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> isn't suddenly going to make you better at math or physics or geography There are other forms of intelligence. Plus, I'm not so sure you are right about thos

> isn't suddenly going to make you better at math or physics or geography There are other forms of intelligence. Plus, I'm not so sure you are right about those. Finally, it might be useful to read what people have written in other languages about those topics.

jacquesm 4y ago
> There are other forms of intelligence. It obviously wasn't meant as an exhaustive list. > Plus, I'm not so sure you are right about those. I've yet to have my other languages besides English help me with studying of other concepts unless they were strictly locally focused. Even my French didn't help in Canada where it is more used as a means of exclusivity than one of inclusivity and communications. > Finally, it might be useful to read what people have written in other languages about those topics. It might be. But the vast amount of information in English is such that you'll never exhaust it. I read about France in French and about Germany in German mostly because I can, not necessarily because I have to, the same subjects (in the news) are usually also available in English. And as for texts that are only available in say Chinese, French or German: I am aware that I will have to forego anything only available in Chinese because the expected pay-off from learning Chinese at my age is so low that I will spend my time in some other way. But if I were much younger I might give it a go. But I doubt if it would make me any more intelligent.
- wolverine876 4y ago
  There's always more to read in any language, but I'm not looking for more, I'm looking for the best, and they are certainly best read in their original languages. Shakespeare in Spanish can't be the same. I want to read Descartes in French, the great philosophers in Mandarin (or whatever form of Chinese they wrote in), etc. You can assert there's no value to you, but many assert otherwise. I'm not sure there's value in our individual assertions. Also, there's a lot of evidence that language drives cognition; that how we perceive and think about the world is constrained and influence by our language, and that other languages enable us to see and understand the world in other ways.

jacquesm 4y ago

> There are other forms of intelligence. It obviously wasn't meant as an exhaustive list. > Plus, I'm not so sure you are right about those. I've yet to have my other languages besides English help me with studying of other concepts unless they were strictly locally focused. Even my French didn't help in Canada where it is more used as a means of exclusivity than one of inclusivity and communications. > Finally, it might be useful to read what people have written in other languages about those topics. It might be. But the vast amount of information in English is such that you'll never exhaust it. I read about France in French and about Germany in German mostly because I can, not necessarily because I have to, the same subjects (in the news) are usually also available in English. And as for texts that are only available in say Chinese, French or German: I am aware that I will have to forego anything only available in Chinese because the expected pay-off from learning Chinese at my age is so low that I will spend my time in some other way. But if I were much younger I might give it a go. But I doubt if it would make me any more intelligent.

wolverine876 4y ago
There's always more to read in any language, but I'm not looking for more, I'm looking for the best, and they are certainly best read in their original languages. Shakespeare in Spanish can't be the same. I want to read Descartes in French, the great philosophers in Mandarin (or whatever form of Chinese they wrote in), etc. You can assert there's no value to you, but many assert otherwise. I'm not sure there's value in our individual assertions. Also, there's a lot of evidence that language drives cognition; that how we perceive and think about the world is constrained and influence by our language, and that other languages enable us to see and understand the world in other ways.