Job Discussion Forums

[Sashadroogie]

After reading the 'Diversity' thread, the workings of my mind were lead to another, but not entirely related question. Namely, how many of us have students who ask us to teach them 'how to think in English', or 'think like a anglophone lawyer' etc. More importantly, what do we say in reply....

[spiral78]

Hmmm. I don't always think in English, myself.











Clearly, I'm unqualified to answer such a question by a student. Fortunately, I haven't been asked this one (yet).

[johnslat]

Dear Sashadroogie,

Tell them, "When you start dreaming in English, let me know. That's when I'll begin teaching you how to think in English."

Regards,
John

[steki47]

Great question! I encourage my student to think in English, but then I myself often have to build/translate sentences in my head when speaking Japanese.

So, can thinking in L2 really be taught? Are there exercises that encourage this? Or is just an automatic process that occurs when the language student reaches a certain stage of proficiency?

[spiral78]

I think......thinking in a language is different from planning speech in one's head to fit specific situations one is in or expects to be in. The latter is a useful language-learning task that can be performed at will, and the former is likely only spontaneous.

[FrenchLieutenant'sWoman]

I don't think you can teach someone to think in a language but one can encourage oneself to think in L2. You start by constructing sentences in your head and not actually saying them, then seeing how far you can go with a train of thought solely in that language and then it sort of happens unbidden! Planning speech is the first step towards thinking in a langauge.

It's a switch the learner has to flick, though, and really it's only possible after a certain point.

Thinking like an anglophone is different. That requires a knowledge of different logic systems and all kinds of cultural factors. That's easier to teach IMO.

[Sashadroogie]

My own take on this is that it is founded on the faulty premise that any one of us thinks in a spoken language at all. Do French people 'think in French', Germans in German? I doubt it very much. And so does my favourite popular linguistics author Steven Pinker, my hero. 'Mentalese' is what he and his camp call the 'stuff of thought'. Basically, the brain thinks in its own 'computer' language and then, and only then, constructs and utters those thoughts in a spoken language, such as French or German.

So, when students ask me to help them to think in English, I usually tell them that I can't as I don't do it myself. As for thinking like a lawyer, I'm not a lawyer, so can't do that either - English-speaking or otherwise. But I slap a massive consultation charge onto the lesson fee. That'll teach 'em.

[johnslat]

Dear Sashadroogie,

"Basically, the brain thinks in its own 'computer' language . . ."

OK - then who taught my brain that language? Evolution?

Regards,
John

[Sashadroogie]

Yip. That's what the evolutionary psychologists and biologists say. 'Mentalese' explains a lot (not alot). Explains why thought processes are near identical in all cultures, regardless of language. Show me a human language with a concept absent from any other on the planet, and I'll show you an extra-terrestrial language. But then you'd know all about that you old Martian prankster, eh?

[Gerund]

This is a myth--the kind of thing people mindlessly repeat without question--people don't think in any language.

[Sashadroogie]

Agreed. As I also wrote above. Yet it is surprising how many language learners believe this myth. Even more surprising is how many teachers do too.

[FrenchLieutenant'sWoman]

That rather depends what one means by thinking. And also what students are asking for when they want to be taught to think in a language.

Formulating concepts - not done in a language
Running commentary in my head/thinking to myself- definitely words in a language. I don't know how to choose which language that is though! It tends to be an automatic response to the environment around me or the language I last spoke/thought in. So I definitely formulate thoughts in distinct languages but when I speak the words just appear in the appropriate language. Students often want to be taught how to magically make English appear when they speak, which we can't do, but I do think one can train one's brain to react and construct thoughts in a specific language for specific situations and part of that is planning speech/following trains of thought in the target language.

Does anyone else feel like that? Or is my brain just fried

[stillnosheep]

What language does one think in when one is doing something 'instinctively' (without 'conscious' thought), such as playing football? Footballese? (Socerese in the US).

If they really want to experience thinking in English plan an activity/play a game that needs little thought. You shout a colour, they touch the card; you flash a card, they shout the colour. Or practise set stimulus amd response patterns: "Hello. How are you?" "I'm fine thank you. And you?" (Very popular in Japan ). "What's your name?". Opposites: "Big", "Small"; "Up", "Down"; "Red" "Er blue?".

Do you see? They're thinking in English already.

[gaijinalways]

sashadroogie posted

[gaijinalways]

AS to thinking in any language, John Slat is right, until we're doing it on an unconscious level, it's not something we can relate to or possibly learn.

Learning cultural values - yes, logic - yes, thinking in a language - no.