How Does Language Shape The Way We Think

Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about. – Benjamin Lee Whorf

Everything we do shapes the way we think. It’s called the ‘butterfly effect’. Even the smallest of changes can cause the biggest of situations, like catastrophes, for example. Who we are, technically, is just a construct made of every situation we've been in, and every person we ever encountered. Everything happening to us changes the brain of ours on chemical levels. Even how other language sounds shapes the way we think. Different sounding languages might trigger different assoсiations, which means you will get different ideas randomly surfing through verbal rubbish your brain creates, which, again, makes you think differently. So in this essay, we are going to explore, how does language shape the way we think?

Some languages are harder to comprehend from reading, which means, for example, you will read less, if it’s very difficult to do. Less knowledge your brain contains, less can it think of, as well.

How language shapes the way we think

If you ever read George Orwell’s 1984, then you know the idea behind newspeak - by creating a language with limited grammar and vocabulary, the political party wants to limit freedom of thinking, decrease the amount of “thoughtcrimes” happening. “From thoughts to words, from words to action”. You can’t think about freedom if there is no word for freedom in your language. Erase the concept of freedom from history, and nobody will ever argue about your authority. The human brain struggles in comprehending things we don’t have words for. For example, ancient people - Ancient China, ancient Greece, and Rome, didn’t even have the word ‘blue’ in their languages. There was no blue, it wasn't distinguished from green or darker shades. Their literature describes the world as mostly black and white place with some red and yellow inclusions. This makes us think that maybe ancients saw the world as a murky place, devoid of almost any colour. Amazonian tribes to this day don’t distinguish blue as a different color, they have loads of shades of green, though.

The same words in different languages can drastically differ, as language transfers cultural history. An example of that would be jargon. Otherwise neutral words, translated can suddenly become inappropriate. The only example I can think of, at the moment, is the fact that light blue in Russian means homosexual, which Russians are usually not very fond of. For polish people, the alternative word means “warm”, which is not any easier to comprehend than ‘blue’ from the first look. Just not knowing the history of the country can severely limit your understanding of words. Blue meaning homosexual comes from the nobility (so-called blue blood people) practicing this. Now makes more sense, doesn’t it?

Another example of how language shapes the way we think and determines what we can think about are jokes, puns, and wordplay as a whole. Almost every bilingual person, most likely, knows that it is extremely difficult to translate a joke in a way for it to be accurate 100% of the time. This is because a lot of jokes are based on wordplay. Have you ever had this situation, when you hear something casual, but the words used make you see a joke in the sentence? I have this happen to me all the time. So I’m usually the kind of person that laughs for no apparent reason. For example, our Russian teacher, back in 9th grade, made us write letters, I don’t remember to whom, but it was about our interest if i recall correctly. She said, ‘Please, everyone write by themselves, no cheating off each other”. Then proceeds to dictate “We...”. Only I of all the class saw the irony of this situation, apparently. Irony is translatable and universal, it seems.

Conclusion

It’s better to know as many languages as you can learn. The more languages you know, the better your brain works, you will never be in a loss from knowing more languages. It isn't that impossible if you got native speakers near you, which can make sure your journey to acquire the language much easier and more fun.   

References

1. Boroditsky, L. (2001). Does language shape thought?: Mandarin and English speakers' conceptions of time. Cognitive Psychology, 43(1), 1-22.

2. Gentner, D., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2003). Language in mind: Advances in the study of language and thought. MIT Press.

3. Lucy, J. A. (1992). Language diversity and thought: A reformulation of the linguistic relativity hypothesis. Cambridge University Press.

4. Levinson, S. C. (2003). Space in language and cognition: Explorations in cognitive diversity. Cambridge University Press.

5. Slobin, D. I. (1996). From 'thought and language' to 'thinking for speaking'. In J. J. Gumperz & S. C. Levinson (Eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity (pp. 70-96). Cambridge University Press.

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6. Whorf, B. L. (1956). Language, thought, and reality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. MIT Press.