Bilingualism and how it affects how we think of things

This is an example of how my brain works independently of language.
I was raised bilingually (Irish / English). I assume that my way of thinking of things has been influence by my bilingualism. I don't think in terms of words necessarily but, rather, in terms of things.
For example...
I wanted to describe my diary/notebook, how it looked. Here is a picture of it:

"it's black with an orange...[?]..."

I couldn't think of the word.

"Rib?" Is it black with an orange rib?

I knew that was wrong.

I could picture this bone-like thing. And was trying to think of the English word for it. Rib was wrong. Bone? A part of the body? No it wasn't a "back" because it was a kind of straight line bone the entire length of the body (well not quite entire length of the body but length of torso anyway).

Spine!

I don't know if this is due to bilingualism; if bilingual people think like this. That our brains our geared more towards context and objects and ideas than words...? The look of it, the feel of it, the "it" of it more than the word. So that's what I was doing, searching for the English word that fitted the "it-ness" or the "thing" that I had in mind.

As designers, involved with things and objects, I think it's important not to get too caught up with words. Not to be anglo-centred. Or indeed any-language-centred.