Of course one can think without knowing a language. People that are born deaf have never been exposed to a spoken language before, and yet they can develope their own opinions and think and process everyday situations.Also when babies are born they dont speak to you,they dont know how to express themselves with a spoken langauge and need to be encouraged to get their expressions heard. (eg. Helen Keller)
The prehistoric men were able to make fire before they spoke a verbal language that was more developed than just grunting. This shows that they had developed thinking skills before speaking a verbal language. They might have used sign language, and pictures but not a verbal language to get their thoughts through.

I find than when one concentrates on his thinking or tries to imagine it, yes, we do seem to shape our thoughts into words. However our thinking is much more than what we think we are experiencing everyday. There is a whole subconcious level, which does not require any language and which is extremely abstract and may consist of visual pictures, sounds and feelings. How do children think, not being able to speak? Or what about chimps which do not speak a word, yet intellectually so close to us?

I don't think (oh, the irony) our thoughts are created by language. When we are rehearsing something clever to say to someone, or when we want people to understand our thoughts, language is pretty convenient. It's also just fun to sit down and fantasize in a language. But when you are trying to sift through your memories or if you're trying to understand a concept, it's impossible to understand how the thinking process is done, but somehow you get results from just trying to find things in your head. Also, it's not like you have to say "move, arm!" in your head to raise your hand. When you get punched in the stomach, you don't think "darnit that hurts!" It just hurts.

Also, you think very quickly before your words are formed. You have to think of what to say, although it may seem spontaneous. Apparently the brain is made for language, as there are very weird cases of people having strokes and only losing the ability to use verbs or other parts of speech. But language just can't influence the rest of thought. Language is just one action the brain creates. There is that little voice in your head that seems to be thought itself, but that little man has to have a mind of his own to come up with his words.

Yes you can think without knowing a language. The first example I can think of is babies. They are new thinkers that enter our world, and our society. Being so new to everything, they lack any knowledge of how things work or how to communicate. Yet still they are able to start learning how to communicate through sounds and nor language. They cry when they are hungry or hurt and they laugh when they are happy. I think they become part of the universal expressions that are expressed by everyone. Without knowing any language, they are still able to think and convey themselves to other people whilst talking to themselves in their own babytalk. It almost seems as they are bursting to say things sometimes as they talk under their breath...all these are signs of thinkers. So ya, you can think without a language. I mean you need to think first before you can even learn a language or else you will just take in words that really dont mean anything!!!!!!

School International School of Kenya

Of course people can think without knowing a language. We can take babies and deaf people as examples. As soon as babies are born, we can observe from their behaviour that they take interest in new objects or surroundings and ponder about how to utilize them to his/her liking. And babies don't normally speak fluently in their mother tongue until they are 3~4 years old. Even at that age, they aren't able to participate in insightful thinking, however, they still manage to experience some kind of thinking process no matter how deep or shallow.
Deaf people never get the chance to speak a language in their lives. As little children they are incapable of expressing themselves through words. If humans weren't able to think without knowing a language, would deaf people ever be able to think? You could say
that sign language can be learnt, then would they think in signs? And learning process of sign language does not come until later on in childhood.
So in my opinion, yes, people can think without knowing a language.

I believe that you could think without knowing a language. You could think about pictures or events. Without a language there would be no need to think of anything else.

School Dougherty Comprehensive High School

I can't imagine not knowing a language. I don't think that can even exist. Language is a way of expressing our thoughts and our emotions. It's a way of expressing ourselves. It is almost impossible to think of our thoughts without using a language. For example, even when I'm thinking, I'm thinking in the language of English. For some people who think without their language and in terms of perhaps numbers for math, it does not mean they don't have a language. They just think in different terms. Some people think in shapes and pictures, but that is also a language. If we were to say language is the way to express our thoughts, without language it will be difficult to have a thought. Without a type of language our minds do not have thoughts or a way of communication.

School J.Percy Page