What Language Does Your Brain Thinks With?

• Ecxentrique

  12 Mar 06, 12:57

  As above..
  
  Does your brain think with a certain language? i.e. if u speak in english more, do you think in english?? just curious..
  
  wonder if people think in hokkien.. hmm.. can u imagine yourself thinking in your own dialect? i gotta admint.. i tried that. and kind of slow things down a bit..
• abao

  12 Mar 06, 13:01

  when im speaking english, i tink in chinese
  
  when im speaking chinese, i tink in english
  
  this way i can nvr improve on either of my languages...
• ceecookie

  12 Mar 06, 13:02

  German
  
  Achtung!!
• FireIce

  12 Mar 06, 13:07

  when im suppose to produce a writing in english, i will have alotta ideas and inspirations in chinese......then have to mentally translate.......
  applies otherwise......
  
  when u count something, do u count in english or chinese or dialect or spanish or thai?
• ceecookie

  12 Mar 06, 13:08

  Originally posted by FireIce:

  when im suppose to produce a writing in english, i will have alotta ideas and inspirations in chinese......then have to mentally translate.......
  applies otherwise......
  
  when u count something, do u count in english or chinese or dialect or spanish or thai?

  thats why learning a single language preferly english is best....
• Fatum

  12 Mar 06, 13:08

  
  errrrm .... abstract ? .... i.e. you "feel" ideas and concepts, but don't directly "think" and describe them in real language every time ....
• Ecxentrique

  12 Mar 06, 13:11

  Originally posted by ceecookie:

  thats why learning a single language preferly english is best....

  but then it will impair your ability to communicate with others who are not familiar with the language..
• FireIce

  12 Mar 06, 13:12

  Originally posted by Fatum:

  errrrm .... abstract ? .... i.e. you "feel" ideas and concepts, but don't directly "think" and describe them in real language every time ....

  there are 2 school of tots for this
  
  language before thoughts
  or
  thoughts before language
  
  long long long ago, when ur ancestors still living in caves, they have tots already.....but language is not as structured as today to convey tots to one another.....
  but then, it is known that cavemen days oredi have "language" and symbols..... mainly utterances and drawings imitating the shape of things.....so some ppl argue that language should come first then ppl can develop thoughts....
• ceecookie

  12 Mar 06, 13:12

  Originally posted by Ecxentrique:

  but then it will impair your ability to communicate with others who are not familiar with the language..

  yea...like when i was in china, the rural area...i was deaf to the language there
  i cant even order chicken wing...i flap my arm they also dunno
  but i know a little bit hokkien...enough for some broken basic words like nice or so
• FBI

  12 Mar 06, 13:13

  Originally posted by Ecxentrique:

  As above..
  
  Does your brain think with a certain language? i.e. if u speak in english more, do you think in english?? just curious..
  
  wonder if people think in hokkien.. hmm.. can u imagine yourself thinking in your own dialect? i gotta admint.. i tried that. and kind of slow things down a bit..

  i have too much language so basically it jus comes in mix language
• Ecxentrique

  12 Mar 06, 13:14

  Originally posted by FireIce:

  there are 2 school of tots for this
  
  language before thoughts
  or
  thoughts before language
  
  long long long ago, when ur ancestors still living in caves, they have tots already.....but language is not as structured as today to convey tots to one another.....
  but then, it is known that cavemen days oredi have "language" and symbols..... mainly utterances and drawings imitating the shape of things.....so some ppl argue that language should come first then ppl can develop thoughts....

  sounds like the age old chicken or egg first problem..
  
  so which came first?
  
  thought or language?
  
  i would think that thought would come first.. followed by the need to express and communicate it to another.. for which language will then come in as a medium to facilitate that sort of mental transaction..
• Ecxentrique

  12 Mar 06, 13:16

  Originally posted by FBI:

  i have too much language so basically it jus comes in mix language

  wow.. just curious.. in order to come up with this reply. hw many languages did your brain process?
  
  
• FireIce

  12 Mar 06, 13:17

  Originally posted by Ecxentrique:

  but then it will impair your ability to communicate with others who are not familiar with the language..

  then this raises the question of.......who should learn whose language?
  
  chinaman must learn italian?
  or should the french learn cantonese?
  
  no doubt english is the business language, we should not forget our roots and culture.....
  
  ang mohs will not be amazed if you can speak english
  but he will mock u if he ask u about chinese cultures and traditions and u can't answer
• Fatum

  12 Mar 06, 13:17

  Originally posted by FireIce:

  there are 2 school of tots for this
  
  language before thoughts
  or
  thoughts before language
  
  long long long ago, when ur ancestors still living in caves, they have tots already.....but language is not as structured as today to convey tots to one another.....
  but then, it is known that cavemen days oredi have "language" and symbols..... mainly utterances and drawings imitating the shape of things.....so some ppl argue that language should come first then ppl can develop thoughts....

  hmmm ... interesting .... so does that make me more ... primitive ? ...
  
  but sometimes thoughts aren't always fleshed out in language inside my head ... and i suspect it's true for most people at least to a certain extent too ...
  
  say when you play chess for instance ... the moves and strategies come as "feelings" to you, no ? ... as least not to me ... I don't flesh out my moves in words ...
• FBI

  12 Mar 06, 13:17

  Originally posted by Ecxentrique:

  wow.. just curious.. in order to come up with this reply. hw many languages did your brain process?
  
  

  chinese, english, hokkien, canton
• Ecxentrique

  12 Mar 06, 13:21

  Originally posted by FBI:

  chinese, english, hokkien, canton

  hmm.. but wont it actually affect how you react.. as in thinkin in so many language vs getting the reply out?
• FBI

  12 Mar 06, 13:23

  Originally posted by Ecxentrique:

  hmm.. but wont it actually affect how you react.. as in thinkin in so many language vs getting the reply out?

  sometimes got messed up. then my friends will laugh at my mispronounciation.
• wenyong90

  12 Mar 06, 13:52

  singlish
• SilverPal

  12 Mar 06, 14:06

  I speak in english, think in english, dream in english, count in deutch... Whe speaking to some of my friends, they prefer to speak mandarin, so I speak mandarin to them.
• 1bigmess

  12 Mar 06, 14:20

  mi think in singlish
• BrUtUs

  12 Mar 06, 14:22

  singlish...
• R3SsH|n

  12 Mar 06, 14:25

  think in english primarily...
  speak both chinese and english...
  when writing...most probably think in chinese for writing chinese...and english for english...
• browniebaobao

  12 Mar 06, 14:26

  Mandarin.. maybe coz im stronger in Mandarin ba..
  
• alexkusu

  12 Mar 06, 14:28

  nani?