How Language Shapes the Way We Think
There are many languages spoken in the world.// Do you think people who speak different languages have different ways of thinking?// Lera Boroditsky,/a professor of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego,/discusses this issue in a talk.//
　　I’ll be speaking to you/using language.// This is one of these magical abilities/that we humans have.// Because of this ability,/we’re able to transmit our ideas/across vast reaches of space and time.//
　　There are about 7,000 languages/spoken around the world.// And all the languages differ from one another in all kinds of ways/—in sound,/vocabulary,/and structure.// We may ask the question:/Does the language we speak shape the way we think?//
　　Some people would say yes,/and others would say no.// The arguments have gone back and forth/for thousands of years.// Until recently,/there hasn’t been any data/to help us decide either way.// But now we have scientific data/to weigh in on this question.//

　　Let me tell you/about some of my favorite examples.// I’ll start with an example/from an Aboriginal community in Australia.// They are the Kuuk Thaayorre people.// In their language,/they don’t use words like “left” and “right.”// Instead,/everything is in cardinal directions:/north, south, east, and west.// You’d say something like,/“Move your cup to the north-northeast a little bit.”// When you want to say “hello” in their language,/you’d say,/“Which way are you going?”// And the answer should be,/“North-northeast in the far distance.// How about you?”//
　　We used to think/that humans were worse than other creatures at orientation,/but if your language trains you to do it,/you can do it.//
　　There are also big differences/in how people think about time.// Here I have pictures of my grandfather/at different ages.// If I ask an English speaker/to organize the pictures in time order,/she might lay them out from left to right,/which indicates that time moves from left to right.// But how would the Kuuk Thaayorre do it?// They don’t use words like “left” and “right.”// When facing south,/time moves from left to right.// When facing north,/time moves from right to left.// When facing east,/time comes towards the body.// What’s the pattern?// East to west, right?// For them,/time doesn’t get locked on the body;/it gets locked on the landscape.// It’s a dramatically different way of thinking/about time.//

　　Here’s another human trick.// Suppose I asked you/how many penguins you see.// I know how you’d answer.// You’d go,/“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.”// You’d count them.// Having number words in your language/opens up the whole world of mathematics.// This little trick gives you a stepping stone/into a whole cognitive realm.//
　　Some languages don’t have number words.// In fact,/people who speak these languages don’t count,/and they have trouble keeping track of exact quantities.// For example,/if I asked you to match a certain number of penguins/to the same number of ducks,/you would be able to do that by counting.// But folks who don’t have that linguistic trick/can’t do that.// Languages also differ/in how they divide up the color spectrum.// Some languages have lots of words for colors.// Some have only a couple of words:/“light” and “dark.”//
　　Languages also differ/in where they put boundaries between colors.// For example,/in English,/blue  can cover all shades of blue,/but in Russian,/there isn’t a single word.// Instead,/Russian speakers have to differentiate/between light blue, goluboy,/and dark blue, siniy.// So,/Russians have this lifetime of experience/of distinguishing these two colors in language.//
　　The difference/in how languages categorize the color spectrum/has important consequences.// When we test people’s ability/to perceptually discriminate among these colors,/we find that Russian speakers are faster/across this linguistic boundary.// For example,/when you have colors shifting slowly/from light to dark blue,/Russian speakers will have a surprised reaction in their brains,/whereas English speakers won’t.//

　　Languages also differ in how they describe events.// Take an event like an accident.// In English,/it’s fine to say,/“She broke the vase.”// In Spanish,/you wouldn’t say that someone did it;/rather, you’d say,/“The vase broke,”/or “The vase broke itself.”//
　　Again,/this has consequences.// English speakers will remember who did it,/because English requires you to specify the actor.// In contrast,/Spanish speakers/might be less likely to remember who did it,/because there’s no such requirement.//
　　So far,/I’ve given you a few examples/of how language can shape the way we think,/and how it does so in a variety of ways.//
　　Now,/the beauty of linguistic diversity/is that it reveals to us/just how ingenious and flexible the human mind is.// We have invented not one cognitive universe,/but 7,000/—there are 7,000 languages in the world.// The tragic thing/is that we’re losing so much of this linguistic diversity.// By some estimates,/half of the world’s languages/will be gone in the next hundred years.//
　　I want to leave you with a final thought.// I’ve told you/about how speakers of different languages think differently,/and how the language that you speak/shapes the way you think.// This gives you the opportunity to ask,/“Why do I think the way I do?”// “How could I think differently?”// “What thoughts do I wish to create?”//
　　Thank you very much.//