How language shapes the way we think

Rating :: 5
Completed :: 2025-09-01

https://www.edge.org/conversation/lera_boroditsky-how-does-our-language-shape-the-way-we-think

Absolute banger. Until I read this, I just thought "oh yeah, adding or removing words can influence what ideas you're capable of having, and how likely you are to come across them"; you know, the general Thought Police™ approach to language. But I didn't think this was super practical, because the internet means we can swap useful words.

Boy was I wrong. After reading this, I believe language affects our thoughts, perceptions and impressions way more than we think.

Some wild takeaways:

• The Pormpuraaw people of Cape York in Australia are highly proficient at spatial navigation, even in unfamiliar buildings and places. This is because their language is largely structured around absolute cardinal directions (north, south, east, west); "how are you" is effectively "where are you", meaning if you don't know where you are, "you can't get past hello". #funfact
• The gender of a noun in your native language affects the adjectives you tend to describe it with, which will tend to correlate with the gender of the noun. "key" in German is masculine, and German speakers described keys as "hard", "jagged", "heavy"; "key" in Spanish is feminine, and Spanish speakers described keys as "golden", "slender", "pretty". #funfact