Speaking a Second Language May Change How You See the World

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.

Comments

Re:Ever hear of "sociology"?

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:Vice Versa

[houghi]

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.