetic that way. On the other hand, I heard what was obviously a native speaker chatting away on TG4 the other night and he inserted "twenty-six" into his conversation without thought, rather than saying the number in Irish. Odd. Ait!

Gael

I went to an Irish school for six years and for a few years after I left I used to do all my mental arithmetic in Irish, though I've grown out of it now which is a pity.
But the language in which you think can change very quickly. I remember hearing about some students who went to a very strict Gaeltacht course and apparently more than one of them was to be heard speaking in their sleep in Irish by the end of the second week.

snickerpuss

Once i listen to some irish then for ages i cant stop thinking through irish and i do sometimes but mostly it'd be through english.
I wish i had someone else who spoke irish so it would be more often!

stoopidkid

i usually think in irish.. i mix a few english words in here n there but considerin irish is my first language i think it'd be weird to think as bearla..

Inspector Gadget

That's a very interesting question!

Although I'm a reasonably competent (if slightly out-of-practice) Irish speaker (accent is no problem, but I sometimes forget fairly mundane words/expressions at inopportune moments - my Dad is very much a native speaker, grew up in a Gaeltacht, but went to school outside it, for reasons I can't fathom right now...) I never really considered this too deeply - however...

I have noticed that at times I stumble in sentences (while speaking Irish) because I can't find the words to describe what I'm thinking - I never envisaged my thought processes as happening in a given language - but I do feel that Irish is somewhat restrictive because it has a very narrow vocabulary compared to English - then again, practically every known langauge has a poor vocabulary compared to English, considering that it draws words from innumerable other languages - where only one word for a given thing may be in common use in Irish, there may be twenty or more in English (I suppose it keeps thesaurus writers employed ), and I'm afraid that it appears that I'm repeating myself by using the same words (especially descriptive terms) frequently during a conversation. So perhaps I think in English. However, I have found myself doing mental arithmetic in Irish, if I'm having a conversation with someone in Irish...

To add to the confusion, though I'm not inclined to sit back and reflect on how my own thought process works - hell, I'm not sure I'm in a position to examine that objectively - I believe that I also do at least some logical thinking in images and sounds - little bursts of audio and video, if you will - that my brain strings together to construct possible consequences for given events. Not sure how freaky this sounds, though...

Níl a'fhios agam beo...
Gadget

Suaimhneach

I think in english a lot of the time. But when I am in a school situation I think in irish. I find it odd that in college there are people walking around speaking english. As if they should be given detention or something. Granted it is only my first week of college, so I shall soon forget all that. But yeah, I like to think in irish. I probably will more often now that I'm back in full time education like.

Yoda

Inspector Gadget wrote:

I do feel that Irish is somewhat restrictive because it has a very narrow vocabulary compared to English

Actually Irish vocabulary is rather gigantic and rich and subtle. New terminology for things and concepts in our technological world have to be (and are) created.

Personally I find Irish songs and poetry incomprehensible, because it's full of those rich and subtle words that people don't use in everyday speech....

*Sinéad*

because english surrounds me i mainly think in english but i constantly find myself going to speak in Irish because i have been thinking through it unbeknownst to myself. When you speak 2 or more languages it doesn't matter what language you use.I wouldn't notice it 'cause it's all thinking.one thing that was funny though, because i went to an irish school but most books were in english my notes would interchange between both languages. And i remember offerring my history notes to a friend thinking they were in english but she was lost.

GuanYin

You probably don't think ina language but your more outward cognitive functions make you seem to.

That pedantry aside, I do all maths in my head through Irish, i don't even know the english for alot of maths terminology

Míshásta

Thanamandiail!

Sibh go léir ag smaoineamh i nGaolainn.

Is ag plé bhur smaointe i mBéarla na banríona.

simu

Aontaím le Syke, ní dóigh liom go mbíonn tú ag smaoineamh in aon teanga. Is dóigh liom féin go mbím ag smaoineamh in íomhánna agus go dtagann na focail níos déanaí. Uaireannta bíonn comhráite agam liom féin im' cheann ach d'fhéadfaidís seo a bheith in aon cheann de na teangacha a labhraim.

Rozabeez

i went to an irish primary school, and i would have gone to and irish secondry apart from the fact that i knew everything in irish and i knew nothing in english. so if i had a maths question in english i couldnt understand it, same with most subjects and i wanted to know the english versions as well.

Tiriel

it's kinda wierd but sometimes I dream in Irish!!!

Seraphina

nuair a chuaigh me go dti an ngaeltacht cupla bliain o shin, ni raibh me ann ach cupla la nuair a thosaigh me ag smaoineamh as gaeilge. tharlionn se nuair ata me ag caint as gaeilge an t-am ar fad, ach ni bhionn seans agam an cuid is mo den am. b'fhearr liom a bheith i bhfad nios liofa, ach nil an seans agam, agus mar shin de ghnath nil na focail agam chun smaoineamh as gaeilge.

snickerpuss

Nuair a chuaigh mé ón Búnscoil go dtí an meanscoil bearla bhí sé an aisteach, bhí mé cinnte go raibh mé i dtriobloid an t-am ar fad de bharr go raibh mé ag labhairt bearla. Mar sin, tá fhios agam an mothu a bhfuil agat anois.
JesJes, tá tú i UCD nach bhfuil? Tá mé ansin ag deanamh gaeilge, bearla agus art history sa chéad bhliain. (Nílim ábalta litriú i gceart!)
Did you join an cumann gaelach ar aon seans?
Ba brea liom dul áit éigeann chun an gaeilge a labhairt sa coláiste.

wheels of ire

This is an interesting thread, thanks for starting it.
I worked as an interpreter, and sometimes had to tell the German and the Brit what the Italian(my employer) was saying, and so on.
Sometimes I found myself turning to the German, addressing him confidently in the wrong language.
Which may support the idea that we conceptualise first, then hang words on the idea.
Still remember a meal in a seriously good place,Michelin stars amd all, when 3 voices all spoke.'Cambio!Schalten Wechsel!!Wrong language!'
We got through that, but the worst of it was I never got to eat, really. Every time my fork got near my mouth, some other bustard opened his mouth.
And you can't really do the interpreter gig with a gobful of food.

