# think in Chinese



## dojibear

I want to say that I still think in English, and can't yet think in Chinese.

I would use 用英语 and 用汉语, but I'm not sure what verb to use for "think".
I think 觉得 is wrong, and 想 is wrong, but I'm not sure what is correct. 考虑 ? 思考 ?


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## Ghabi

dojibear said:


> 思考 ?


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## T.D

to think in Chinese = 用 中文/汉语 思维思考


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## dojibear

我三年学习的后，但我还不会用中文思考。
我三年学习的后，但我还不会用中文思维思考。


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## T.D

There is an <although> hidden in your sentence. So I would say 尽管(虽然)已经学习三年了，但我还不会用中文（中文思维）思考。
In a sentence like this, 中文思维 is used more often than just 中文, I suppose.


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## SimonTsai

Hello, @dojibear. I think I might say, '我學了三年中文, 但到現在還是沒辦法用中文思考, 常想著英文然後在內心裏翻譯.'


dojibear said:


> I think 觉得 is wrong, and 想 is wrong, but I'm not sure what is correct. 考虑? 思考?


覺得 / 感覺 --> I *feel* that someone is following me. I need help!
覺得 / 認為 --> I don't *think* this is the best thing that you could do.
思考 / 想 --> *Think* about everything like an economist.
考慮 --> We will *take* that *into account* and reply to you by Friday.


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## SuperXW

dojibear said:


> I still think in English, and can't yet think in Chinese.


think 翻译成 “思考” 是毫无疑问的。
其它的直译就可以了。
"我还是在用英文思考，不会用中文思考。"


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## Ghabi

Phrases like 中文思维 smell of the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis to me, so I would avoid using it. When language learners say they can't "think" in a certain language they just mean they can't form sentences spontaneously in that language in their mind. I agree that a simple 用中文思考 is enough, without dragging in the very complicated topic of 思维.


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## Oswinw011

中文思维 sounds exactly like what a snake oil salesman would say in order to pitch his classes or book. Just an observation. Maybe it's because I have been so fed up with such terms as 中文/英文思维 that were thrown around.


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## dojibear

Ghabi said:


> When language learners say they can't "think" in a certain language they just mean they can't form sentences spontaneously in that language in their mind.


Yes! It is about sentences. Even though I know many (okay, several) Chinese words, I still use an English approach to breaking down my ideas into sentences. 虽然认识很多汉字，但是我用美国样式的句子。It isn't really "thinking in Chinese". I get the same mental image from "dog", "perro", "chien", '狗', etc. The issue is about using (写，说话) the language. I need to improve my word order.

A recent Youtube video ("Think in Chinese" from Grace Mandarin) says that Chinese is a "left-branching language", meaning that descriptive or subordinate clauses often come first, while in English the main noun (or verb, or statement) often comes first. For example (my example):

I met *a girl **who plays chess on weekends*. 
我遇到了一个*周末下棋的女孩*。

Thanks for all the comments. I think 思考 is good for my purposes. I am sure that Chinese has even more words than English for "think, ponder, reflect, imagine, cogitate, visualize, believe, suppose, suspect, conceive, wonder"...


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## dojibear

dojibear said:


> I get the same mental image from "dog", "perro", "chien", '狗', etc.


我思考是左边，不是右边。








“Off topic" 用中文怎么说?


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## SimonTsai

Now our discussion remains on '_think_', I think we are probably still on-topic. 


dojibear said:


> 我思考是左边，不是右边。


This sounds wrong, and I literally got confused the first time I read the sentence.

Say, '我想的是左邊那隻, 不是右邊的.' '思考' is restricted to contexts where '_thinking about_' works but '_thinking of_' fails. (And, in fact, I get the same image from '_dog_' and '狗', too, which is the one on the left.)


> 我遇到了一个周末下棋的*女孩*。


This is grammatical but probably not what I would say. You may start a new thread on this if you feel interested.


> 虽然认识很多汉字，但是我用美国样式的句子。


Still, sorry, grammatical but unnatural.


> I am sure that Chinese has even more words than English for "think, ponder, reflect, [...]"


I am not so sure. English is well known for its huge vocabulary.


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## AquisM

dojibear said:


> “Off topic" 用中文怎么说?


离题。Anything mentioned that is off-topic can be termed 题外话。



dojibear said:


> ...Chinese is a "left-branching language", meaning that descriptive or subordinate clauses often come first, while in English the main noun (or verb, or statement) often comes first.


That's true, but I think it's also very important to recognise that Chinese much prefers using multiple short clauses to communicate a complex idea, instead of the English/European way of nesting many clauses together.


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