It’s fascinating to see that the human brain is so adaptive, and that we think more linguistically than we previously thought.
Maybe this is also related to the fact that we are primary think in our native language.
Maybe this is also related to the fact that we are primary think in our native language.
One tidbit I read is that people who think in a foreign language like me are in some decision processes more-rational [0]. I think I don't get hung up on emotionally-stirring words, or get offended by vulgarities, as they feel more abstract to me than visceral. May be the same mechanism.
[0] https://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-foreign-language-peop...
But can you still think in your native language if you try to?
I was born in the USA, a child of immigrants. So I didn't speak English until perhaps 3 or 4 years old.
But I can still think in my native language if I really try.
I speak Russian to parents and my brother, but it often feels like I have a concept I want to articulate and have to use a bunch of non-SAT words to vaguely gesture at what I want to say; or, I simply don't know a word like "easel" in Russian and feel like I'm playing the game "taboo" :P
I think naturally I gravitated out of thinking in Russian since it's too much effort for no payoff. One thing I miss about Russian are all the prefixes you can add to a verb, like "drive over", "drive into", etc are accomplished with short prefixes: "pere-" or "v-". It doesn't sound like much, but when you can apply the dozen-ish prefixes to the word "fuck" you realize the potential English is missing ;)