TASK 2: DOES LANGUAGE SHAPE THE WAY WE THINK?

The reading, videos, and Dr. Boroditsky's presentation were great in helping me construct my thoughts on this topic, and to further build rapport with the course material.

[06:25] Dr. Boroditsky mentions " of course speakers from different languages have to think differently because what languages are requiring our speakers to pay attention to such different information just in oder to be bale to speak". I was able tor elate to this because my first language is English, but as I was growing up I also learned Greek and French. When learning Greek and French, I felt like I had to build more focus in understanding sentence structure in these languages, but also what stood out for me the most was the fact that in both of these languages, nouns had a gender. This was challenging for me at first, and it took me some time to adapt and learn through practise.

[08:34] Dr. Boroditsky reads " A man who knows four languages is worth four men. " - Charles V. Holy Roman Emperor". This quote stuck with me because as I grew older, I recognized how many more opportunities I had created for myself by being fluent in English, French, and Greek. I can choose to seek opportunities in all of Canada, but I can also go and communicate in Greece, or in France, the UK, and other countries. It felt really good knowing that I created for myself opportunities through language. In the near future I look forward to working/living in Greece.

[13:00] Dr. Boroditsky mentions " The reason why the Amara do this is the past is known it's manifest you can see it, the future is unknown thats why it is behind your head." This quote reminded me of a passage in the reading "How Language Shapes Thought". when Boroditsky mentioned "English speakers given this task will arrange the cards so that time proceeds from left to right. Hebrew speakers will tend to lay out the cards from right to left. This shows that writing direction in a language influences how we organize time. (p.64)" I never thought of language like this. I recognized how language can change how we view time and our literal environments.

[18:25] Dr. Boroditsky mentions " When you teach people to talk a new way, you're teaching them to think a new way as well.". This passage stuck with me because i find that when i started learning Greek and then French, I became more curious of my immediate environment, of the other environments that surround me, and of environments I had never explored.

[20:00] Dr. Boroditsky mentions " Language creates categories sometimes out of thin air. So in languages like many European languages, all nouns are of a particular grammatical gender". I had a hard time adapting to this language rule when I was learning Greek and French because I was so used to the rule in English that nouns had no gender. It took a lot of practise for me to get on and use the appropriate gender with objects when learning French and Greek.

[43:30] Dr. Boroditsky mentions "Take bilinguals and test them in one language or another and show that they think differently depending on what language they're being tested in and in what linguistic environment they're in at the moment". This is exactly how I feel when I am speakng in another language other than English. I recognize the way I approach conversations changes when I don't speak English. I still feel comfortable, but not as confident as I do when i speak English.