This has been my experience as well. Grew up speaking English and French, am 100% bilingual, could not tell you which I think in. I think thoughts occur at a level of abstraction one step above language.
When I started learning Chinese I also wasn't constantly translating, I just had a limited breadth and depth of topics in which could express my thoughts through Chinese.
When I started learning Chinese I also wasn't constantly translating, I just had a limited breadth and depth of topics in which could express my thoughts through Chinese.