Can Bilingual Thinking Influence How We Feel?

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When bilinguals switch languages, they’re not just swapping vocabulary, but they’re entering different cognitive and emotional modes. Research (and our first-hand experience) might indicate that emotional intensity is often significantly more vigorous in a person’s native language than in a second language they’ve learned. This isn’t just about familiarity. It’s about how deeply language is tied to memory encoding (Schrauf & Rubin, 2000).

So, how does cognitive processing in bilingual individuals under stress or trauma feel? Would thinking in their native language evoke more emotions or lessen them? How does language influence thoughts? This Geekswipe edition delves into psychology to understand these burning questions.

Thinking in the native language evokes higher emotions (mostly)

Emotional memories are often encoded alongside the language in which they were first experienced. For most people, childhood events, early emotional experiences, and formative social interactions occur in their first language (L1). As a result, when bilinguals recall emotional events in their second language (L2), they often experience a blunted emotional response, a phenomenon known as the “foreign language effect” (Caldwell-Harris & Ayçiçeği-Dinn, 2009).

Inner speech, the internal voice narrating your thoughts, is central to cognition and emotional regulation (Vygotsky, 1986). For multilinguals, this voice can shift languages, and the choice of language may influence emotional intensity.

Research shows that bilingual individuals tend to feel more emotionally connected when using their L1. Skin conductance studies (a physiological marker of emotional arousal) reveal heightened responses when reading emotional content in the native language versus a foreign one (Caldwell-Harris & Ayçiçeği-Dinn, 2009).

This suggests that the language of inner speech can modulate emotional reactions, potentially making the difference between distress and detachment.

What happens under stress or trauma?

Stress and trauma introduce another layer of complexity. Research says that under extreme duress, many bilinguals instinctively revert to their native language, especially in pain, fear, or panic (Dewaele, 2010). This reversion suggests a deep neurological anchoring between language and emotion.

Yet, some bilinguals consciously choose their second language when processing traumatic experiences. This either depends on their emotional intelligence (one of the factors), where language doesn’t seem to become a barrier to expression, or on other factors like need for detachment.

Why? Because L2 can offer just enough emotional distance to make the experience feel more manageable, less raw, more analytical (Pavlenko, 2012). This duality is now being explored in psycholinguistic therapy, where language choice may aid emotional regulation and trauma processing (Santiago-Rivera & Altarriba, 2002).

Can multilingual thinking be used to regulate trauma?

Emerging theories propose that multilingual inner speech could be a self-directed emotional buffer. By narrating a traumatic memory in L2, the brain may be able to downregulate emotional intensity while still accessing the memory in full detail.

This idea opens new paths in therapeutic practice. Some psychologists already incorporate language-switching techniques to help clients discuss painful memories with reduced emotional overwhelm (Gullifer et al., 2021).

It also hints at future applications in digital mental health: Could AI-driven prompts in a patient’s second language help reduce PTSD flashbacks or anxiety spikes? Could we design emotionally adaptive interfaces that adjust language in real time to modulate affect?

References

1. Schrauf, R. W., & Rubin, D. C. (2000). Internal Languages of Retrieval: The Bilingual Encoding of Memories for the Personal Past. Memory & Cognition, 28(4), 616–623. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03201251
2. Caldwell-Harris, C. L., & Ayçiçeği-Dinn, A. (2009). Emotion and lying in a non-native language. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 71(3), 193–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.09.006
3. Dewaele, J. M. (2010). Emotions in multiple languages. Palgrave Macmillan.
4. Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language. MIT Press.
5. Santiago-Rivera, A. L., & Altarriba, J. (2002). The role of language in therapy with the Spanish-English bilingual client. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 33(1), 30–38. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7028.33.1.30
6. Gullifer, J. W., Kroll, J. F., & Dussias, P. E. (2021). When Language Switching Has No Apparent Cost: Lexical Access in Sentence Context in Highly Proficient Bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 24(3), 532–548. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728920000463