Same here…I get along with myself pretty consistently. :bravo: 
The last time I disagreed with myself I ended up having to apologize and buy some flowers for my wife. 
It all happened in English for the record. This is making me think about something though… When I’m upset, I tend to let it out in French too… It’s never a very religiously oriented speech…If any one knows anything about French Canadian’s swear words. 
Blame the old man for that one.
Sacre bleu!
Mon dieu!
That sort of thing? 
what language, if any, do u dream in?
The only dreams I can remember is just seing some beautiful landscapes from my country. Nobody is in the scene, nobody speak. Maybe the nature and the silence is what is missing in my awaken life.
I usually think without speaking to myself so I use no language, except when I imagine or repeat a conversation in my head. The used language depends on the persons that are speaking in the dialog, i.e. the language that they usually use when we meet.
A good mix of Chinese and English (I remember a lot of my dreams). I still remember the first dream that featured Chinese. I came in the form of characters on a cellphone I found. I remember going through the menus thinking WTF.
Now I see characters, talk, have people talk to me, etc.
Ever think about how deaf people think to themselves? Do they imagine hands in their head signing out their thoughts? Or would someone like Hellen Keller when thinking about having a conversation with someone imagine pressure on her hands as they answered her in her head?
This is an excellent point. Don’t forget, as far as the mind/brain goes, language is arbitrary. Thoughts are images that come so fast that most of us think we actually do think in words.
Truth is, we think primarily if not completely in images which are put into words…almost automatically and for the most part instantaneously. This explains both why some people can change their past behavior through visualization techniques, and why some cannot.
Hellen Keller then provides us with a fantastic problem…what about people born blind???
Now Carl Jung would say that images or passed down on a genetic level (which could also explain why completely different peoples/cultures have similar gods and explanations for the universe)…or something like that, which could explain more about how language is a natural and innate an ability as flight is to birds…
cool shit huh??? 
Hmm, not so sure if that scenario applies to me. I think to a large extent in words, not images. As I wander down the streets engaged in lengthy internal dialogues, it’s mostly a sea of words, with images as an accompaniment, but not the main thrust.
Now, whether or not I am “seeing” the words in my mind and then instantly transfering them to internal “sounds” is another question. But if it’s words I’m both “seeing” and “hearing” then it’s almost a moot issue and one I’ll leave to the pedants.
I will say this, which I’ve always found interesting. When I’m speaking a Romance language that involves verb conjugations and other mental gymnastics, I’ll engage in a series of mental calisthenics when I’m about to get to a complex structure. I’ll “place” the verb or other elements on a mental canvas (and “see” them in my mind’s eye), add necessary conjugations and declensions, and then be ready when, .5 seconds or so later, it’s time to utter the phrase. I think this ability is one reason it’s fairly easy for me to learn other languages.
In contrast, I’m fairly lousy at other cerebral skills, such as engineering and advanced mathematics. It’s interesting to see how our different wiring makes some things easy for us and some things difficult. There’s a lot of interest these days in “Multiple Intelligences,” which is a connected discussion.
One thing I’m extremely suspicious of, though, is explanations of the brain which are “theory based,” or based on limited studies. We know very little about the way the brain works, and there is too little hard science supporting the claims of psychologists and theorists.
OK, that’s about 5 different discussions in one post. Pas mal, eh? 
I sometimes dream in Chinese, or at least the people in my dreams often speak Chinese. This leads to some confusing things. Like I’ll be dreaming that I’m back in NZ talking to a friend, and then suddenly my dream-self realises that we’ve been talking in Chinese and says something like “hey that’s weird you’re speaking Chinese, when did you learn that?” and then the friend in my dream will have to make up some lame-arse excuse like “oh yeah, while you were over in Taiwan, I went to China, and learnt Chinese. I forgot to tell you”. 
Brian
[quote]Thinking Like A Wolf
Can YOU think without words, without language? You can. Get a measure of what non-verbal thought is like simply by suppressing your urge to think in words. Suppress the stream of words constantly running through your head by repeating over and over to yourself a short rhyme, like “one, two”. Or if musically inclined repeat to yourself two or three musical notes. You will find that as long as you do not let your mind stray, you can pay attention to and explore your non-verbal thoughts. Keep going for as long as you can. You may then be thinking more like a wolf than a human.
Whereas language excels at abstract thought, you may find your non-verbal thoughts incline to awareness of external stimuli, how your body feels, visual images, emotions and notions of incipient activity. Try non-verbally thinking of a problem and solve it by non-verbal reasoning or by insight.
We must given wolves credit for analysing problems and solving them mentally by imagining courses of action and then carrying them out. Perhaps a reason why wolves seldom get credit for thinking is because few people have learned what it is like to think like a wolf.
wolftrust.org.uk/a-thinkingwolves.html
[/quote]
The above link is very interesting both if you are interested in this topic or if you are an animal lover. I enjoyed it.
Here’s an interesting quote : [quote=“Lenore Fleischer”]Thinking in words slows you down and actually decreases comprehension in much the same way as walking a tightrope too slowly makes one lose one’s balance.
[/quote]
Jefferson’s question was about what language is going on in your head and that does imply words. Wait! I can even post without words… Look:------------------------------------------------------------------------>> :cluck:
Pas mal du tout Monsieux Jefferson.
I’ve dreamt in French and Mandarin both. I’d hardly say I am fluent enough to think a whole lot in Mandarin, but what I know comes naturally without thinking about the English equivalent so I suppose in a way, I can think in Mandarin. I really miss the days of thinking and dreaming in only French.
I have an observation about when you are truly fluent in a language:
If you hurt yourself or discover something that annoys or disgusts you and the first words out of your mouth are in your target language, then you are well on your way to speaking fluency. I had that moment in France when a piece of furniture in my host family’s house cracked and I shouted, “Putain!” and jumped up. Glad Madame Annick wasn’t around to hear me say that.
Merde!
Attends…Qu-est-ce que j’ai dit??? Je pense en francais, donc…
Quand quelque chose de vraiment d’enervant arrive : Rhaaaa !!! fait chier. Regardless of the situation or the nationality of people around. In a way, it is better that to say it in english, since some people could understand what you say
[quote=“ImaniOU”]If you hurt yourself or discover something that annoys or disgusts you and the first words out of your mouth are in your target language, then you are well on your way to speaking fluency.[/quote]Having learned English “on the streets” sort of speak I often react in that language.
If I’m upset or physically hurt enough to carry on swearing though… then that’s when my brain turns to my mother tongue.
Donc vous comprenez ce que Monsier Jefferson raconte. Faudrait-il lui laver la bouche avec du savon? 
btw. I don’t know how to do “les accents” on the keyboard. Do I need a French keyboard? (La question est pour vrai.)
bobbypin aka bobepine