How Language Can Change Your Way Of Thinking
You may not have ever considered this before, but the language you use can have an effect on the way you think and see the world in general. There’s all kinds of reasons why this may happen, and you can even use it to your advantage. Here’s why your language matters when you’re making decisions.
Language is intrinsically tied to culture
The language you speak will reflect the culture you live in. You’ve grown up in that culture and learned that language as a child, so of course you’re going to think a certain way, or hold certain opinions.
For example, in Germany, their language is gendered. That means that objects are referred to as ‘male’ or ‘female’. For examples, dogs are thought of as ‘male’ and cats as ‘female’. That language quirk means that you’re automatically going to hold certain opinions, based on whether something is pronounced male or female.
Take the word ‘bridge’. In German, this is considered a ‘female’ word, because a bridge is something you literally walk over. It’s no surprise that gendered languages exist in societies that are male dominated.
How does language and culture affect the way you think?
A study examined people that were bilingual in English and Japanese. They were asked to finish the sentence, ‘If my wishes conflicted with those of my family…’ When asked the question in English, people answered along the lines of ‘I would do what I want.’ When asked in Japanese though, they would answer, ‘it would be a source of shame.’
These answers reflect the cultures of the countries the languages come from. In English speaking countries, it’s more acceptable to follow your own dreams and wishes, even if your family don’t approve. In Japanese society, your family holds a much more important role in your life. To disappoint them would be a terrible thing to do.
Thinking in a different language can actually help you
When you have important decisions to make, you can feel stuck, as you can’t see an answer to your dilemma. Writer Anna Jonasson from Academized and BoomEssays recommends thinking over that problem in a second language.
“When you examine it in your second language’ he says, ‘You’re being forced to look at the problem from a different angle. You can make a much more logical decision, and more often than not it’ll be the right one for you.”
This is because when we think, we aren’t just thinking in our own language. Thoughts aren’t just words. They appeal to all the senses, so smells, touch, sights and sounds can all have a part in your thoughts. This means that when it comes to making decisions, it can be difficult as you’re dealing with a lot of thoughts at once. Change to a different language though, and you strip all of that away.
Your language affects your future
The most fascinating thing about language and thought is that it really can affect your future.
“Languages such as Mandarin don’t employ a future tense, like English does. That has been shown to mean that Manadrin speakers don’t view the future as a far off concept, but more of a whole of their experience,” says Jerry Bills, an editor at Essayroo and UKWritings.
It’s been shown that it actually affects how they plan for the future. For example, they’re actually better at saving money than English speakers are.
As you can see, the language you speak really does have an effect on how you think. Learning a second language is a great way of making decisions, and learning to see the world in a different way.
