🚀 go-pugleaf

   cindy@nvg.unit.no (Cindy Kandolf) wrote:
>Again, i recommend Pinker's _The Language Instinct_ - he's a much
>better writer than i, and took more time to explain it than i care to
>take.
IMHO, you're too modest, Cindy. You write very well, from what I've seen of 
your postings here, and as a bilingual speaker, you can tell from your own 
experiences whether or not language affects your thought processes.

I speak English, Thai and Hebrew, and can guarantee you that I think 
differently, and actually have a markedly different personality depending on 
which language I am operating in. Granted, part of this is cultural, since I 
learned each of these languages in the context of the culture in which it is 
spoken. But I'm a much quieter, more polite and diplomatic person in Thai than 
in English, and I'm downright offensive in Hebrew. I don't want to be that way 
- Hebrew just doesn't have all the tools for speaking politely which Thai and 
English have. 

As for the question about where different languages/cultures separate the 
spectrum, I can give you a similar example. There was an African exchange 
student in my high school district back in 1967 or so who was having a tough 
time in geometry class. It seems his language and culture did all of their 
building using arcs and circles. The concepts for squares and angles either 
didn't exist, or were very vague. When he first started taking geometry, he 
could not tell the difference between a square and a rectangle. They both 
looked the same to him, and he had no way to describe the difference in his 
native language.

In English, however, he had the tools he needed, and eventually was able to 
see the difference. But I woluld have paid good money to see him try to 
explain it to his buddies when he got back home.

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