*Sinéad*

tá jesjes i dcu ach tá me i UCD!! Shínigh mé suas don chumann gaeilge agus an cumann dramaíochta ach níor chuala mé faic ó cheachtar acu fós.tá mé ag déanamh céim sa ndán(arts) freisin-teangeolaíocht, Iodáilis agus siceolaíocht.Aon mic léinn ansin atá in Áth Cliath breanaigh ar m'fhógra faoin agóid faói táillí, deontaisí srl a bheith ar siúl dé máirt 12-10-04 ar chlár UCD (soc - education)

ainiseoir

Went to an all Gaelic boarding school, way back when, definitely thought in the first official. Caused a bit of eyebrow lifting at vacation time.
Still have to do my mental arith. as Gaeilge. or disaster.
As for the odd word, of any language with which you have been exposed popping out when using the Sacs-Béarla, the most likely reason is that you have something other than linguistics taking up what passes for RAM in the little grey cells.
"Ag smaoineamh as Gaeilge" should not damage your health,
Slán tamall,

SantaHoe wrote:

This is something I've been curious about lately... and it's for the bi-lingual people out there.
When you're thinking something out, like planning a shopping list in your head... which language do you use?
Is it always the same one?
Do you ever mix them in the same sentence?

I suppose you'd have a dominant language, but I wonder sometimes.
My Irish language skills are lacking and I don't use it in every day speech, but I find myself using "agus" instead of "and" a lot of the time in my head (yet never in speech)... which prompted me to wonder about this.
Maybe a deep-rooted psychological desire to cling to my heritage in the face of increasing globalisation... God who knows?!

Any experiences/comments?

Murv

i tink i think (ok.. bad start) in a crazy mixture of irsh and bearla. Its basically irish structure but often the words come first in irish and i'm often at a loss as to what the english is. WEnt to france fro a while there and when i came back and went to school i was thinking in this crazy irish-french-english pigeon which basically meant i couldn't talk for a while.. istill do to a certain extent. Some words just come easier in certain languages.

An Bradán Feasa

De ghnáth, smaoiním as Béarla, ach anois is arís, tagann abairtí Gaeilge isteach im' smoaintí, mar níl an focal Béarla agam.
Ach nuair atá mé ag smaoineamh as Gaeilge, tá blas i bhfad níos deise agam ná mar atá agam anois (Is as Áth Cliath mé...)

Dave!

Interesting topic, because I found that during the school year, since I study for the Leaving Cert, etc., I was thinking as Gaeilge! I did it consciously at first, but sometimes I couldn't help it, too. It really really benefited me, I think, and I got to appreciate the structure of the language and sentences, etc. I recommend anyone learning to try this.

I don't have a very wide Irish vocabulary, so what I'd do is sub in English words, in Irish form, to fill it out, if I could.

For instance(although I do know the vocabulary for this), if I wanted to say the sentence, "I am sad", but didn't know the translation of "sad", then I'd say(in my head), "Tá [sadness] orm"

It helped me alot, I might start doing it again, lol

Shyster

an dá cheann de ghnáth, uaireanta as teangacha eile ach don chuid is mó is go datheangach a smaoiním. Is mór an trua nách labhrann na daoine eile a smaoiníonn inti, as gaeilge!

Caoimhe89

Smaoiním i mBéarla an chuid is mó den am, ach uaireanta bíonn seanfhocail nó abairt as Gaeilge nach féidir casadh, a léiríonn mo bhrí níos soiléire ná aon focail Béarla. Tarlaíonn sé go minic comh maith nach féidir liom smaoineamh ar an bhfocail Béarla ar chur ar bith.

Ar scoil, áfach, is í an Ghaeilge an príomhteanga ina smaoiním.

el lupo

I attended an all-irish primary and secondary school, and even 6 years after my leaving I still tend to do most of my mental maths in Irish (I also still count on my fingers but that's a moot point!)

Similarly, when I was in college, I often translated terms into Irish when I was writing (no-one wanted to borrow my first year chemistry notes..full of neodroins and protoins!)

Apart from that, I would rarely find myself thinking in Irish in everyday conversations, or thinking in it.

vibe666

i used to know a lad who had a french mum and german dad who lived in tenerife. they sent him to a private school in the UK. consequently, growing up in all those environments all at once, he was totally fluent in all 4 languages, and we were together one time during a conversation where he was talking to people in each of the languages at the same time.

i was amazed, given that my english is poor, my spanish is poorer and I can only speak broken french when I'm very drunk (no idea why) and I asked him afterwards, and he told me that he automatically thinks in whatever language he is speaking in, and whenever he is in a particular environment for a few hours his brain automatically switches to that language.

he did say there was the odd time when he would just end up confusing himself (mostly when drunk) but that most of the time it all worked fine.

my sister has lived in holland for the last 12 years or so, and dreams in dutch, and quite often forgets english words, and has to ask her dutch husband what something is in english.
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Aisling(",)

I'm fairly competant at Irish but wouldn't use it everyday.I've discovered that when i'm drunk i mix langauges including a little bit of french which i understand but most of my friends don't understand much irish so they don't know what i'm saying.