How Language [maybe] Shapes Our Perception of Reality

The many subtle differences across languages might actually change the way we experience the world.

Vivian Giang

But just how much impact language has on the way we think is challenging to determine, says Betty Birner, a professor of linguistics and cognitive science at Northern Illinois University. Other factors, like culture, meaning the traditions and habits we pick up from those around us, also shape the way we talk, the things we talk about, and hence, changes the way we think or even how we remember things.

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