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Having studied a few languages, I don't agree with the idea that "another language is an entire other way of thinking about the world". That's not how it felt
by leftyted 7y ago
Having studied a few languages, I don't agree with the idea that "another language is an entire other way of thinking about the world". That's not how it felt to me.
There's a linguistic-philosophical debate over this topic: Linguistic Relativity (or Sapir-Whorf) vs Universal Grammar (generally attributed to Chomsky). Though both theories are plausible, I find the Universal Grammar theory more convincing. There are good arguments on both sides.
- johnisgood 7y agoPerhaps "another language is an entire other way of thinking about the world" is incorrect as long as that another language is another natural language. You might find http://www.lojban.org/files/why-lojban/whylojb.txt http://www.lojban.org/files/why-lojban/whylojb.txt interesting.
- leftyted 7y agoVery interesting, thanks for the link.
- dagav 7y agoMaybe "an entire other way of thinking about the world" is a bit dramatic but it certainly captures the values and beliefs of the culture.
- Avamander 7y agoDid you learn languages in the same family tree (e.g a German learning English) or not? Just curious.