To those who are multilingual..

[GilbertGrape]

When you're thinking about..stuff, do you have words/thoughts running through your mind in your second(etc..) language as you do your native language?

That probably made about as much sense as..

”ÄãÏë..–|Î÷£¬ÄãÓÐÔ’ /ÄãµÄî^ÄXµÄ˼ÏëØž´©ÔÚÄãµÄµÚ¶þ‚€£¨µÈµÈ¡££©ÕZÑÔ£¬Äã×öÄãµÄĸÕZÊÇʲüN£¿

Edited by GilbertGrape on Monday 10th May 13:58

[NAS]

Yes. It comes natural.

[fizz876]

English is my first language but can speak a few others.

When thinking I 99% of the time think in English except when occasioanlly I see red and start thinking profanities in other languages as they seem to be so much more apt and descriptive than swear words that the English language has to offer.

[Adenauer]

Yes, although it is manchmal etwas verwirrend, I sometimes find myself thinking auf Deutsch, was natürlich einen Problem sein kann if you're writing something in English at the time, dreams sind auch slightly confusing, especially if there's a French bloke in them, weil ich überhaupt kein Französisch kann.

[Le TVR]

Each particular train of thought will normally be stay in one language or another but can outside events can trigger it to swap to another language. Sometimes you don't even notice the change.

Dreams occur in either language.

[whitevanman88]

Adenauer said:

Yes, although it is manchmal etwas verwirrend, I sometimes find myself thinking auf Deutsch, was natürlich einen Problem sein kann if you're writing something in English at the time, dreams sind auch slightly confusing, especially if there's a French bloke in them, weil ich überhaupt kein Französisch kann.

Pahaha. Very good. :L

Edited by whitevanman88 on Monday 10th May 14:44

[SGirl]

Depends on what I'm doing at the time, and where I am. If I'm in Sweden or listening to Swedish radio or something, I'm much more likely to end up thinking in Swedish without realising it. If I'm working, I tend to think in Swedish if I'm on the phone or mailing someone, but in English if I'm actually translating.

[sleep envy]

depends on which country I'm in

[nekrum]

I know a guy who moved to Norway having very little spoken Norwegian - he said it only became second nature to him when he started thinking in Norwegian..

[Alex@POD]

I usually think in english day-to-day (my first language in french), but i always revert to french when I am counting. If I'm having a conversation in french I sometimes say a few words in english, then get confused when people don't understand...

I don't notice when the two languages are mixed now, eg watching the rally yesterday I laughed at the Sebatien Ogier's interview (in english), after seeing the in car footage (in french). It only clicked that they'd spoken in french in the car when my girlfriend asked what I was laughing at... (she doesn't speak much french).

[[AJ]]

I used to be completely fluent in Dutch. I would often think and dream in Dutch. Sadly that's not he case any more, but I do still bring up the odd Dutch word when trying to find the name for something in English.

[Sheets Tabuer]

It depends, if I am just walking about then no, if however see a "a boy with a ball" or "a girl and a horse"

[Fishtigua]

I dream in Spanish quite often, which I speak really badly.

I once apologised to myself in French. In Le Whisky A GoGo bar in Juan les Pins they have these big mirrored columbs. Yep, walked into one and spluttered an apologey to myself.

[Pints]

Although English is my first language, there are sometimes phrases which I struggle to find the English words for because it's more descriptive in Afrikaans (my second language).

And no, I've also never met a nice South African

[Gusanita]

Spanish is my first language and I find that I often dip in and out of both languages and my thoughts will be in both (depending on the thoughts).I speak other languages but not as well and like a pp said, sometimes something can be expressed better in another language.

It's a shame that my oh only speaks English, he really misses out on jokes and observations that can be made in other languages.

[Shaolin]

Only when the pen of my aunt has been lost on the stagecoach.

[RobCrezz]

Pints said:

Although English is my first language, there are sometimes phrases which I struggle to find the English words for because it's more descriptive in Afrikaans (my second language).

And no, I've also never met a nice South African

Is it right that if you can speak Afrikaans then you can basically understand Dutch? Or the other way around?

[timlongs]

[AJ] said:

I used to be completely fluent in Dutch. I would often think and dream in Dutch. Sadly that's not he case any more, but I do still bring up the odd Dutch word when trying to find the name for something in English.

ik heb zo honger. I am trying to learn Dutch and I am useless. However after spending a long weekend there, when I came back to England, I was stood in the pub and everyone sounded like they were speaking Dutch. Was odd.

[[AJ]]

RobCrezz said:

Pints said:

Although English is my first language, there are sometimes phrases which I struggle to find the English words for because it's more descriptive in Afrikaans (my second language).

And no, I've also never met a nice South African

Is it right that if you can speak Afrikaans then you can basically understand Dutch? Or the other way around?

Afrikaans originates from Dutch, but has evolved to be fairly different. Yes, someone who speaks Dutch can understand a lot of Afrikaans and vice versa, but it's not as close as Flaams for example (which is like the Dutch equivalent of old English).

[NiceCupOfTea]

Nothing to add except I always regret not continuing with languages at school and I am in awe of anybody fluent in more than one language...