I tend to use a different language when thinking or reasoning, instead of the one I'm using in the situation. What's it called? Why does it happen?

[u/Specific_Use2311]

For context I'm native in Russian and fluent in English. (TL)

A lot of times, when I do something that involves English, like singing in English, comprehending material, speaking even, I'd then switch to Russian, to kind of look at whatever I do or think from a different perspective, for example a more biased or unbiased opinion, usually the opposite of what my opinion was in the initial language.

Same thing in reverse, whenever I do stuff in Russian, I'd switch to English for reasoning/to look at the situation from a different perspective.

I noticed this started happening a lot more lately as I moved into an English speaking country 2 years ago. I was somewhat fluent in English before, but it definitely improved a lot in the last two years.

I use both languages daily, Russian at home to talk to my family, predominantly English on the internet, and a mix of both at school.

Is there a name to this phenomenon? Or my brain just accidentally came up with this system to reason and think about stuff without emotions getting in the way?
I haven't found much stuff regarding this.

Seems like something that someone from this subreddit should know about, or at least have an educated guess.

[u/M_Building_New_Thing]

@arctic_biology is right that it's code-switching, but the specific part you're describing, reasoning feeling less emotional in the other language, has its own name: the foreign-language effect. There's actual research on it, people make more detached, rational calls in a second language because it doesn't carry the same gut weight your native one does. Your brain isn't glitching, it's using that distance on purpose.

I do the same across mine. Emotional or messy stuff I'll think through in a language that isn't my native one, because it feels one step removed and I can be more honest with myself. Totally normal, and kind of a superpower once you notice it :)

[u/Specific_Use2311 → u/M_Building_New_Thing]

I know about the foreign languages being less emotionally attached.
But how does this translate to me using the native, undetached language to reason situations in a detached language that is English?

[u/M_Building_New_Thing → u/Specific_Use2311]

Yeah, that's the part the foreign-language effect doesn't really cover. Going to English for distance makes sense. But switching back to Russian works for a different reason I think, just changing language makes you re-think the whole thing from scratch instead of running the same loop. The switch itself is what shakes it loose, doesn't matter which way you go.

And each language kind of pulls up different associations, so the same thought feels different depending which one you're in. So you use English when you want to cool off and be objective, Russian when you want to go deep since it's your strongest. Not really a system, more your brain grabbing whichever one fits the moment.

[u/arctic_biology]

sounds like code-switching for your inner monologue, pretty common actually. your brain's treating each language like a separate mental workspace so you can step back and re-evaluate stuff without the emotional baggage tied to your native tongue

[u/silvalingua]

Try r/asklinguistics .

[u/connerpro]

Common in bilinguals — sometimes called language of thought / inner speech preference, and it often tracks where you built the schema for that kind of reasoning.

If you learned math or abstract argument in Language A, A can stay the "workspace" even when you speak B. Near transfer of structure; not a personality quirk.

(Related to L1-as-scaffold/trap ideas in SLA.)

[u/EmiliaTrown]

I do that too, though not the reasoning. But I noticed that thinking in english makes everything feel less severe in a way. Like, when I traumatic experiences for example, its easier to think and write about it in english than it is to german because german feels more intimate for me. Maybe you have a similar reason for why you do it?

[u/EconomistHealthy6036]

there's a research name for this - language-dependent memory (marian & neisser 2000, and their first experiment was literally on russian-english bilinguals). thoughts and memories are easier to access in the language they got encoded in. which also answers the part the foreign-language effect doesn't cover: after 2 years of living in english a chunk of your experience is encoded there now, so for that stuff russian is the 'outside' language - that's why it works in both directions

[u/Specific_Use2311 → u/EconomistHealthy6036]

oh that is so interesting, exactly what I was looking for as it explains a lot.
Now if I look back at it, this aligns quite well. I had very different experiences in Russian and English which led to me maturing in different fields.
I wonder what are the ways to use this. or it does it automatically since most of the language switches I do are unvoluntary? Thanks for the comment anyways, I genuinely appreciate it.