[frooxie]

Really? I'm bilingual from childhood (and I've since learned a few more), and I seldom feel like I'm thinking in any specific language. Furthermore, I don't see how that could be puzzling to anyone - haven't most people had the experience of temporarily forgetting the word for something that they are very familiar with? A situation where they have a concept in mind, but have forgotten the "label" for it in their language? So why couldn't people think using these wordless concepts instead of with words?

(To me, thinking in words seems strange and inefficient. On the other hand, I often have clear and simple thoughts in my head that take me several minutes to translate into any language, because none of the words and expressions I can think of seem just right, so thinking in words seems like it would be useful for communicating.)

[3pt14159]

People think in different ways. I almost never think in "words" because I'm a visual thinker, but my girlfriend absolutely never grasps for a word. I assume the deaf have differences between language based thinker and visual thinkers or kinetic thinkers.