How language shapes our perception of reality

How language shapes our perception of reality

Numerous studies have found that learning a new language can change how your brain pulls information together, and because of that, enables you to have more perspectives on a particular issue. This was true in the case of Japanese-based company Rakuten after the retail giant mandated English proficiency within two years for all employees.

Tsedal Neeley, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, studied the company for five consecutive years after the mandate and discovered that employees who weren’t native Japanese speakers or English speakers proved to be the most effective workers in the end, even though they had it the roughest in the beginning. Why? Neeley says it’s likely because this group became most flexible after successfully climbing a steep linguistic and cultural curve–they had to learn a new language and a new culture. Once Rakuten successfully switched to a common language, Neeley found that its company culture became stronger because every employee now has access to the culture and are able to connect in their interactions and expressions.

If we believe that language shapes how we think, will learning a new language change the way you think? Probably not, says Birner, but if the newly acquired language is very different than the one you already speak, it might reveal a new way of looking at another culture.

And if you learn a new language during the “critical period,” that is, by your early teenage years, there’s a higher chance you’ll develop closer ties to that culture and might even consider yourself a part of it.

"Numerous studies have found that learning a new language can change how your brain pulls information together, and because of that, enables you to have more perspectives on a particular issue."

Absolutely!  In Swedish for example, there are two verbs which mean "to know"  Att veta is only used in the academic sense i.e.to know a fact but the other one, att känna is used when referring to something you are familiar with and also meens "to feel" in a psychological sense, thus relating familiarity to feeling something rather than just to having knowledge of.  Learning a new language causes you to make perceptual connections that you might not otherwise make and therefore to see the world in a different light.