When interviewed about 'Being Cyrus', Saif Ali Khan said that he was interested in the movie because acting out a character in the language which he thought in would be different.
Now, this was how long ago?...I don't remember. But ever since then, I have been trying to figure out what language I think in. It's not as easy as it seems. The figuring out part, I mean.
The first thing that you attempt to do in the process is to clear your mind so that you can 'hear' your thoughts clearly. When you fail miserably, you settle for the best that you could do.And then you listen, or at least, try to. When I did that, I heard, 'Oookaaay,what language am I thinking in?'. All right. So my mind speaks English. Cool. Matter settled.
But that was sorta easy, right? You bet!
A couple of weeks later, I was looking up stuff about the all-important Seebeck Effect on the Internet and my mother was watching a lame soap on TV. The character (a mother-in-law) was 'thinking' up of new ways to make others' lives miserable [Surprise!Surprise!]. All right. So she thinks in Hindi. Good for her. Do I think in Hindi? "Arrey, nahi yaar", I thought. Wait a sec, wasn't that Hindi? Nice. My mind is bilingual.
It doesn't stop just there. Once I did something really dumb. Too dumb to be mentioned here. And for some unknown reason, I thought of what one of my friends, who comes up with the funniest criticisms in Malayalam, would say. And I did think of something. Not only that, I continued to imagine the whole situation in my mind, in Malayalam.Great. I can't even speak Malayalam but my mind can.My brilliant brain can think in 3 languages.
Apart from this, whenever I spoke in Gujarati, I found myself thinking in the same language later on for some time. Four.
So what is the answer to my quest for finding out the language in which I think? Is there no difference between the languages that we speak in and think in? After a LOT of contemplation, I could come up with just one solution.So here it goes.
Our mind doesn't have a language. It just thinks. It considers stuff and we just know it. It Imagines. Imagination doesn't need a language. And whenever you catch yourself 'thinking' in a language, it's just you imagining of conversing with someone, maybe yourself, or even of writing something. Maybe our thoughts are our conversations with ourselves. I don't know. I am not sure. Maybe I'll never know. Maybe I will.
So as I conclude, I ask you (if you are still reading that is), what language does your mind think in?
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4 years ago
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7 comments:
ha... same situation here... I found myself saying "aliya.. nee thendi poyi" after the kerala entrance.
Few minutes later I was thinking, "Damn it, what the hell are we gonna do now?"
And since my mother tongue is Tamil, I (occasionally) think in that lang too :)
Never hindi.. hindi was such a pain in the.. um... vocal cords for me. Just understand a bit of Hindi thats it.
PS: The blog's back.
I think in English. I don't really find it difficult to decide. It is obvious to me. But there are the occasional changed in thought. But I think that is novelty.
We think faster than we speak, so the argument is somehow redundant no?
Go figure...
aaara??? entha?? evidey??
nothing i would say about it??
PS: where are you???
At The Smokin' WDM2 : Well, it's good to know that I am not the only multilingual thinker here...:)
At Mudd : Yeah...sure. You are the most high and mighty epitome of English. Pardon us lowly Earth inhabitants.~
At nitin sj : Njan ivide thanne onde...:D
err...its my old blog thingy in your blogroll...consider changing it..phlleez.....
where's the coffee?
dae...arengilum undo??? when are we gonna be seeing the next post? after you get over with that "parting with your dear friends" mode or something????
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