Do You Think in English?

[Zoetstofzoetje]

i don´t think i think in a language, except when verbalizing or writing.

[MOBIUS]

Thinking was never your strong point, as far as I can tell...

[MikeH]

You can't think in anything but a language can you?

[loinburger]

Sure you can. For example, if you want to think of a plant without using language, then just think of a picture of the plant, and at the same remove the word "plant" from your vocabulary so that you can't reflexively assign a word to the picture. Also remove the words "green organic thing" from your vocabulary. Also "photosynthesis" and "leaf" and "roots" and so on. Eventually you'll be a babbling idiot devoid of language and you'll have no choice but to think of the plant in terms that don't use language.

[MikeH]

Eventually you'll be a babbling idiot devoid of language

aka Zoetstofzoetje

[Dauphin]

You can't think in anything but a language can you?

Ever thought of something, but been unable to remember or find the word. "I can see it in my mind" or "words can't express the concept".

[Hauldren Collider]

I used to think a little bit in latin. I don't do that anymore but I find myself thinking in passive voice a lot. I'm permanently scarred by latin grammar...

[Provost Harrison]

Sure you can. For example, if you want to think of a plant without using language, then just think of a picture of the plant, and at the same remove the word "plant" from your vocabulary so that you can't reflexively assign a word to the picture. Also remove the words "green organic thing" from your vocabulary. Also "photosynthesis" and "leaf" and "roots" and so on. Eventually you'll be a babbling idiot devoid of language and you'll have no choice but to think of the plant in terms that don't use language.

There is one plant I can only ever seem to remember the name of in German but never in English. Long story...

[BlackCat]

Do it all the time. When, sy reading about a subject in a foreign language, it's much easier (and quicker) to understand it. Later, if it's nessecary, it's also easier to "translate" the concept since you don't have to translate from one language to another.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

aka Zoetstofzoetje

since when are words required to compose logic? it seems to me that language is only a formulated expression, in order to convey and interpret.

if not, explain to me how deaf-mute people think.

[Elok]

since when are words required to compose logic? it seems to me that language is only a formulated expression, in order to convey and interpret.

if not, explain to me how deaf-mute people think.

I would imagine they use their own mental approximations of the signs they use to communicate.

[Zoetstofzoetje]

yes - and my point is that language is not the basis, but such a mental expression. how often do we not look for words, or even need to create them to account for or make sense of some new situation?

[Zoetstofzoetje]

also, when i read something in dutch/english/spanish, often i can´t remember in which language i read it later. i can, however, tell you what is what about. if that ´information´ was stored as a text string, shouldn´t i have to do a manual translation later?

in fact, how does one translate at all? it requires more than word for word conversion. often words overlap in meaning across languages. or they mean different things in different contexts. only by being able to make sense of it contextually can one accomplish translation. and for that, no amount of words can help you - you need to be able to make sense.

[Barnabas]

I kinda agree with Zoetfsaohifdlkn, often I don't remember if I read something in English or Spanish.
It also happens that I see tourists every day, and sometimes I remember having talked to a certain person, but not in which language.

[N35t0r]

It is really frustrating, when I'm talking to someone, that the concept I want to express has a word that fits it better in english than in spanish (or vice versa), and so the english word comes to my head, so I have to struggle to come up with the spanish equivalent.