Hector Martin

You know, this reminds me of language. I'm bilingual (half trilingual?) and people ask me what language I think in. I... don't know? Unless I'm explicitly trying to put things into words, it's some abstract conceptual system, not a language.

Same, basically. And this seems to be very much related to how I can't see things in my head, but still somehow can translate them to paper - it's like you don't have to, it's something deeper. I see my drawings the first time when I am actually drawing, like everyone else

Oh I do that too, explicitly, sometimes. I find it interesting to imagine myself writing an article or giving a talk. But most of the time there is no conversation, it's just some kind of higher level conceptual flow.

This is related to how some people learning languages "translate" in their head. I don't; if I have trouble recalling a word I might search for it based on other languages, but most of the time when I'm speaking or listening in a language, there is a direct mapping to ideas.