How Language Affects Mindset and Vice Versa

I stumbled across a column written by a college student at the University of Oregon addressing the benefits of studying foreign languages. She insists that the only way to gain a well-rounded impression of a culture is to study its native language. She argues that learning a foreign language provides useful insight that cannot be acquired merely through taking an English-taught class on a specific culture as many students do at Oregon to fulfill a graduation requirement. Elisabeth Bishop writes, "Learning about a non-English speaking culture in English is a bit like watching a 3-D movie without the glasses. You can get the general idea, but you won’t be able to appreciate the subtleties."

These subtleties she speaks of are especially important if one plans to travel to a foreign country or interact with people from different cultural backgrounds. They teach us about what a culture appreciates, how its people value the respect of elders, what is humorous to them, and what is acceptable. For example, idiomatic expressions provide insight into how the natives (when I say natives, I merely mean the native speakers of the language associated with a certain culture) think. I've always found it interesting to see how different languages express the same thing. For example, in English, we say, "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse," but in French, we say "J'ai un faim du loup!" which translates to 'I have the hunger of a wolf.' It makes me wonder how and why these expressions, which ultimately mean the same thing, came to be phrased so differently in different languages? Presumably, all idiomatic expressions have historical origins, but I have not been able to find the history of these two sayings; regardless it indicates that different events or habits that originated in France and the UK (or the US depending on when) caused these two phrases, which express the same thing, to have different literal meanings. In the Native American language, Lakota, the translation for the English word "life" is a phrase that translates to "I have come this far." This phrase, in my opinion, is a much deeper description of the journey of life and lends a sense of experience and struggle to the word. I see this as an indication that the Lakota have a deeper and more spiritual perspective on the meaning of life.

Even grammatical rules in a language can reflect values of a culture. For example, unlike in English, in French, there are two different forms of "you." "Vous" is formal (and/or plural) and used with adults or superiors, and the informal "tu" is used with friends, family, and those younger than the speaker. Does this indicate that the French place more importance on respect of elders? I believe that is the case, maybe not to much today, but in the past, when the language was first developing. Languages can also reveal what is important to its speakers. Certain Eskimo languages reportedly have over 100 ways to describe the word snow (although this can also be attributed to the method in which they construct sentences). This specific example has been linked to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis which states that language is shaped by a culture's preoccupations, which for Eskimos often involved snow.

Professor Boroditsky conducted a study, published in 1999, examining how Mandarin and English speakers conceive time. Results showed that Mandarin speakers saw time as vertical, and English speakers thought of time in a horizontal plane, while bilingual participants perceptions' varied based on when they learned each language. The conclusion of the study was that language is a powerful tool in shaping abstract and habitual thought, although it does not entirely dictate one's thought patterns. This is yet another example of how language affects how people think which leads me to the conclusion that speakers of languages do have different mindsets, even if only in an abstract sense, and inversely, differences in languages represent different value and belief systems. What do you think? Am I placing too much emphasis on the importance of language?


Sources consulted:
"Why Didn't You Teach Me?" Robert Bennett

"Immerse yourself in language: Learning about other cultures requires more than just sitting in a lecture hall." Elisabeth Bishop. http://www.dailyemerald.com/scene/immerse-yourself-in-language-1.1291900

"Does Language Shape Thought?: Mandarin and English Speakers' Conceptions of Time" Lera Boroditsky. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WCR-458W20N-K&_user=145269&_coverDate=08%2F31%2F2001&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1282200870&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000012078&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=145269&md5=d00d73c0fe1f4e9f2066d6acff477d5b