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Speaking a Second Language May Change How You See the World

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-can-see-clearly-now,-der-regen-ist-weg dept.

sciencehabit writes: Where did the thief go? You might get a more accurate answer if you ask the question in German. How did she get away? Now you might want to switch to English. Speakers of the two languages put different emphasis on actions and their consequences, influencing the way they think about the world, according to a new study (abstract). The work also finds that bilinguals may get the best of both worldviews, as their thinking can be more flexible.

8 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. Ever hear of "sociology"? by msobkow · · Score: 4, Informative

    There's an entire branch of research into the subject of language, culture, and perspective. You might want to do some reading before crowing that you discovered something "new".

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:Ever hear of "sociology"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yeah. This is just a restatement of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Welcome to the early twentieth century.

  2. Not sure about that by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 4, Informative

    Speakers of the two languages put different emphasis on actions and their consequences

    The important part here is how it is understood. A native English speaker who is also fluent in German will catch intonation and emphasis differences, and may conclude that the Germans don't express the same way an American does. But how a native German understands the same phrase will remain a complete (unknown) mistery for the native English speaker. Often the problem is the translation - even sometimes in professional translations, in books for instance. The difficulty being to find out how "sticky" must be the translation of a phrase from A to B. Basically - and very few if any people can - an interpreter has to go deep into his/her feelings to transcribe not a text, but a raw feeling.

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    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    1. Re:Not sure about that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      English and German are actually very interesting languages to compare. They are historically much closer than many people realise. If you ever have the chance to study some Middle English or go see a play by Chaucer (or anything else that dates from before "the great vowel shift") performed with the pronunciation of that time the similarities suddenly become glaringly obvious. You'll start noticing them as well in modern versions of both languages.
      But these languages have evolved in very different directions since that time. German has a big emphasis on a very formalized grammar and on compounding, whereas English has evolved with a simpler grammar and greater emphasis on a larger and more complex vocabulary with more subtle differences in meaning. This is also strongly related to (actual or perceived) cultural differences between native speakers of both languages.

      I love studying languages and particularly language change and currently speak 5 different languages with varying degrees of fluency (Germanic, Romanic and Slavic languages) and find it a very enriching experience.

    2. Re:Not sure about that by dunkelfalke · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, you can try this

      der Schloss = castle
      die Burg = fortress
      die Festung = stronghold

      English seldom uses this distinction, but it is still there. A stronghold is a fort that is not used as living quarters, while a fortress is also used for living. A castle is a fortress that is also a residence of a noble, not necessarily fortified in later days, being more of a palace really (e.g. Schloss Neuschwanstein). This differentiation is modern language, however. In the older German they just used one word for all of these, but, depending on the century, a different one. Therefore "Veste Coburg", for example, that uses both "Burg" and "Festung".

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  3. Mandarin does have a "Yes" and a "Negative Yes" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's true that Mandarin has no "No", but they use a "negative Yes" as a "No"

    "Yes" in Mandarin is "Shi" (sorry can display the Mandarin character in /. because of the ancient construct of this site)

    The "No" in Mandarin is "Bu Shi" - in which the adjective "Bu" denotes something that is 'negative', and added to "Shi", the whole thing "Bu Shi" means "No"

  4. Re:Vice Versa by houghi · · Score: 5, Informative

    I believe learning a language is more about attitude and need. When I see English speakers in Belgium, they have huge problems learning Dutch or French, because everybody speaks better English they they do Dutch (or French).

    While when I was in Buenes Aires several years ago, as nobody spoke any English, I was forced to learn Spanish very quickly. In 4 weeks I was able to speak enough Spanish to order food and being able to explain where I lived and other vary basic conversations.

    I have seen this with others as well.

    And then there are the English speakers who do not WANT to learn any other language.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  5. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    > that's why you have much "French rap music" but not really "German rap music"

    German rap music is HUGE right now (but inside Germany, of course). Most of it is wannabe Gangsta-Rap (https://www.youtube.com/user/aggroTV) featuring artists with names like "Haftbefehl" but there's also Hipster stuff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjX12Yw5hwc). Rappers from both subgenres like to wear funny masks (Sido, Cro)