# Multi-linqual people: How does your brain work? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651 "2005-09-14T19:13:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/1 "2005-09-14T19:13:18Z")
I speak only one language. I never had a “gift” for languages so my required foreign languages in high school were squandered in latin declensions & conjugations. While listening to the President of Iraq speak on NPR this morning, in very good English, I pondered on that multi-lingual ability. So, for you that speak more than one language, how do you do it? Do you translate word-for-word in your head? Are you thinking in the other language never going through a “translation” stage. For the languages with alternate word order (ie: Yoda-like verbs at the end of sentences) are you rearranging your “native” tounge first to create the second langage? I truly cannot comprehend knowing more than a few words in any language, leave alone the abilty to speak in any sort of cohesive way. How’re you doing it? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/2 "2005-09-14T19:20:11Z")
I am bilingual, Hindi and English, and it all depends on the environment. If I spend a few minutes with my family, I think in Hindi. All the rest of the time I think in English. **Do you translate word-for-word in your head?** Nope, both language is easy as pie, and I switch back and forth whenever I need to. English is my second language, as a matter of fact. They say one test to determine your “true” language is to see which one you swear in, i.e., which one when you are excited. I swear in both languages, although more often in English because the swear words seem angrier. I can read & write both languages, although my English level is very high and my Hindi reading level is probably…7th grade or so. Working on it. I do switch back and forth mid-sentence with no issues. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/3 "2005-09-14T19:21:32Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Nope, both language is easy as pie, and I switch back and forth whenever I need to. Yeah. Ha. Really, I speak English much better than that! ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/4 "2005-09-14T19:29:02Z")
I speak English and French, and I always think in the language I’m using at the time. Which gets confusing when I’m speaking “Frenglish” with my friends at school, switching back and forth between languages. I have no clue how my brain manages not to cramp up. When I’m just thinking, though, on my own with no talking to anyone, I think in English. ---
**Author:** ![Pixisis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Pixisis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixisis)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/5 "2005-09-14T19:44:50Z")
I’ve studied a few languages – right now i’m trying to learn German – and you know you’re getting somewhere when you stop translating and start thinking in the “other language”. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/6 "2005-09-14T19:54:38Z")
> [@Pixisis](#): > > I’ve studied a few languages – right now i’m trying to learn German – and you know you’re getting somewhere when you stop translating and start thinking in the “other language”. However, you know that its clicked when you start _dreaming_ in that language. I speak about five different languages fluently, and the way my brain works depends on the environment. If I’m talking to a speaker of the language, my brain switches gear so that I’m thinking in the same language I’m talking in. If I’m translating, I’ll switch languages I think in as I translate. And like **Anamika** , I switch between languages mid sentence with absolutely no problems whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/7 "2005-09-14T19:55:53Z")
English and German here. Someone asked me that question once and I said it wasn’t like speaking two languages, it was more like just learning some additional words. Unless it is a subject I am unfamiliar with, there is no translating being done in my head anymore. You just become accustomed to thinking in one language or the other when you speak. However, I always count and do anything mathematical only in English. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/8 "2005-09-14T20:10:48Z")
English/Portuguese speaker here. **Do you translate word-for-word in your head?** No. There are things that just roll off the tongue in English, and there are things that just roll off the tongue in Portuguese. My biggest problem is trying to find a cute idomatic expression in one language that matches one in the other, and this works in both directions since one learns the cool phrases in both languages. Some words just don’t have a corresponding one: There is no way to say “to take something for granted” as succinctly in Portuguese (and probably many other languages), and there are similar gaps in English. **Are you thinking in the other language never going through a “translation” stage.** My stream of consciousness takes the path of least resistence, often switching between the two depending on context. Obviously, if I am relaxing on the ferry crossing the bay to Rio, one of the languages dominates, while the other dominates my thoughts while I am in business meetings. Of course, a tight spot in Brazilian traffic will still elicit curse words in English from my mouth. As the day wears on and I get more tired, my mind reverts to English. My wife’s mind reverts to Portuguese as she gets more tired, so we often have tired conversations with her in Portuguese and me in English. **For the languages with alternate word order (ie: Yoda-like verbs at the end of sentences) are you rearranging your “native” tounge first to create the second langage?