To people who were born speaking a language then moved to somewhere with a different language. Do you find your inner monologue speaking the new language or do you think natively and translate for speech?
I moved to Belgium from England when I was 6, by the time I left for the states at 11 I was thinking and dreaming in Flemish.
By the time I left America at 16 I’d forgotten pretty much all my Flemish.
Both. Also some concepts may exist in one language and not the other.
Yes, I can relate to this question. I’m originally from Sabah in northern Borneo, Malaysia, but I was born in Kuala Lumpur (Peninsular Malaysia) and raised in Perak.
The main language I’ve used growing up is Malay, which is Malaysia’s official and most commonly spoken language. It’s the language I speak daily and also the one I primarily think in. My inner monologue is mostly in Malay, though sometimes I switch to English, especially when reading, writing, or studying (I’m an IT student).
Although I’m ethnically Dusun and Rungus (indigenous groups from Sabah), I didn’t grow up speaking those native languages fluently. I’ve learned more English and Malay through school and life, and even earned a B in both. That said, I feel a strong connection to my roots and want to find ways to preserve and relearn my ancestral languages—maybe even through tech solutions.
So, to answer the question directly: I usually think in Malay, sometimes in English, and rarely in my ethnic/native languages—though I wish that were different.
I’m originally from Sabah in northern Borneo, Malaysia
Hey I’ve been there. Hello.
Hello.
I do not live in a English speaking country. And my mother tongue is not english.
I still sometimes think in English. As I use it a lot.
Same here. I also found myself trying to express things in my language using English constructs or colloquialisms that don’t have a direct translation. And my English isn’t even that great, but I have to use it daily for work.
My internal monologue is always in my native language but if I need to talk to somebody my brain switches to the language I need so I need no ‘translation’
I’m American (US) but when I lived in Germany, by the end of two years there I thought in German. I remember it, but there are two anecdotes that underscore it:
- When I returned to the States, I’d occasionally not be able to remember the English word for some things. I lost “trashcan” for a good half hour, once.
- I occasionally talk in my sleep, and for a few years after I returned my wife would sometimes tell me that I was speaking German.
I didn’t spend much time around English speakers when I lived there; I met my wife the year after I returned, and the person I was seeing when I lived in Germany had barely spoken English.
It actually depends. For example, I don’t know why I sometimes find myself thinking in Chinese. I never translate my inner monologue, and when I think, I try to link concepts when learning, so maybe that’s why I feel like my inner monologue is kinda language-agnostic. I just materialize it to realize that I’m thinking, if that makes any sense. (I speak more than 3 languages, Spanish being my native one and English the one I actually use the most.)
I still live in Brazil but almost all of my social media friends are from the US, so I think both in English and Portuguese. Mostly English, though.
Moved very young so inner monologue is in the new language. Also, all my memories from my youth have been translated to the new language. Recent memories of old country are in my native tongue, so idk why the archives got a voiceover.
I grew up speaking Spanish, still speak it every day fluently, but mostly think in English because my high school and higher education was mostly in English + I started mostly consuming English media as a child.
Certain topics (mostly household things), I’ll think in Irish.
Or sports… it’s easier for me to think “tá an cailis déanta aige” than “he fouled the player” because my sporting life has generally been through Irish.
I dont think I have an inner monologue. I think in words only when imagining a conversation, or in this case, writing this comment. Otherwise I think in …images maybe?
That’s wild! I can’t imagine having thoughts without an inner monologue. I often wonder how animals think without language and it seems so limited and alien to me. It’s just unimaginable.
Maybe language is what’s limiting you.
Things I’m used to talking about in Spanish I usually think about in Spanish, if that makes sense.
More interesting question IMHO — what language do you dream in?
Usually none. I only have an inner monologue when I explicitly want to have one and in that case it works just like talking: I can use any language I want.
