This week's article is a longer one -- you can read it here. The headline asks a simple enough question -- does your language influence how you think?
Take this rather lengthy argument and apply it to your own life. How many languages do you speak (and I'm not talking about French, or Russian). Do you speak differently at home than you do with your friends, or in class? Does the way you work with language influence your thoughts? Or do your thoughts influence your language? What part of this article is full of crap, if any? What is the author, Detscher, attempting to say? What arguments are being used?
You can extrapolate your post in other ways beyond these guidelines. If you read a part of this article you want to respond to, and it takes you into left field, then so be it. But answering the above questions in 300-500 words, you're doing okay.
-- MP
I speak at least three different "languages". As a result of being shy I tend to not talk much or at all while in class or with a group of people I don't know. I tend to keep to myself and speak only when needed to. When I do speak it is usually quietly and often sounds as if I am unsure of what I am saying. While I am with my friends I am loud and speak exactly what is on my mind at the moment. When I am at work answering phones and speaking with customers I am very friendly and am sure to sure to use proper English.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article I am a strong believer that the way someone works with their languages influences their thoughts. I think this is true because for example in the article it talked about the French language and how most objects have a gender to them. The way those people say a certain word (depending on it's gender) makes them think of that object as being like that gender. Such as; in the French language a fork has the gender of a female (la fourchette) which then makes French people think that in a movie or book of some sort the fork should have a women's voice. Because the fork has a female gender while speaking it makes people think accordingly.
I didn't really think there was any part of the article that was full of crap. I found it all very interesting and intriguing. The article actually made me sit and think about the English language and how it works.
The author is saying that the language you speak makes you think a certain way. Examples that were used in the article to back that up would be when they use the examples of Spanish and German languages and how they use genders with their objects. And how some people may use egocentric system for directions and some may use geographic system for directions depending on where they are from. Those systems then make a person think a certain way.
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ReplyDeleteIf I know a person really well, like my friends or family, then I speak in a way that they understand me,like being loud, crazy, and maybe joking around by inventing my own words but if I'm with someone I don't really know then I try to keep strict with the English language. I'm very shy and I don't like conflict so whether the person is my best friend or a stranger, I never really speak my mind; even though I should at times. When I'm at work I speak properly because it is good etiquette and customers expect it of you.I'm shy in class and don't speak unless asked to.
ReplyDeleteI believe that people now a days have a different way of speaking then back when our grandparents were growing up. We have the texting/IM language so now you hear people say "brb" and "lol" rather than actually laughing or saying "Pardon me" or "excuse me".
I don't think the article was full of crap. It opened up my mind about how all of our languages are different. I took Spanish in high school and each word had a feminine or masculine ending, but not all of the words necessarily matched up. Dress in Spanish had a masculine ending which was funny since dresses are a feminine thing. But whenever you hear an object with a feminine or masculine ending, you think of the gender with the object.
I believe that a language influences a thought because we attach ourselves to an object or action because of how we perceive them from what we hear with a language. The author is saying that language and thought influence each other and makes a person act and/or think a certain way.
I speak a wide range of languages. They all vary depending on my surroundings and who I am around. The way I act around my friends and family is completely different from how I may act around co-workers or people I may not know very well. When I am around my family, I like to talk a lot and just play around but when you get in the work place all that is put on pause, but when I am around a group of people I do not know I tend to be a bit shy and speak only when spoken to or asked to. Being at work means for me to put on a more professional attitude on things and change my behavior along with my language. It gives me the opportunity to change my language to a friendlier persona for the customers that I am working with. When your language changes your thoughts change too. This happens due to the fact that you change your language based on your surroundings which then makes you have to change your train of thought. I do not think the article was full of crap. Each example used was very good and was a eye opener to me about the effects language has on us. Taking Spanish in both high school and now college is a pure example of the feminine and masculine words that are used. When you see or hear a specific word, you automatically think about the gender of the object. The author basically says that our language is based on our thoughts in how a person may think or speak about certain things.
ReplyDeleteThere are two different ways to answer the question, “Does Language Shape the Way You Think?” In the article also titled, “Does Your Language Shape How You Think,” Guy Fletcher uses the different ways that humans speak and knowledge acquired in each language when each language is told to say the same thing. Another way to look at this question is to see how language pertains to a person and the environment that he or she is currently in. So, does language help to shape the way a person thinks? Absolutely.