** No. It seems that my brain knows what thought it wants to express and knows how to think about that thought in the right word order. Of course, there is a whole flow and high level phrasing that probably gives an English feel to my Portuguese, in the same way that we can still spot translated English (e.g. customs forms) even if they are absolutely correct, just by the feel and flow. **I truly cannot comprehend knowing more than a few words in any language, leave alone the abilty to speak in any sort of cohesive way. How’re you doing it?** Start dating a person who speaks the other language 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/9 "2005-09-14T20:13:56Z")
I speak English, bad Spanish and bad Russian. Yes, eventually you just start to think in that language, you know the meaning, and don’t have to mentally translate. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/10 "2005-09-14T20:32:28Z")
English/Japanese here. There’s no “translation” going on in my head, I just think and speak whichever language is needed. In fact it’s very difficult for me to do translation because words in different languages don’t correspond exactly. There is no lookup table (dictionary) in my head, so if I need to translate for someone, I need to understand what’s being said, switch my brain to the other language and re-express that idea. I don’t know how real-time interpreters do it so quickly and efficiently. But there are a few things I can only do in one language. I’ve memorized the multiplication table in Japanese but never in English, so I have to switch back to Japanese to do multiplications in my head. And I remember sequences of numbers as phrases (do we all?) so I can only recite in whichever language I memorized it. Recently my father (Japanese, speaks very little English) asked me for my new phone number, and I found it easier to say it to him in English than translate it in my head. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/11 "2005-09-14T20:40:09Z")
> [@Belrix](#): > > I truly cannot comprehend knowing more than a few words in any language, leave alone the abilty to speak in any sort of cohesive way. How’re you doing it? I don’t think its conscious anymore. I just do it, its just different ways of saying the same thing. I can’t really explain it more explicitly than that. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/12 "2005-09-14T20:41:09Z")
As the others said. If you are “translating” in your head, you are still thinking in one laguage and consciously changing the output to the other language. What I find myself doing a lot is thinking in pictures and then _describing_ the image in whichever language I choose. > [@Angua](#): > > However, you know that its clicked when you start dreaming in that language. Yes, but that is also dependent on how intensely one is concentrating on something at any given time. I don’t really speak French, but during times of intense lessons, I have dreamt in French. I’ve also dreamt in at least one programming language\*. [sub]\*And it was G, the graphical language used in Labview. So, yeah, it was back to thinking in pictures again.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Pixisis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Pixisis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixisis)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/13 "2005-09-14T21:05:19Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > However, you know that its clicked when you start _dreaming_ in that language. Not if you don’t understand what’s being said … Seriously, i’m told i used to speak German when i was a littlun … maybe 4 or so. “Tante” Hilde was speaking with me and it was great until i spoke German in front of my grandmother. “Tante” Hilde got a very stern talking to and German was banished. To this day, when i hear German i feel like i **should** understand what’s being said. it’s very frustrating. i’ve been in Germany 7 weeks now, but just started lessons. (that’s another story) i’ve been hearing a lot of German, and i’ve had a few dreams where people around me were speaking German, but i didn’t understand ! ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/14 "2005-09-14T21:19:12Z")
Depends on which language I’m surrounded by at the time. I will think in that language automatically. I dream in the languages I know. Sometimes mixed, sometimes one language at a time. I speak quite a bit of French, but if I fall out of practice, I will start to “forget” some things until I hear it again. It usually comes back to me with ease, like riding a bike; you never really forget. I was once working the graveyard shift as a teenager, and though I usually handled that shift pretty well, that night I was exhausted, having been out the whole day before. I was working on a conveyor belt with many cans of sardines rolling past me. I felt like I was hallucinating, the cans would look warped and funny. The girl next to me asked me what was wrong. I told her I thought the fish were talking to me. However, they were speaking in French, and I could only understand about half of what they were saying. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/15 "2005-09-15T11:45:01Z")
