What is praying?

@Becket: but what is it called when you are talking to something that you can't see and it isn't God?

Not to be facetious, but I'd call that self-delusion, active imagination or schizophrenia. You're talking to something you can't see and have no compelling reason to believe exists (or still exists). That's why people who aren't religious can't "get" the idea of prayer - it looks crazy to them. But God is an exception by his very nature, and that's why we have a special word (prayer) for talking to God. Beyond that we're just debating semantics, I think.

@Becket: i know about praying to God and i believe in that, i was just wondering what it is when you are talking to say an angel or something

Many people "pray" to Mary or angels or saints, but others consider that damnable idolatry, so they couldn't call it prayer. The definitions break down a bit here. If there's a broad generic term for simply speaking to "entities", sorry but I can't think of one. You'd probably have to look into the occult, paranormal, and New Age nonsense lingo for something like that.

@Becket: i am a christian, but i was getting off track and people were saying to talk to angels, but i could never do that because i felt like i would be praying to something other than God. that stuff was really confusing and weird.

One thing that helps me in this area is to focus on the Bible's repeated warnings to "be careful that no one deceives you". In the end, the only way to avoid being deceived is to pray to God directly, and ask for wisdom and discernment. Like you said, talking to anything/anyone else (which, by definition, was created, not the Creator) is inherently risky business. I think it's good that you're concerned about it and taking it seriously.

@Becket: i could understand if someone i was really closed to died, and i would talk to them, but not as though they are God, but because i was missing them or something.

Yes, I understand the desire to do that. Just keep in mind that God won't respond to that. So if you get a response, it's from the enemy, trying to deceive you. It's a question of intent - are you merely consoling yourself by talking to yourself while trying to work things out? Or do you really believe you are speaking to someone who is dead, and who therefore can't hear you? You just don't want to enter the realm of ancestor worship, where so many pagan religions came from.