ReplyDeleteThe world was not fortunate enough to have every one of its inhabitants communicating in the same language; therefore, each language is different in its own way. For Example, if I wanted to know someone’s name, I would ask, “What is your name?” If I were speaking Spanish, I would say, “Como te llamo?” Both mean the same exact thing and would give the answer of the person’s name; however, literally in Spanish, I said, “How do you call yourself?” In “Does Language Shape How You Think,” Guy Fletcher uses many other examples as to how else people communicate, but sometimes receive a more complex answer. He uses the example that English does not use a gender with each noun we sputter out. If someone were tell another person that she was going to her neighbor’s home, the American culture would accept that there leaves a place of assumption as to whether or not the neighbor is a male or a female. Fortunately, the German and French language leaves all doubt. “I wouldn’t be able to equivocate this way, because I would be obliged by grammar to choose between voisin or voisine”(Fletcher 2). This also reflects with ways of direction. In America, it is common to explain short distances with egocentric directions. Left. Right. Straight. Backwards. Then, if an American were in the woods, he or she would use cardinal directions to get where he or she was going. North, South, East, or West. Contrary to the American Culture, it is common for a man in Bali to tell his dance student to point his toe East. Without thinking, the student will point his toe in the correct direction.
Environment also implements the way a person acts. A college student at a bar with his friends uses inappropriate words and gestures because that attitude is accepted with his peers. Under the American Culture, this person will not go to his grandmother’s house the next day and throw out the F-bomb out fives times during dinner. The culture forms the way a human uses their language especially in their current state of being. A different form of an environment is an American Soldier in Iraq. During off hours on the FOB, a soldier goofs off with his fellow battle buddies talking about good-looking girls and acting like children would. While on mission, those same soldiers show respect to the local Iraqi people and act professional for their own safety.
Depending on where someone was raised promotes a different way that person would think. It does not matter where a person was raised because either way, their language and speaking skills shape the way he or she thinks.
I think everyone speaks different languages, depending on where they are. I, for example, speak differently with my parents than with my best friends. And I speak differently with my best friends than my professors at school. And I speak differently with my professors than with my classmates. The different “languages” go on and on and on. You’re expected to talk a certain way around certain people. You make relationships that call for formal speaking and you make relationships that call for easy, informal language. A big part of your relationships with others includes the way you address them.
ReplyDeleteIn the article, Detscher explains how languages can shape the way a person thinks or sees something. I agree with that concept. I’ve taken a few French classes and almost every word is either masculine or feminine. When studying I always had to image a “masculine” this or a “feminine” that. It kind of warps your thinking and your associations. I think that language does affect a person’s thoughts and the way they perceive what they are speaking about. The sounds of words can also affect the way a person thinks of that word. Every person is different and that also plays into the scenario. There’s really no way to measure the exact differences between languages and the way the people speaking them feel about the words. (And now I’m beginning to confuse myself.)
Detscher also points out that our “mother language” has been thought to be a sort of prison. I don’t believe it’s a prison, but I think it does shape our minds and our thinking to an extent. I don’t think your language alone can determine the way you see the world, but I believe that it does have an influence. Basically people think the same way as far as brain function and processing, but we think about different things. Different cultures consider different things to be important or of value and that would make their thoughts unique from the next culture’s.
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ReplyDeleteI speak several languages, however up until I have given it some thought I would have replied to this post stating that I only speak English. When I really think about it I speak a different language for pretty much every situation I find myself in. The language I speak to my parents is completely and utterly different than the language I speak to my friends. The language I use when I am addressing a professor is nothing at all like the language I use when I am addressing my cat. I would not talk to my best friend the same way I would talk to my patient at a hospital. I would definitely say that the way I think influences the way I speak and not vice versa. I often give much thought to the exact choice of words I am going to use. I do this perhaps so that I do not make myself sound less educated than I want to appear or just because I am not in the setting where I can relax. When I say relax I don’t mean sitting on the couch kicking your feet back, but rather in a situation where there is a certain manner expected from you. Personally I think it is possible to have your language impact the way you think. However, I am a believer that everyone’s mind works differently and my brain happens to tell me to think before I speak.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the article I thought it presented a few interesting ideas. I believe the author was trying to say language doesn’t affect our ability to perceive ideas, but rather language acts as a different view point into those ideas. My favorite example is the culture which can find the cardinal direction when closed in a room and spun around 20 times. If I were in that situation I would be able to only answer left or right, it was very impressive that since that particular culture’s language has been used since birth their members are able to correctly identify the direction in such a way.
