Bilingual+ WPers, what language do you think in?

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I asked my mother
She's been speaking English for the past 20 years, so she thinks in English, except for terms that don't have an English equivalent.

Her native language is Indonesian, which she often mixes with English in conversations with people who also speak Indonesian

westerns on tv were german spoken (crudely)



short

colombo in german

daktari


french


while the dutch tv only does subtitles

thinking in old fashion dutch, old people fashion french and english<old fashion i suppose
- back then the aussie uncles spoke funny dutch, i -we- must be speaking funny dutch now

I only think in English, which technically is not my first language because I didn't learn it until I was 6. I speak Italian and Portuguese very well (rusty in Portuguese, and not good at writing it) but I never think in them.

Though a lot of my thinking isn't necessarily in words.

For teh longest item, I've sometimes thought in non-English words - as non-English words (more often than not) may do better jobs in describing those elusive concepts than the English language itself.

Examples of non-English words that are "thought favorites":

- The German word 'fisselig' (pronounced as "fhistle fish" ) conveys a temporary state of inexactitude and sloppiness that is elicited by another person's nagging.

- The Japanese concept of 'hikikomori', which describes a state of complete withdrawal from society and social isolation. The Japanese concept of "hikikomori" is familliar with people concerned with the Autism Spectrum.

- The German word 'schadenfreude' is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, pain, or humiliation of another. The word 'schadenfreude' has gained interest in English speaking countries.

* From the book, 'They Have a Word for It.'

My native language is English, but I speak Cantonese with my wife a lot, so I sometimes think in Cantonese. When we're outside together, we often use Cantonese to talk about things without others understanding, so if I'm outside and something surprising happens, my first reaction is usually in Cantonese, even when I'm by myself. For example, if I'm driving and someone gets too close to me, I'll automatically say 喂你做乜柒呀 (wtf are you doing).

I've realized, though, that my thoughts aren't really in any language. Sometimes when I'm speaking English, I know exactly what I'm thinking, but I have trouble putting it into words. Also, if I'm speaking another language, I put my thoughts directly into that language without going through English, and if I use a specific foreign language a lot, then sometimes I can think of how to phrase an idea in that language but not in English. For any language that I speak, I've realized it takes a bit of effort to put my thoughts into words, and this can make it difficult to talk about very technical topics, even when I understand them well.

i speak German everyday but i think in English cuz thats the first language i learned