Check out her talk as well - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPGpZp1pfQQ
She has also written numerous essays on the matter, most of which are available at http://psych.stanford.edu/~lera/papers/
How does our language shape the way we think? (2009)
31–40 of 66 posts
Re: How does our language shape the way we think? (2009)
#32As a speaker of 3 different languages (English, German and Portuguese/Spanish) I believe that although correct this is a wrong discussion. Yes, languages does influence the way we think, but overall culture does influence a million times more. One example is the democratic debate in English speaking countries compared to the same debate in Portuguese/Spanish countries. I hear a lot of words that don't have a direct t…
Reasoning must be equivalent across cultures, even where language varies, right? If not, wouldn't sciences be culturally relative (y'know, beyond a certain threshold of like not worshiping a sun-god)? So, to me, what's actually being addressed in this article and with the research involved is merely that language shapes the way we perceive, but not necessarily how we think/reason. It's interesting, but more along the lines of anthropological insight, less how does the way I speak affect the way I write code/solve problems.
You say that Anglo-Saxon culture is dominated by inductive reasoning. Is there a different system of reasoning dominant in other cultures? Not trying to be flippant, I'm ignorant of this topic and am interested in hearing what someone who can speak 3 languages knows.
Re: How does our language shape the way we think? (2009)
#33As a speaker of 3 different languages (English, German and Portuguese/Spanish) I believe that although correct this is a wrong discussion. Yes, languages does influence the way we think, but overall culture does influence a million times more. One example is the democratic debate in English speaking countries compared to the same debate in Portuguese/Spanish countries. I hear a lot of words that don't have a direct t…
Portuguese and Spanish are quite different languages.
Re: How does our language shape the way we think? (2009)
#34Number system of some Asian languages (e.g. Chinese) is base 10, so the children can learn Maths easier.
There are much more thorough and research-based explanations about why mathematics performance is generally better (recently) among Chinese people than among Americans.
https://webstorage.worcester.edu/sites/rbisk/web/marlboro%20...
http://www.ams.org/notices/199908/rev-howe.pdf
http://www.amazon.com/Knowing-Teaching-Elementary-Mathematic...
Better teaching makes for better results in learning.
Re: How does our language shape the way we think? (2009)
#35As a speaker of 3 different languages (English, German and Portuguese/Spanish) I believe that although correct this is a wrong discussion. Yes, languages does influence the way we think, but overall culture does influence a million times more. One example is the democratic debate in English speaking countries compared to the same debate in Portuguese/Spanish countries. I hear a lot of words that don't have a direct t…
Reasoning must be equivalent across cultures, even where language varies, right? If not, wouldn't sciences be culturally relative (y'know, beyond a certain threshold of like not worshiping a sun-god)? So, to me, what's actually being addressed in this article and with the research involved is merely that language shapes the way we perceive , but not necessarily how we think/reason . It's interesting, but more along t…
Well, reasoning is indeed equivalent across cultures, but only when these cultures embrace it. Reasoning is a cultural trait too and a lot of people or cultures don't know the rules of logic.
These people/cultures use other ways of convincing and arguing instead of reasoning: strongly held prejudices, religious frameworks, proverbs, tribal loyalties, etc.
Besides, inductive method is not the only form of reasoning; I find it interesting how the Germans are so much at ease with deductive reasoning using so precisely defined words and expressions.
Like reasoning, another example of a western notion that we think as universal but it isn't: the humanist notion that every human being is worth the same regardless of gender and race. I find it shocking how many people find themselves as being worth less just because they are not white and/or male. In Latin-America this is changing fast and a lot but still is a widespread feeling among native South-Americans, blacks and women in rural settings.
Re: How does our language shape the way we think? (2009)
#36Very simple - the way you cursing affects how you think. Some cultures are exceptional in using "bad words". Russians, for example, using all the dirty details of a sexual intercourse, while, say, Italians using some blasphemy. Here lies the answer.)
Re: How does our language shape the way we think? (2009)
#37Wittgenstein said it best: "The limits of my language are the limits of my world."
Counterexample: Cauchy and Riemann, when pioneering complex analysis. They "proved" many results, but with nonrigorous techniques. When they tried to teach complex analysis to their students, those students applied the same techniques and "proved" absurdities.
Cauchy and Riemann really did understand what they were doing - when Weierstrass finally put analysis on a formal footing, every one of their results turned out to be correct. But they were unable to communicate it to their students, because even though they understood it, they couldn't express it in language.
Re: How does our language shape the way we think? (2009)
#38Wittgenstein said it best: "The limits of my language are the limits of my world."
depends on what you mean by language, people can express themself and communicate different ways without words (music , drawing,art in general...). If you consider music and drawing as a language then there is no limit.
What Wittgenstein means is that you cannot think outside your language. Your language (in its widest sense) both enables and limits your thinking.
Re: How does our language shape the way we think? (2009)
#39As a speaker of 3 different languages (English, German and Portuguese/Spanish) I believe that although correct this is a wrong discussion. Yes, languages does influence the way we think, but overall culture does influence a million times more. One example is the democratic debate in English speaking countries compared to the same debate in Portuguese/Spanish countries. I hear a lot of words that don't have a direct t…
Portuguese and Spanish are quite different languages.
No, not "quite". They are actually very similar to each other. So much that, for non-native speakers, it becomes very hard to try to learn both at same time.
Portuguese is just a modern version of Galician (Galego), a Spanish dialect from northwest Spain and northern Portugal. After the expulsion of the Moors invaders in the 8th century, it became Portugal's language. Castilian (Castellano), the root of modern Spanish, is a close sibling to Galician.
Good and fluent speakers of Portuguese, Galician and Castilian can understand each other without too much effort.
Re: How does our language shape the way we think? (2009)
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reasoning must be equivalent across cultures, even where language varies, right? If not, wouldn't sciences be culturally relative (y'know, beyond a certain threshold of like not worshiping a sun-god)? So, to me, what's actually being addressed in this article and with the research involved is merely that language shapes the way we perceive , but not necessarily how we think/reason . It's interesting, but more along t…
Well, reasoning is indeed equivalent across cultures, but only when these cultures embrace it. Reasoning is a cultural trait too and a lot of people or cultures don't know the rules of logic. These people/cultures use other ways of convincing and arguing instead of reasoning: strongly held prejudices, religious frameworks, proverbs, tribal loyalties, etc. Besides, inductive method is not the only form of reasoning; I…
This feels like precisely what I was after in picking your brain, especially how German language encourages deductive reasoning (or maybe it's the other way around). It's a pretty obvious connection to me now, knowing German words like gemeinschaft.
Perhaps it's fair to generalize that the more specific the concepts behind a language's vocabulary (maybe just the more frequently used words) the greater the average speaker's tendency to use deductive reasoning. Or at least, that's a good point of departure for more investigating.
Thanks for the insight!