The additional concept I chose was how
language affects the way we see the world. Not only is it a fascinating
concept, but one that I am very familiar with. The language that you learn directly
translates into thought. I remember when I moved back to Hawaii at the age of
9, there was a huge difference in the way they spoke from what I had learned.
Terminology, verbiage, and sometimes even the perceived meanings of words were
completely foreign to me. Due to the cultural differences, despite the fact
that we were all speaking English, their slang was so different from mine that
it led to many misunderstandings.
In high school I became semi-fluent in
Japanese. As the text suggests using French, the language I was speaking caused
me to focus on different things like tone and gestures. When speaking the
language, I also reached a point where I would find myself thinking in it. An
amazing thing is how much of our language is based on or contains parts of
other languages. It definitely makes you think about how unique our view of the
world might be.
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