Marcus Aurelius wrote his Meditations — his private journal — in Greek, not Latin. Greek wasn’t his first language. When I learned that, I started to wonder because I do the same thing. I journal in English, my second language, and I’d never really asked myself why.
The Language I Think In
The simple answer is immersion. I work in English at least eight hours a day — the tools, the conversations, the documentation, everything. When I first moved to the U.S., I’d think in Portuguese and translate in my head before speaking. Over time, that translation layer disappeared. English became the language I think in by default. So when I sit down to journal about my day, the thoughts are already in English.
But there’s something more going on.
Emotional vs. Analytical
A while back, I came across a talk — I think it was a TED Talk — where the speaker explained that our primary language is our emotional language. It’s the one we learned first, wrapped in the warmth and expressiveness of parents and family. The languages we learn later tend to be more analytical for us. We process them differently.
That resonated. In English, I’m deliberate about word choice. I’ve been in situations where I used the wrong word and got laughed at — that stays with you. So I pay close attention. I think about the composition of words, try to infer meaning from structure, and sometimes I uncover layers I hadn’t noticed before. Like the day it clicked for me what hindsight, insight, and foresight really mean when you break them apart. That kind of discovery doesn’t happen as easily in a language you absorbed as a child without thinking about it.
A Different Path to the Same Answer
I’ve noticed something about myself that I can’t fully explain through science, but I trust from experience: thinking about a problem in different languages leads me down different paths. If I think about something in Portuguese, I might arrive at the same conclusion — or I might not. The journey is different. The associations, the framing, the way the idea takes shape — it shifts depending on the language.
The same happens with Spanish. Each language activates something different in how I process and connect ideas.
I once watched a video in which a scientist discussed the value of children learning multiple languages early. Not just for communication, but because it trains the brain to see that the same object can have different names, and the same word can carry different weight depending on context. That flexibility — seeing the world through more than one lens — becomes a thinking skill.
Code-Switching as a Thinking Tool
In conversation, I code-switch all the time. If I’m speaking Portuguese with someone who’s also fluent in English, and there’s an English word that captures the idea more precisely, I’ll use it. It keeps the conversation moving. But if the other person speaks only one of those languages, I have to constrain my toolbox—find a way around, explain differently, choose a less precise but still understandable path.
That constraint is its own kind of exercise. It forces creativity.
The Programming Language Parallel
This maps directly to programming. Knowing more than one language changes how you solve problems, even when you’re writing in just one.
When C# introduced dynamic features, I had a head start — I’d already solved similar problems in dynamic languages. When it added functional-style features, developers with F# or Haskell backgrounds suddenly had new ways to express ideas in C#. The language didn’t change the problem, but it changed the approach.
Asking “how would I write this in Ruby?” or “how would I express this in F#?” sparks different thinking — even if I never leave C#. It’s the same as asking “how would I say this in Portuguese?” or “how would I explain this to someone from a different region who might not know that expression?”
The Real Takeaway
Multiple languages — spoken or programmed — aren’t just tools for communication. They’re tools for thinking. Each one opens a slightly different door into the same room. And the more doors you can open, the more likely you are to notice something you would have missed walking in through just one.
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