I am fascinated by languages.

My fascination with neurolinguistics is rooted in a global childhood that functioned as a living laboratory for language acquisition. Moving across borders meant that my primary mode of survival was not just learning new words, but rewiring my internal architecture to accommodate different phonetic textures and cultural syntaxes. As a polyglot, I experienced firsthand how shifting between languages changes one’s cognitive "operating system," influencing everything from spatial reasoning to emotional resonance. During Covid I produced this Lovely Linguistics Lodge to support families in need.

This immersion sparked a deep curiosity regarding the neuroplasticity required to maintain fluency in multiple linguistic domains. I am particularly captivated by the concept of "brain writing"—the way the neural pathways of a multilingual mind are physically sculpted by the unique demands of each language. For me, neurolinguistics is the study of how my own history is etched into my biology, transforming a diverse upbringing into a sophisticated cognitive framework.

Today, I view language not merely as a tool for communication, but as a high-value cognitive asset. In the context of luxury strategy and ethical systems, understanding the neural mechanics of how we process meaning allows for a more precise, disciplined approach to leadership. I seek to bridge the gap between the scientific rigor of brain science and the nuanced, artistic world of global culture, exploring how a polyglot perspective can drive executive precision and deeper human connection.

Best,

Hajira Buser 

~Language shapes our thinking~

Benjamin Whorf

&

Edward Sapir

Language impacts out thoughts—cognition, our very essence of being and perception of the world.

How a language is structured and the words accessible as part of your vocabulary all confine & shape our thinking. If a word doesn’t exist in a language, you are that much less likely to register/process it, much less talk about it.

Since the 19th century, we have identified the the frontal region of the brain is where language is mostly controlled. We have further refined this understanding that Broca's area handles the motor production of speech and Wernicke's area handles auditory speech comprehension, both in the left hemisphere.

Neuroplasticity, or physical changes, occur in the brain as a result of second and subsequent language acquisition. Increases in grey and white matter occur through language acquisitions, as demonstrated by studies that include both hemodynamic and electrophysiology methodologies.

Learning a new language is not just about learning a different ways to say the same words, 

Learning a new language teachers you new concepts, a new way of thinking from words that have no translation

Learning a new language 

is

 a paradigm shift 

that allows you to view the world in a new way, think in a new manner, and therefore interact with the people and the environment in a different way.

“Without language, we find ourselves living in a state of emotional chaos. Our brain has given us the potential to communicate in extraordinary ways and the way we choose to do so can improve the neural functioning of the brain. In fact, a single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress. If we do not continually exercise the brain’s language centers, we cripple our neurological ability to deal with the problems we encounter with each other.”

– Dr. Andrew Newberg, Words Can Change Your Brain

Language is inherently tied to cognition. Some scientist posit that the reason that we do not retain memories of stories (unlike memory of faces) from when we are toddlers is because of a lack of words. Language is tied to cognition. Granulaity or specificity of vocabulary options or one's liguistic repertoire changes the way in which you percieve the world and feel as well as your health, the knowledge economy of a population, as well as health and happiness.

📖Your language confines your thinking. I will say that again because it is so important. Your language limits your thoughts. When you learn a new language, you learn a new way to view and interact with the world, a new way to view yourself and others, and new ways of processing information and being. It can teach you greater empathy and flexibility in your own emotional range if you allow it to. 

💙Let us consider an easy to understand example. Some languages have 2 standard (non-esoteric) words for what is English we would call blue. There is no 1 word for blue but a word that translates to mean "light blue" and another that means "dark blue." Because of this, speakers of that language can literally see shades of blue better than speakers of a language with just one word for blue (like English). They can differentiate between closely gradient shades of blue faster and with higher accuracy and speakers of other languages. 🌊

⬅️↗️↙️🔙🔚⇣✒︎🔼 This specificty of language can also impact other parts of the brain. In some languages, there is no "right" and "left" or situational dependent directions, but the use of cardinal directions. So for example, one might ask that you, "hand me the basket that is to the northeast of the table." Speakers of those types of languages have a better self orienting sense of Earth's magnetic field.

➕If your language says the translated version of "ten one" for eleven, then on average, speakers develop a better ability in math. Again, language impacting cognition.

