“To have a second language is to possess a second soul”  ~ Charlemagne 

  • 15 April 2022
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“To have a second language is to possess a second soul”  ~ Charlemagne 
It may be very obvious for someone who speaks at least three languages but does it ring a bell with you?
There are approximately 7,000 languages spoken throughout the world, each with its own set of sounds, vocabulary, and structures. Do you believe they have an impact on how we think? Let me share a very inspiring TED talk by a cognitive scientist, Lera Boroditsky, in which she shares examples of language that imply the answer is absolutely yes.

https://www.ted.com/talks/lera_boroditsky_how_language_shapes_the_way_we_think


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I totally agree. I studied Chinese and I felt as if I had dived into a completely new world. I think that Chinese is much less “literal” than Polish or English, it operates based on “ideas”.

Btw, I’ve heard about a study on languages that distinguish noun genders. The results showed that if a “bridge” was feminine in a language, its (native) users were more likely to describe it with words like “beautiful” etc., and if it was masculine - as “strong” etc.

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