I don't know if anyone else has this experience, but I know that I can think in two languages because I can be confused in two languages! If I begin listening to someone speaking, and my expectation of what language will be spoken is wrong, there is a delay whilst my ear/brain switches gears. For example, when listening to the radio, there may be an interview with someone. Often if the person is speaking a LOTE, the editors will run a few seconds of the person speaking in his or her native language before beginning a translation. If, instead, the person being interviewed speaks English, but with a heavy accent, I may be momentarily confused as my ear hears something that sounds like a LOTE, but it's actually English. This is worst when the LOTE is Spanish, the other language in which I am fluent. It can happen either way, when I expect Spanish and hear English or expect English and hear Spanish.
My love of words has to have been inherited/pounded in to me by my dad, who worked as a editor, at one point in his career. I can't remember, after learning to read, being given the meaning of any word orally. And I still love dictionaries! :0)