English and Hebrew. Two _very_ different languages. I talk, read, write, think, dream, curse in either or both, as appropriate. In fact, I am _not_ a very good translator – direct translation is _not_ natural for me (although I’m perfectly capable of switching language mid-sentence). One thing I’ve noticed is that I seem to have slightly better _comprehension_ of (especially written) English (which is the language I do most of my reading in), but a slightly better _command_ (finding the right word to use, myself, in a given situation) of Hebrew (in which I do most of my real-time communication). So obviously practice does count for something. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/16 "2005-09-15T13:34:48Z")
I also have a problem with the idioms, even if I can translate them I can never get the tone. And jokes. Jokes don’t translate too well. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/17 "2005-09-15T13:57:30Z")
My experience is similar to Pixisis, I grew up (until about 5 years old) speaking English, Farsi and French (mostly the latter two). We lived in Iran and stayed in an expat community of mostly French workers. When we moved back to the U.S. and I started school, I switched to English exclusively. To this day however, when I hear French or Farsi, there is this gnawing in my brain that I really SHOULD understand what’s being said, and there have been rare moments of clarity where i would understand something said without any translation. It’s pretty weird! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/18 "2005-09-15T14:35:59Z")
**Do you translate word-for-word in your head?** Nope. French is my second language. When I’m speaking French, I use French constructions. I may stumble over particular words or constructions, because I can’t remember the French, but it’s not a translation process. **Are you thinking in the other language never going through a “translation” stage.** I guess so - I’ve never thought about it while I’m speaking. **For the languages with alternate word order (ie: Yoda-like verbs at the end of sentences) are you rearranging your “native” tounge first to create the second langage?** No - my major difficulty is remembering the order of French pronouns and articles in the passé composée, which is quite different from English construction in any event. Word order’s not so much a problem for me, but prepositions are. English and French prepositions play somewhat different roles, so you can’t use the exact translation. For example, English “to” is often translated by French “à”, but in some constructions, where we use “to” in English it would be translated by some preposition other than “à” in French. In other cases, the concept of “to” is built into the French word so there is no separate preposition, for example in infiinitives (“to go” =\> “aller”) and in words such as “lui”, which means “to him”. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/19 "2005-09-15T15:32:33Z")
> [@Pixisis](#): > > I’ve studied a few languages – right now i’m trying to learn German – and you know you’re getting somewhere when you stop translating and start thinking in the “other language”. Or you look down at your History homework and realize you wrote it all in your second language… 😛 I haven’t studied Spanish for nearly ten years, so my speaking and writing are a little rusty, but I understand it well in both writing and out loud still. I only translate it into English if I’m watching a movie or show with someone who doesn’t speak it and wants to know what it says. Other than that I understand what they’ve said, so a word for word translation isn’t necessary. Nor is it when I write, or more rarely, speak. What I find strange is that over the last year or so I’ve been able to understand a lot more writing in French. I remember people telling those of us who took Spanish that they could read it because it was “similar to French” but until lately I hadn’t found the reverse to be true. Odd. Perhaps it has something to do with recognizing more, less obvious, cognates. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651/20 "2005-09-15T16:07:12Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > > [@Angua](#): > > > > However, you know that its clicked when you start dreaming in that language. > > Yes, but that is also dependent on how intensely one is concentrating on something at any given time. I don’t really speak French, but during times of intense lessons, I have dreamt in French. I’ve also dreamt in at least one programming language\*. This is very true. I started dreaming in German when I was working in Germany for a while – makes sense, I was surrounded 24/7 by the language, and thinking in that language practically all the time. However, German is not my native tongue. I do find that my dreams usually, are a mixture of English, Hindi, Kutchhi, and Gujerati, depending on whom I’m talking to in my dream (rather like in real life). When I was in India, I started dreaming more in Hindi than in English though. I’ve never dreamt in FORTRAN or Perl though, that would just be scary. > [@Pixisis](#): > > Not if you don’t understand what’s being said … Good point. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/multi-linqual-people-how-does-your-brain-work/321651.md?page=2)