Language definately influences the way I think. I do not speak any foreign languages fluently,but I use the language I speak in many different ways occording to the context I am in and the people around me. When speaking to my parents I am very careful about most things that I say, yet my speach caries more vunerability. When I speak to my friends I speak more openly and allow any idea that comes to mind to fall right out of my mouth witout much thought. As a student I probably am least likely to say what is on my mind and often keep thoughts monitored more than anywhere else. I speak with most caution in a classroom setting due to the fear of judgement from others who may not enjoy or agree with what I have to say. These modifications of my speach are an example of how thought can influence language. Though I genuinely believe that thought can influence language; this article definately shows that language can influence thought as well. In the article I found the section about masculine and feminine inatimate objects among the Spanish, French, and German languages to be very interesting. I think it was very intersting how things such as chairs, bridges, and forks could subconsciously hold a gender in the minds of those who speak a language that uses femininity and masculinity to express words. I agree that this could influence different feelings towards things such as inatimate and could even influence the design of bridges and art among different cultures. I find it also fascinating how in certain cultures they use geographic location and always have a sense of direction depending on where the wind blows from or the postition on the sun at a particular time of day. It is much harder to think of direction in a geographical way rather than egocentric and it must take a lot of conditioning to reach that point.
ReplyDeleteLanguage is one of the first things we ever learn to do as a young child. We catch on and adapt to any type of language by retaining a common phrase or the name of an object. Language in itself isn't restricted to only verbal communication. Another type of language and communicating would be through our gestures and body language.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what the mean of the language may be, the changes are forever subconscious in the back of your mind depending on your current situation. First impressions are all about language. The first day of class I actually happened to throw out a little Russian small talk, but that wasn't the only way I was communicating. My body language showed that I was alert, interested, and eager to learn.
It was very interesting to read the part in the article about the way that cardinal directions are more effective in explaining things rather than words such as left and right. Despite the two being in a flustered panic of out swimming sharks, the fact that years later they remember and can both describe the encounter with exact detail shows that it makes it easier to relate and remember in the mind. This article was rather interesting because I have never considered that aspect of language before and it really made me realize just how many different ways there are to shape your communication with others.
I know that I speak many languages, because I'm in several scenarios, or worlds, a day. When I'm in class I try to speak my mind but convey respect for everyone around me, when I'm at work I try to be attentive and friendly to customers and then with my coworkers I'm able to be more relaxed with my language and I'm able to kid around. With my friends I can talk so fast that I'm slurring my words and laughing. It's funny how we're told to be ourselves around the people that we meet everyday, but that everyone uses different voices when they talk to someone based on their status/relationship with them. The way that I feel is that language influences our thoughts, but this is because I am a very categorized person. It's easier for me to remember something if I've labeled it and organized it, giving it a name makes it memorable and I'll be able to recall it in the future. This is why when I meet someone, I kind of organize them into a category in my brain and I know how to speak to them or what 'language' in the future. Of course, this could change over time, maybe I'll become more comfortable talking to the personal on a friendly basis and they'll move categories and then my language will adapt. I guess it's a slippery slope because either way could be argued. And also I don't think they influence your thoughts as much as language influences your Knowledge, but I may be branching off into a whole new level of confusion there.
ReplyDeleteI can not agree with this article more. It’s true. Everyone, including myself, speaks a different language depending on their setting, or environment that is surrounding them. For example, I work at Rocknes as a hostess and server. I can promise you that I walk into work about 50 percent of the time in a bad mood. Every server knows though if you want those tips you need to smile! I am the friendliest, bubbliest, upbeat girl you will ever meet at work, especially if I don’t know you. When I’m not at work though, and I’m around people I don’t know, I am very shy. I am quiet and awkward sometimes. I only speak when I am spoken to and only say appropriate things.
ReplyDeleteWhen I’m with my friends I speak so fast, so loud, and so much. When I am around them I don’t care what I say. It’s a whole new language. When I am around my parents I am the same way, but a little more serious. I complain a lot and wine more than anyone wants to hear. I feel every language you speak is affected by your comfort zone.
I take Spanish and every word you use you either have to put la before a feminine word and el before a masculine word. It’s usually not too hard to figure out which one belongs just by the feeling the word gives you.
I think Detscher article really explains the world’s opinions and how everyone’s brain is so easily influenced just by the setting they are in. I could never understand how anyone could ever believe that no one speaks “different languages,” because it is defiantly how the universe is today and always has been.
