Does the language we speak affects the way we think..and write?
Considerations on speaking multiple languages and how this influences your thinking. Taking of your shoes in an unexpected place. And a childhood memory on being read to!
Does the language we speak shape the way we think?
This sentence caught my attention on my IPad. I clicked and an old Ted X talk by professor Lera Boroditsky, cognitive and language scientist, popped up. Boroditsky started off with a thought provoking quote by Holy Roman empire Charlemagne.
‘To have a second language is to have a second soul’
I pressed on pause for a moment and asked myself:
‘So every time I learn a new language, like I try to learn some Finnish, do I also acquire a new soul?!´ I don’t think it works like that. This quote did made me think about growing up in a bilingual household. Multiple languages played a central role in developing my way of thinking and ultimately shaping my inner being. And I am not the only one. Worldwide we speak around 7000 languages. Christopher Heart Professor of Linguistics Lancaster University says about this:
‘By being born in a particular culture and the language that goes with that culture we are almost certain to think in a particular way.’
This means that you and I may perceive totally differently the same incoming information merely because we were born and raised in a different country. We listen or read something and interpret or attach a different feeling to it. As I switch fluidly between different languages throughout the day, it affects continuously the way I think. All these absorbed experiences can be found back in my writings. Having worked and lived in different countries and dealing with a diversity of people and cultures, it meant that my core being was constantly challenged. Do I start thinking differently every time I move? No, I don’t think so. But through a new environment my thoughts are challenged and enriched by new thoughts.
Ota kengät pois!
I would never have considered taking off my boots in wintertime when entering the hallway of the physiotherapy practice in the Netherlands. Simply because that is something that is not a necessity. In Finland it is. And I did not hesitate a moment cause in this context it seemed pretty logical.
It also made me consider whether my fluid thinking influences my personal writing style as well. Have I been asking myself the right question all this time:
‘When did you lose your writing style?!’
I asked this week to a Finnish person, I had just met at a Christmas market event. He looked at me with big eyes and answered: ´That is a good question!’ So we lingered a bit more on this topic. Surprisingly he opened up telling, that his writing style was shaped by the books that were read to him and later the books that he started reading himself.
‘Bingo!’ I thought. He got it!'
But despite having such a rich reading background to shape his personal writing style, as a teacher he felt he ultimately could not use it at his work. He realized however that maybe he should use it more.
So, this encounter only made my conviction stronger that the question I have been asking myself is still very valid. And I shall continue my quest to finding back my writing style!