6/9/2015

HowthelanguageyouspeakchangesyourviewoftheworldAgendaTheWorldEconomicForum

Howthelanguageyouspeakchangesyour
viewoftheworld
ByPanosAthanasopoulos
Apr282015
28
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Bilingualsgetalltheperks.Betterjobprospects,acognitiveboostand
evenprotectionagainstdementia.Nownewresearchshowsthattheycan
alsoviewtheworldindifferentwaysdependingonthespecificlanguage
theyareoperatingin.
Thepast15yearshavewitnessedanoverwhelmingamountofresearch
onthebilingualmind,withthemajorityoftheevidencepointingto
thetangibleadvantagesofusingmorethanonelanguage.Goingback
andforthbetweenlanguagesappearstobeakindofbraintraining,
pushingyourbraintobeflexible.
Justasregularexercisegivesyourbodysomebiologicalbenefits,
mentallycontrollingtwoormorelanguagesgivesyourbraincognitive
benefits.Thismentalflexibilitypaysbigdividendsespeciallylaterinlife:
thetypicalsignsofcognitiveageingoccurlaterinbilingualsandthe
onsetofagerelateddegenerativedisorderssuchasdementiaor
Alzheimersaredelayedinbilingualsbyuptofiveyears.
Germansknowwheretheyregoing
InresearchwerecentlypublishedinPsychologicalScience,westudied
GermanEnglishbilingualsandmonolingualstofindouthowdifferent
languagepatternsaffectedhowtheyreactedinexperiments.
WeshowedGermanEnglishbilingualsvideoclipsofeventswithamotion
inthem,suchasawomanwalkingtowardsacaroramancyclingtowards
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HowthelanguageyouspeakchangesyourviewoftheworldAgendaTheWorldEconomicForum

thesupermarketandthenaskedthemtodescribethescenes.
WhenyougiveascenelikethattoamonolingualGermanspeakerthey
willtendtodescribetheactionbutalsothegoaloftheaction.Sothey
wouldtendtosayAwomanwalkstowardshercaroramancycles
towardsthesupermarket.Englishmonolingualspeakerswouldsimply
describethosescenesasAwomaniswalkingoramaniscycling,
withoutmentioningthegoaloftheaction.
TheworldviewassumedbyGermanspeakersisaholisticonetheytend
tolookattheeventasawholewhereasEnglishspeakerstendtozoom
inontheeventandfocusonlyontheaction.
Thelinguisticbasisofthistendencyappearstoberootedintheway
differentgrammaticaltoolkitssituatedactionsintime.Englishrequiresits
speakerstogrammaticallymarkeventsthatareongoing,byobligatorily
applyingtheingmorpheme:IamplayingthepianoandIcannotcometo
thephoneorIwasplayingthepianowhenthephonerang.German
doesnthavethisfeature.
Researchwithsecondlanguageusersshowsarelationshipbetween
linguisticproficiencyinsuchgrammaticalconstructionsandthefrequency
withwhichspeakersmentionthegoalsofevents.
Inourstudywealsofoundthatthesecrosslinguisticdifferencesextend
beyondlanguageusageitself,tononverbalcategorisationofevents.We
askedEnglishandGermanmonolingualstowatchaseriesofvideoclips
thatshowedpeoplewalking,biking,running,ordriving.Ineachsetof
threevideos,weaskedsubjectstodecidewhetherascenewithan
ambiguousgoal(awomanwalksdownaroadtowardaparkedcar)was
moresimilartoaclearlygoalorientedscene(awomanwalksintoa
building)orascenewithnogoal(awomanwalksdownacountrylane).
Germanmonolingualsmatchedambiguoussceneswithgoaloriented
scenesmorefrequentlythanEnglishmonolingualsdid.Thisdifference
mirrorstheonefoundforlanguageusage:Germanspeakersaremore
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HowthelanguageyouspeakchangesyourviewoftheworldAgendaTheWorldEconomicForum

likelytofocusonpossibleoutcomesofpeoplesactions,butEnglish
speakerspaymoreattentiontotheactionitself.
Switchlanguages,changeperspective
Whenitcametobilingualspeakers,theyseemedtoswitchbetweenthese
perspectivesbasedonthelanguagecontexttheyweregiventhetaskin.
WefoundthatGermansfluentinEnglishwerejustasgoalfocusedasany
othernativespeakerwhentestedinGermanintheirhomecountry.Buta
similargroupofGermanEnglishbilingualstestedinEnglishintheUnited
KingdomwerejustasactionfocusedasnativeEnglishspeakers.
InanothergroupofGermanEnglishbilinguals,wekeptonelanguagein
theforefrontoftheirmindsduringthevideomatchingtaskbymaking
participantsrepeatstringsofnumbersoutloudineitherEnglishor
German.Distractingonelanguageseemedtoautomaticallybringthe
influenceoftheotherlanguagetothefore.
WhenweblockedEnglish,thebilingualsactedliketypicalGermansand
sawambiguousvideosasmoregoaloriented.WithGermanblocked,
bilingualsubjectsactedlikeEnglishspeakersandmatchedambiguous
andopenendedscenes.Whenwesurprisedsubjectsbyswitchingthe
languageofthedistractingnumbershalfwaythroughtheexperiment,the
subjectsfocusongoalsversusprocessswitchedrightalongwithit.
Thesefindingsareinlinewithotherresearchshowingdistinctbehaviour
inbilingualsdependingonthelanguageofoperation.IsraeliArabsare
morelikelytoassociateArabnamessuchasAhmedandSamirwith
positivewordsinanArabiclanguagecontextthaninaHebrewone,for
example.
Peopleselfreportthattheyfeellikeadifferentpersonwhenusingtheir
differentlanguagesandthatexpressingcertainemotionscarriesdifferent
emotionalresonancedependingonthelanguagetheyareusing.
Whenjudgingrisk,bilingualsalsotendtomakemorerationaleconomic
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HowthelanguageyouspeakchangesyourviewoftheworldAgendaTheWorldEconomicForum

decisionsinasecondlanguage.Incontrasttoonesfirstlanguage,it
tendstolackthedeepseated,misleadingaffectivebiasesthatunduly
influencehowrisksandbenefitsareperceived.Sothelanguageyou
speakinreallycanaffectthewayyouthink.

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