Life throws many different situations at you where you are forced to play different roles. I am a student, a brother, a son, an employee, a friend, an uncle and the list goes on. The way one speaks with his or her friends getting ready to go out on a Saturday night is on the opposite spectrum as communicating with an elderly woman who happily strolls by on a Sunday afternoon. Treating elderly with respect, knowing your niece and nephew's limited comprehension and your parents' indifference about your affluent or non-existent sex life are general understandings you must always keep in mind. In every case, you try and project yourself as what you think the other person expects you to be like. That doesn't necessarily mean that you are a liar hiding behind different personas but more that you have many different facades for various occasions.
ReplyDeleteThe way I talk can definitely be traced back to how I think. I constantly find myself sifting through my brain for better adjectives so that the mundane and repetitive every-day words can be spiced up to their fullest potential. My mind, though, can wander a little too much and I've always pondered if the voice in my head is the voice that resonates from my body. The mind is a beautiful tool that can imagine, create, reason, comprehend, analyze, adjust and evolve that I'd hate to think I couldn't come up with a better inner voice than outer voice.
This piece was very thought provoking, bizarre and actually frightened me by showing how diverse we are as a species. Not a fraction of my mind can comprehend how the man from Tzeltal, South Mexico, after being spun around 20 times in a dark room, miraculously and effortlessly pointed North. “Gendered languages” and communicating with geographic coordinates are 2 other things I never knew existed. The main point that the Deutscher is trying to get across is inconveniently located in his last paragraph as his last sentence. "But as a first step to understanding one another, we can do better than pretending we all think the same." Perfect.
Until reading this article I never realized how much language is apart of ones self. Like the article stated, we just go by with our day not thinking what we should say it just comes naturally.
ReplyDeleteOur language is what we learn at a very young age and as we grow we learn to develop our own languages. To us it is crazy to think how anyone can just automatically point north, east, south, or west with out any thought or second of hesitation. But, that is what comes naturally to them like left and right come naturally to us. Even though sometimes I do have to pause for a second to make sure I'm using the correct one.
Also, I have never put any thought into how languages use gender for their words. I have studied two different languages in the past and was quite aware of the gender situation. When learning a different language it is one thing that makes learning a new language difficult because we are not used to it. But never had I thought that due to the gender, it can change other peoples thoughts of what is masculine or more feminine.
I definitely feel that language influences our thoughts and not the other way around. For myself, I would say I have three different languages. I have my language when writing a paper, in class, or in a professional situation. Which usually is always trying to watch what I say and make sure it sounds some what smart. Then, there is the language I use with my friends and family. With that, I use a lot of my own made up words and say the thingy thing a lot. In reality its just goofy. Then there is the third, which is nothing at all because I can be a very shy person. This comes out usual in class, meeting new people, or just in a new situation. And, with each of my different languages I have a different thinking process. With my first one I feel I think smarter. When I'm with friends and family I don't really think which causes many errors and/or blonde moments. And when I'm shy my thoughts are scattered and I become very awkward.
I find this interesting because I can easily relate to using multiple languages (not literally foreign languages). I most definitely speak differently around my multiple groups of friends, older family, closer in age relatives, bosses, and teachers. Depending on the situation I am more or less professional. I have read about this in psychology books as well as linguistic anthropology which I considered studying. Psychology explains how we put on a show in certain situations, and our speach is a major part of that. Linguistic anthropolohy is about studying how language relates to our society's identity, politics, and ideology. I started to find languages fascinating while I was being told not to take a foreign language by my english teachers because of my poor grades. After starting French I realized how important it is to learn foreign languages which can help explain something that a native tongue may not. There are times when I feel more appropriate to express myself in another language because English simply has no words for it. Many people do not understand why it might take so long to say a sentence in one language and so quickly in another. Understanding the grammar of languages can make or break you in a conversation. One of my favorite examples of this is "Der Hund beißt den Mann." and Den Mann beißt der Hund." is the same sentence. I have read articles that explain how you can determind what is important to a society by how many words it has that mean the same thing. Time is an easy example, how many expressions do we have to express time itself or in relation to time? I can usually pick out small details of how other people talk in certain groups or environments, and do it all the time in my own personal life. I can easily tell my differences in writing on this blog than how I would write to my friends.
ReplyDeleteThough it would seem that this article really has little to do with the question at hand, it was still very interesting, and I enjoyed reading it. In regards to the question at hand however, I would have to say I speak two main dialects, each with two variations. The most prominent and self defining of these is my informal, interpersonal way of speaking. This form is what I use to converse with friends, family, or anything out of a formal setting. My second main dialect is a more formal one, not formal in my vocabulary necessarily (I feel I often speak in more intelligent terms when being informal) but rather with a more refined mannor of speech. I use this form in the workplace and the classroom.
