"So, what language do u think in?"
I was posed with this question by the one I look like some months back while we're having dinner during some meeting trip overseas. I was rather taken aback simply bcos, I dun have a definite/immediate answer to this. Its also just not usual that people would be conscious of the language that they use to think it. Or rather, is there a language whereby the brain communicates to the consciousness and the rest of the body?
Actually, I've been planning to blog this like, 2-3 weeks ago, but I just couldnt start/didnt have the determination to blog amidst all the other distractions/dunno how to blog it. Did some research and there are in fact, some psychological thesis done on this topic.
Do we think in the language we speak or do we speak in the language we think? Or is there really a need to express our thoughts in a language which our consciousness understands? Why cant we do our thinking using the electric signals which the brain uses to communicate with the nerves and nodes?
Ehh.. tough question. Even the theories are criticising each other, so being a layman psychologist, sociologist and economist, I shalt not attempt to explore too much into this issue.
But after being posed that question, I began to be more conscious of my thoughts and take note of the language which I usually use to think in.
Its English.
And more recently, I begin to notice that I tend to be fluent/converse more in English than in Chinese, which used to be my primary language some years back. This made me ask myself, "When did I change?" and "What makes me change?"
My English tongue used to be VERY choppy. I would probably start the sentence in English and after a few words, end in Chinese all the way. Or Singlish. Or I'll take very long to think when being posed some questions in English and to reply back in English. (This is my habit, I'll reply back in the language you speak to me in.)
Now, its the reverse. My Mandarin conversations would be littered with English, or Singlish, and I'll think a bit longer to use the correct words to express myself than I would in English. Its even to the extent that I've been using English to plot my lyrics before translating them into Mandarin, which is kind of weird.
So I believe this has got to do with the external environment. Our work emails and instant messages are/have to be in English, and the Chinese in there do not normally use Mandarin to converse. I am not saying my study environment is innocent. With all the English terms of Oligopoly, Queuing Theory, etc, which throws back weird-sounding translations when you look it up in Wiki Chinese, its just not practical to attempt to explore the Mandarin portion of the books. Therefore with the lack of chances to use Mandarin, my thinking process had been slowly reformatted to think in the English language.
Thus it made me realise that, "HEY! If I don't force myself to use Mandarin more frequently, its going to worsen my vocab and my lyrics expression!" Therefore the chinese blog posts, which I actually spent probably twice the time to type those than is needed to type this lengthy post in English.
And seriously, I don't want to sound like an Ang Moh Gang Dang speaking purified but insincere English nor angmohised Mandarin!!
Btw, is Mandarin THAT DIFFICULT??
A simple diagnosis to know what language you think in, ask yourself this, "What language do you normally count in?" I know most people just count and would not notice how they count. If you do not have a clear cut answer to this, maybe the next time you count something, this question would be niggering somewhere at the back of your mind and you'll be more conscious of it.