💭Another example I will provide is from a situation on which I was brought in as a consultant to help with. A high school student and a high school teacher were at odds. The root of the problem could be attributed to linguistic differences: he spoke a language in which the literal translation would be "My pencil was forgotten to me." In this language, this matches the thought process that when something is forgotten, it is no person's fault... it was forgotten. This contrasts sharply with English thinking which is manifested in the structure of language: "I forgot..." The student was completely bewildered and baffled that the teacher could conceive to hold him accountable for forgetting and she was likewise astounded how he would not admit to culpability. It very much was a difference in culture that was bound by language.

I have studied a variety of languages, not achieving fluency in many, but more so I have studied many a language to understand (1) cross linguistic interference/transfer (technical term) and (2) seeking linguistic love (made up term, for those super interesting words with no translation that I find super fascinating)

Cross-linguistic interference is when as speaker, using a nonnative language, consciously and unconsciously uses linguistic knowledge of one of their native languages to fill in gaps whilst learn a new language. Cross-linguistic transfer is the same thing but an assets based approach that would be defined as “leveraging” the first language and would praise “inventions” while the first calls them “errors.” (As a consult, in differentiating between difference and disability, an understanding of the structure of a child’s home language AND the target language is essential in my providing my professional assessment.)

💖 It is never to late to address monolingualism, if you so desire.

🌈Tips for families, especially with young children, can be accessed here in my Lovely Linguistics Lodge. 💟💟💟💟💟

 Interesting Reads & Resources Abound!!!

Linguistic Love

Words that have no translation & interesting words to use more

• iktsuarpok (Inuit) the feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for someone to show up at your house and you keep going outside to see if they’re there yet

• ice blink: a peculiar appearance in the air caused by the reflection of light from the surface of an ice-pack or floating mass of ice, or from land covered with snow, from which the presence of ice may often be recognized at a distance of 20 miles or more

• petrichor: scientific name for the earthy smell after rain; from the Greek petra, stone + ichor, the liquid that flows in the veins of the Greek gods

• Turkish gumusservi: moonlight shining on water

• susurrous: whispering or rustling in general

• boketto (Japanese): the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking

• spoondrift: a showery sprinkling of sea-water or fine spray swept from the tops of the waves

  • "A curtain of spoondrift hung above that awful reef and almost shut from the view of those ashore the open sea and what swam on it."

—James A. Cooper, Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper

• • in case you do not prefer the we prefer the obscure form, the modern form is "spindrift"

  • the spoon- part of spoondrift has nothing to do with the utensil (which comes from the Old English spōn, "chip of wood") but comes from the obsolete Scots spoon, "to run before the wind," while drift is either derived from drive or borrowed from the Old Norse drift, meaning "snow drift," or the Middle Dutch drift, meaning "pasturage, drove, flock,"

Language Variances: Climate & Terrain

Humidity, temperature, rainforest foliage, psithurism, echoes in landscapes, mountainous terrain, all impact the evolution of your language. Though ever mindful that correlation is not causation, interactions of aridity correlate on tonality. The impacts are subtly, and can not account for all evolution variances, but thus far emerging research indicates the potential causality, and certainly the need for further studies.

Consonants are voiced at higher frequencies than vowels and as such, more susceptible to interruption, such as from wind howling down a mountain side. As such, consonantal phonemes are more or less common depending on ecologies.

Ambient humidity is positively associated between language’s typical native locale and the language’s degree of reliance on vowels.

Vowels—and in particular, steady and as I already mentioned, low—can cut through the symphony that animals provide in the rainforest. 

Existing research on the ways other species change their vocalizations due to residency in urban environments. Ornithology, for instance, being a better established in tracking such evolutions.

Nonverbal

😂😍😎 Did you know... 

Our brain processes emojis and emoticons as nonverbal communication cues rather than as text? But only if the emoticon is written in a manner that follows the directionality of the language of the reader.

:)

So that last line above made the center of your brain that lights up from a smile get hot (yay!) while the following will not do that.

(:

 Google translate, a neural network for machince transdlation, is an amazing tool that enbable people to communicate and access information. The use of humans providing feedback and corrections to translations has both enabled the tool to grow. However, in my opion, the lack of screening of moderators has resulted in Google translate not just providing interpretaitons and translations, but influencing laanguage and encouraging less elegance, sophistication, and even on occastion proper grammar. This has happened in society at-large in the past. For example, data used to be only the plural form of datum. However, because of a high rate of human error, some dicitionaries chose to see the error as an evolution of langauge and define it as either singular or pluar. In the same way Google translate is stripping language of some nuances. Linguistic diversity is good for us and we should work to combat this. One way you can support the sanctity of langauge is to, in addition to using Google translate, seek primary texts whenever studying a new language.

 Omniglot