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Do Polyglots Think A Lot? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Polyglots |  | |
| WentworthsGal Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4684 days ago 191 posts - 246 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish, Spanish | Message 1 of 13 11 July 2011 at 9:46pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I was just thinking, letting my train of thought run (as you do) and it stopped at an intriguing place... Do polyglots think a lot? Not just about languages, but thinking in general. Thinking is mostly (I believe) words with the odd feeling etc thrown in; so maybe words in other languages become a desire too... Does that make sense? Plus learning itself takes a lot of thinking. Are we obsessed with thinking and cannot get enough of it?
I admit, I think all the time, my brain never stops and 99% of the time it takes me ages to get to sleep because of this... And of course I love languages :oD So my fellow language lovers... Do you think a lot too?? Edited by Fasulye on 16 July 2011 at 8:06am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5130 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 2 of 13 11 July 2011 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Now that is an angle I haven't seen before. Nice to come up with a new topic, even if I doubt if I can come up with a meaningful answer.
Sure I think a lot, my mind is all over the place, particularly if I am gardening or exercising - I could come up with whole yearly strategies for the organization I was heading while taking a 30 minute swim in the ocean, but since I have no way of getting into other people's heads I would not be able to say whether I was doing more or less thinking than the next person. I am not sure that polyglottery would lead to more thinking, just thinking in several languages. To asess the quantity or quality of it would be beyond my capability. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 6811 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 13 12 July 2011 at 12:20am | IP Logged | |||||
My thoughts exactly. It's a very interesting angle indeed.
I do, even when I'm not trying to. My mind is never at rest, even when I'd like it to be, and most of the time it's nothing to do with languages. Personally, I can't imagine a worse fate than the loss of coherent thought. Then again, I suppose that if I did take leave of my senses, I'd probably be unaware of it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5141 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 4 of 13 12 July 2011 at 1:43am | IP Logged | |||||
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Thinking is pretty much all I do. That's why in order to unwind I enjoy watching a little entertaining television before going to bed. Otherwise, I'd still be going over some topic of medieval economic history in my head by the time I've laid down and have a tough time getting to sleep.
And yes, the pleasure I take in language-learning is intimately connected with language's relation to thought and knowledge. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5562 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 5 of 13 12 July 2011 at 3:57am | IP Logged | |||||
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Finding it difficult to unwind doesn't necessarily mean you think more than the average person, it simply means you find it difficult to unwind. (As I happen to do, it's almost 4am again ...)
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| nway Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/Vic Joined 5211 days ago 574 posts - 1707 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean | Message 6 of 13 12 July 2011 at 4:05am | IP Logged | |||||
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I doubt polyglots think "more". They'd just think of things from a different angle, seeing the etymologies in words and the various cultural and idiomatic contexts of various ideas. But it's not all that different from an engineer/chemist/physicist/doctor/biologist considering various things with an amplified sense of awareness, or a musician constantly composing in his head (I used to do this all the time) or an artist or photographer considering the aesthetic qualities of everyday scenes.
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| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6664 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 7 of 13 12 July 2011 at 6:50am | IP Logged | |||||
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I second nway: Most people do think a lot and it can be both good and bad. My mind is often very active, be it about languages or anything else. As an amateur linguist I try to use my mind to "interpret" what other people say into a language I'm learning. It's not perfect, but it's a good exercise to get the mind started thinking in that language, and also helps you find vocabulary or expressions you are still lacking.
Most of the time I try to watch my thoughts as if it were a TV and don't really have much of an opinion of what goes through my mind. Great question! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6378 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 8 of 13 12 July 2011 at 7:41am | IP Logged | |||||
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It's interesting that nobody has yet to answer "no" to the question. Everyone is saying (as would I) "I'm thinking about all sorts of stuff all the time". The question is: would the answers be different in another forum?
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