Do the languages we speak shape the way we see the world, the way we think, and the way we live our lives? Do people who speak different languages think differently simply because they speak different languages? Does learning new languages change the way you think? Do polyglots think differently when speaking different languages? Humans communicate with one another using a dazzling array of languages, each differing from the next in innumerable ways. LERA BORODITSKY is an assistant professor of psychology, neuroscience, and symbolic systems at Stanford University, who looks at how the languages we speak shape the way we think. HOW DOES OUR LANGUAGE SHAPE THE WAY WE THINK? Appreciating its role in constructing our mental lives brings us one step closer to understanding the very nature of humanity. Language is a uniquely human gift, central to our experience of being human.

What we have learned is that people who speak different languages do indeed think differently and that even flukes of grammar can profoundly affect how we see the world. We have collected data around the world: from China, Greece, Chile, Indonesia, Russia, and Aboriginal Australia. Research in my labs at Stanford University and at MIT has helped reopen this question. For a long time, the idea that language might shape thought was considered at best untestable and more often simply wrong.

Little misfortune game written language