Thinking in foreign language (Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies) Language Learning Forum

Thinking in foreign language
Tags: Thinking
Share with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies

9 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6695 days ago
9078 posts - 16473 votes

Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian
Personal Language Map

Message 9 of 9

22 March 2011 at 3:23am | IP Logged

Iversen wrote:

Our brains think in thoughts, and some of those thoughts are formulated as sentences in a language.

Jinx wrote:

I don't think it makes sense to claim that "we" think a particular way. In my experience, everyone thinks differently, and everyone's brain works slightly differently.

I totally agree, and my sentence above shouldn't be taken to mean that every single person on this planet would have a certain percentage of 'linguistic' thoughts. I reacted to a claim that the sentences that constantly run through my mind aren't real thoughts.

For me it is not difficult to understand what a nonlinguistic thought is. I have painted and written music for many years, and I didn't formulate the way I would form a picture or a piece of music in words. Likewise I don't think "I've better get out of the way" if a motorized vehicle is speeding towards me - I see the car and I jump. Non-linguistic thought processes certainly exist.

What I do find difficult to understand is that people who are heavily involved in language learning can avoid having sentences floating around in their mind most of the time. But I have never expected people to be clones of each other, and I see no reason to doubt that for instance Jinx is describing her mental experiences quite precisely.

Edited by Iversen on 22 March 2011 at 3:27am

2 persons have voted this message useful

This discussion contains 9 messages over 2 pages: << Prev 1 2

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register

Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum

This page was generated in 0.1094 seconds.