I love languages. Though I am not a polyglot by any means, I love learning about the subtle ways language frames cognition. Call it my nerd personality, but there is such satisfaction in understanding how a language works(same with religion, same with culture, same with just about everything), the way a culture thinks is greatly influenced by language and communication, and vice versa.
Our world view is colored by the words we have to describe it. An example is how children's cognition changes as they develop language skills. To go from, "I love dogs," to "I love the way my dog runs to greet me, the excited way he wags his tail, and the look of overabundant joy that enters into his eyes whenever he knows I am around." Having a way to describe those thoughts gives more notice to the reasons why someone may love their dog. To have the words to describe gives our brain the ability to recognize (which came first is still a debate).
With that in mind, when looking at other languages, the world view of a given culture can be found in the words they emphasize versus the words they lack. When I lived in China, after a month or two, I found myself switching between thinking in Mandarin and thinking in English. The way I acted differed based on which language I primed my brain to think in. When in Mandarin, I gave more of an emphasis on how people and things related to each other and to myself. Which is no surprise as China has a culture that us centered around relationships. In English, well, it's harder to say exactly, since I think of English as my modus operandi. Even now, back in the States, it's not uncommon for me to think of the perfect phrase in Mandarin but not be able to convey the correct meaning in English.
For example, the phrase for "goodbye" in Mandarin is, "zhi jian." Which literally translates to, "see you again." This gives the idea that to leave is not permanent. In Arabic, "ma salama" for goodbye translates into "God be with you." Giving the learner an insight into how heavily religion influences Arabic language. It also has nomadic connotations.
Then there's getting into the written language which adds another dimension into how things are viewed. For example, the character for "mother" is the same as the character for "horse" only with the character for "female" on the side.
Mom = 媽
Horse = 馬
Female = 女
This gives some insight into how traditionally the role of a mother was viewed. If anyone finds themselves in Xi'an, China and you can drag yourself away from the Terracotta Warriors long enough (still one of the most breathtaking attractions I've ever seen), check out the Forest of Stone Steles Museum. They have tablets that show the progression of Chinese characters. I was interested because my dad loves to talk about how the Chinese written language progressed from pictorial to symbolic. Really, once you get into the reasons for the symbols used in each word, it's hard not to see the Chinese as very systematic and logical when it came to creating language. Some say Mandarin is all about memorization, but within each character there are clues to the pronoucation and meaning of each word or combination for phrases.
I know this just shows how much of a language nerd I am, but it's worth repeating, you can learn a lot about a culture based on how they use language, if there are variations used for different group of people, and the types of vocabulary they have, etc... Ok, language and food(really, if you think about it, with these two categories, you can learn so much about a culture including the type of climate they live in, their body composition, how they view the world around them, if they value community over individualism, how they view the elderly, children, and/or women, etc...) :)
And one more thought for all language learners. If you find yourself using newly acquired language skills with native speakers who do not understand you, do not always assume it is the fault of your skills. Keep in mind everyone is primed to have certain expectation when they meet strangers. For example, when I lived in China, I met a very lively American woman who had been living in China for 10 years. Her Mandarin vocabulary was much more varied than my own, and I remember spending time cooking and debating the proper situations for the different variations for "pardon me" (Dǎrǎo, Dǎjiǎo, Máfan, etc...). Well, usually when we would take a taxi or talked to strangers in a restaurant or shop, she would speak in perfectly understandable Mandarin, but she would get blank stares and the stranger she spoke with would direct their attention to me and ask me what she said. So keep in mind, if a person is not primed to expect a certain language to be spoken by someone, it makes it harder for them to be prepared to understand. I've seen it happen when I tutored English in Spain, even watching my Italian boyfriend interact with my friends, or listening to him learn Mandarin is a reminder of how much priming affects comprehension. Each time he visits me in California, he has to mentally prepare himself to listen to English. And now with Mandarin, I need to warn him ahead of time if I am going to speak to him in the Mandarin he has learned, otherwise he doesn't comprehend words he already knows.
Our world view is colored by the words we have to describe it. An example is how children's cognition changes as they develop language skills. To go from, "I love dogs," to "I love the way my dog runs to greet me, the excited way he wags his tail, and the look of overabundant joy that enters into his eyes whenever he knows I am around." Having a way to describe those thoughts gives more notice to the reasons why someone may love their dog. To have the words to describe gives our brain the ability to recognize (which came first is still a debate).
With that in mind, when looking at other languages, the world view of a given culture can be found in the words they emphasize versus the words they lack. When I lived in China, after a month or two, I found myself switching between thinking in Mandarin and thinking in English. The way I acted differed based on which language I primed my brain to think in. When in Mandarin, I gave more of an emphasis on how people and things related to each other and to myself. Which is no surprise as China has a culture that us centered around relationships. In English, well, it's harder to say exactly, since I think of English as my modus operandi. Even now, back in the States, it's not uncommon for me to think of the perfect phrase in Mandarin but not be able to convey the correct meaning in English.
For example, the phrase for "goodbye" in Mandarin is, "zhi jian." Which literally translates to, "see you again." This gives the idea that to leave is not permanent. In Arabic, "ma salama" for goodbye translates into "God be with you." Giving the learner an insight into how heavily religion influences Arabic language. It also has nomadic connotations.
Then there's getting into the written language which adds another dimension into how things are viewed. For example, the character for "mother" is the same as the character for "horse" only with the character for "female" on the side.
Mom = 媽
Horse = 馬
Female = 女
This gives some insight into how traditionally the role of a mother was viewed. If anyone finds themselves in Xi'an, China and you can drag yourself away from the Terracotta Warriors long enough (still one of the most breathtaking attractions I've ever seen), check out the Forest of Stone Steles Museum. They have tablets that show the progression of Chinese characters. I was interested because my dad loves to talk about how the Chinese written language progressed from pictorial to symbolic. Really, once you get into the reasons for the symbols used in each word, it's hard not to see the Chinese as very systematic and logical when it came to creating language. Some say Mandarin is all about memorization, but within each character there are clues to the pronoucation and meaning of each word or combination for phrases.
I know this just shows how much of a language nerd I am, but it's worth repeating, you can learn a lot about a culture based on how they use language, if there are variations used for different group of people, and the types of vocabulary they have, etc... Ok, language and food(really, if you think about it, with these two categories, you can learn so much about a culture including the type of climate they live in, their body composition, how they view the world around them, if they value community over individualism, how they view the elderly, children, and/or women, etc...) :)
And one more thought for all language learners. If you find yourself using newly acquired language skills with native speakers who do not understand you, do not always assume it is the fault of your skills. Keep in mind everyone is primed to have certain expectation when they meet strangers. For example, when I lived in China, I met a very lively American woman who had been living in China for 10 years. Her Mandarin vocabulary was much more varied than my own, and I remember spending time cooking and debating the proper situations for the different variations for "pardon me" (Dǎrǎo, Dǎjiǎo, Máfan, etc...). Well, usually when we would take a taxi or talked to strangers in a restaurant or shop, she would speak in perfectly understandable Mandarin, but she would get blank stares and the stranger she spoke with would direct their attention to me and ask me what she said. So keep in mind, if a person is not primed to expect a certain language to be spoken by someone, it makes it harder for them to be prepared to understand. I've seen it happen when I tutored English in Spain, even watching my Italian boyfriend interact with my friends, or listening to him learn Mandarin is a reminder of how much priming affects comprehension. Each time he visits me in California, he has to mentally prepare himself to listen to English. And now with Mandarin, I need to warn him ahead of time if I am going to speak to him in the Mandarin he has learned, otherwise he doesn't comprehend words he already knows.
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