ReplyDeleteEach of these forms of speech can be broken into at least two sub-categories. My informal manner differs between family and friends, with a much more liberal vocabulary when around friends (it remains virtually unbridled) and a more conservative, non-profane, 'subject appropriate' vocabulary when with family. All profanity aside, the informal form of speech involves more opinionated, lengthy, discussions; the freedom to say whatever is on my mind, and a vocabulary that allows grammatical errors for the greater good of the concept being discussed. This language also involves more grunts, "ums" "yeahs" and so forth.
The formal version of my speech is also broken into two divisions. The main of that being school speech. When in the classroom, my speech is curtailed quite a bit, both in volume and content. Where I would normally weigh in on most discussions amongst friends or family, it grows tiresome to do so in school. I find a good portion of classroom discussions to be simplistic or altogether pointless. However, when I do choose to have my opinion known the speech is much more straight forward. I try to condense whatever thought I am attempting to convey in the most straight forward speech in as few words as possible. Naturally, profanity and slang terms are weeded out, in a vetting process that has become second nature to myself and I assume any other student at the college level. The second version of this speech is my dialect at work. Working in the kitchens of restaurants since I was 14 taught me the most direct way of talking outside of the military. When something is needed you announce in a loud voice. Questions are short and answers are even shorter, it's bare bones speech. The kitchen dialect may be my favorite because it's instant gratification, even when there's some downtime and a conversation is being held amongst workers, the speech is still the same; quick, to the point, no BS.
I would say there are about 3 different languages that I could possibly speak in throughout my daily routine. The first tone that I will describe is what I use most often, how I speak when I am with my friends. This language will consist of the typical “college kid” 19 year old tongue. It mostly involves talking about sports and video games and joking around with others. Yes, at times this language is not meant for the little ones, and is definitely not appropriate in front of parents and grandparents, but what do you expect? Boys will be boys. Contrary to what some of you may think from the previous statement, I do know how to talk in front of my elders, and I would say it is done very nicely. The second dialect I will talk in is in front of my parents or grandparents (or somebody else’s for that matter). When using this tongue I am always aware to be polite. I usually tend to talk about current events in the world and what went on throughout the day possibly, either dealing with politics, local news, or even sports as well sometimes. The topics are always something that the whole group can join in and discuss. And I feel like me and my parents for example do a great job at this, because we can get going for hours from time to time. The third manner I will verbalize in is when I am either in class, or meeting somebody new for the first time, or in front of greater authority. This speech is one where I am a little passive in my thoughts. For example, I always make sure that I am polite in class either responding to a topic or asking a question. When meeting somebody for the first time, I tend to ask broad questions and try and get a feel for the person before I ask anything too specific or revealing about them so we can start off on the right foot. And it is pretty obvious that when dealing with the law (policemen and judges), one shows respect and does not fool around. So like almost everyone else in the world, I am extremely respectful and well mannered when dealing with these sorts of people, as to not offend or disregard them in any way. I think one can get a good idea of a person just from observing how they talk. You can get a sense of their personality just by listening to them and engaging in conversation. In my opinion one can usually see what type of person they are observing just by spending a few minutes with them, considering how they try and relate their ideas/feelings to you, as well as how it is said.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think language shapes the way I think. Rather, thought shapes the way I speak. Everything has a meaning. A book is a book. A cup is a cup. A stapler is a stapler. It doesn’t matter whether I say those things in English or Russian or Pig Latin. They will always be the same things.
ReplyDeleteWhat does change, though, is what words I will use in certain situations. Since everything does have a mean, sometimes certain words aren’t acceptable. It’s not that we ever speak different “languages.” It’s how we chose to use our language and work our words to form the best possible sentences for the particular situation.
Personally, I try not to change language very much from situation to situation. For the most part, I talk the same my mother as I would to my best friend or a teacher. I think it is important to have command over language to be the most effective.
Similarly, I tend to write my text messages as if I am writing a research paper. I don’t know if it is because I’m a writer or because I have a love for grammar or both, but I think it is important to be precise when expressing yourself. That goes for simple texts, too.
So it isn’t words that determine thought. Everything has a meaning, and I have a pretty good grasp on all of those meanings. It is thought that determines speech. It’s how we decide to our words together to get our point across in the clearest possible way.
Without the capacity to string words together into sentences and form effective ideas, you really have nothing. In my opinion, the ability to put words together is the most important skill in life.