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Are the four languages you know from the same root language or from similar cultures? Let's take Hindi and English.let's say I'm talking to "Fred" who is 15 ye

Are the four languages you know from the same root language or from similar cultures? Let's take Hindi and English.let's say I'm talking to "Fred" who is 15 years older than me. In english I would say " Fred how are you doing?" The Hindi version would be "uncle friend how are you? (using the respectful forms of the word "you"). And because I'm using the respectful form, I would genuinely feel more respectful of all my elders.

jsnell 15y ago
No, my native Finnish is not related to the other three (which are all Germanic). To take your example, as far as I know there's no difference in the respect I feel for people when using a language where the courtesy form of "you" is basically mandatory (German), archaic and basically never used (Finnish), or non-existent (English). Now, maybe there is some effect there that I can't notice that could be ferreted out with some psychological experiment. But the original claim that everyone knowing more than one language would implicitly be agreeing with the article is just not true.
- kragen 15y ago
  Technically, it's the familiar form of "you" that is non-existent in modern English. It was "thou". I agree that it's not at all obvious from my experience that there would be such significant differences between languages.
Groxx 15y ago
>And because I'm using the respectful form, I would genuinely feel more respectful of all my elders. Or oppressed by them. Or annoyed by the (often) increased length from using honorifics. That's a horrific blanket statement I see associated all the time with language-affecting-thought, and it flies in the face of people's actual behavior, and completely ignores social pressures that I would think are massively more influential. Which will influence your thought more: that your language has honorifics, or that you'll be pounded and/or ostracized for not using them? Our survival and social instincts are rather powerful.

jsnell 15y ago

No, my native Finnish is not related to the other three (which are all Germanic). To take your example, as far as I know there's no difference in the respect I feel for people when using a language where the courtesy form of "you" is basically mandatory (German), archaic and basically never used (Finnish), or non-existent (English). Now, maybe there is some effect there that I can't notice that could be ferreted out with some psychological experiment. But the original claim that everyone knowing more than one language would implicitly be agreeing with the article is just not true.

kragen 15y ago
Technically, it's the familiar form of "you" that is non-existent in modern English. It was "thou". I agree that it's not at all obvious from my experience that there would be such significant differences between languages.

Groxx 15y ago

>And because I'm using the respectful form, I would genuinely feel more respectful of all my elders. Or oppressed by them. Or annoyed by the (often) increased length from using honorifics. That's a horrific blanket statement I see associated all the time with language-affecting-thought, and it flies in the face of people's actual behavior, and completely ignores social pressures that I would think are massively more influential. Which will influence your thought more: that your language has honorifics, or that you'll be pounded and/or ostracized for not using them? Our survival and social instincts are rather powerful.