Thought for the day...

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,781
Fascinating video, mainly for those of us that are fluent in more than one language:


There are about 7,000 languages spoken around the world -- and they all have different sounds, vocabularies and structures. But do they shape the way we think? Cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky shares examples of language -- from an Aboriginal community in Australia that uses cardinal directions instead of left and right to the multiple words for blue in Russian -- that suggest the answer is a resounding yes. "The beauty of linguistic diversity is that it reveals to us just how ingenious and how flexible the human mind is," Boroditsky says. "Human minds have invented not one cognitive universe, but 7,000."
 

justtrying

Joined Mar 9, 2011
439
Fascinating video, mainly for those of us that are fluent in more than one language:

The earlier you learn a second language from a different group the more you realize that.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201006-are-some-languages-more-sexist-than-others

Regarding the BBC piece above - i find "gendered" languages to be much more flexible and fair as opposed to the opinion expressed. I am still struggling with how in English everything is more or less male by default. To me, as a russian speaker, if "couch" is a "masculine" word, while "shelf" is feminine, how important is gender!?

I would be curious to know what our Spanish speaking members think.
 

Delta Prime

Joined Nov 15, 2019
1,311
I agree with you 100%... it is not only more fair, but also more accurate because a clearer image forms in the listener's mind.
I have something to contribute more of a question okay here it goes when speaking more than one language when you are thinking how to respond to a stimuli what language do you use? For instance you are in a meeting and you think to yourself, "oh oh I got to use the bathroom." Do you think to yourself in a particular language? And this is not a joke by the way :)
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,781
I have something to contribute more of a question okay here it goes when speaking more than one language when you are thinking how to respond to a stimuli what language do you use? For instance you are in a meeting and you think to yourself, "oh oh I got to use the bathroom." Do you think to yourself in a particular language? And this is not a joke by the way :)
Actually, I think in bilingual... especially when a common phrase or slang is more accurately applicable to a situation in particular.
 

justtrying

Joined Mar 9, 2011
439
I have something to contribute more of a question okay here it goes when speaking more than one language when you are thinking how to respond to a stimuli what language do you use? For instance you are in a meeting and you think to yourself, "oh oh I got to use the bathroom." Do you think to yourself in a particular language? And this is not a joke by the way :)
General thoughts like that have no language that I can identify. But your question is very valid.

It seems to be situation dependant. I live in my head a lot and current problems that are mostly work related are definitely English. More personal issues are Russian. I do not seem to attach same emotional meaning to english words that I would to my native tongue even though I barely get to use it where i live.
 

SamR

Joined Mar 19, 2019
5,491
" Though people do a great deal of talking, the total output since the beginning of gabble to the present day, including all baby talk, love songs, and Congressional debates, totals about 10E16. This is ten million billion. Contrary to popular belief, this is a larger number of words than is spoken at the average afternoon bridge.
A great deal of the veneration for the authority of the printed word would vanish if one were to calculate the number of words which have been printed since the Gutenberg Bible appeared. It is a number somewhat larger than 10E16. A recent popular historical novel alone accounts for the printing of several hundred billion words. " from NEW NAMES FOR OLD by Edward Kasner & J. R. Newman
 
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