Linguistic Relativity: How Language Shapes Thought

Linguistic relativity theory suggests that the languages we use influence how we think.. Because languages have different structures and words to describe the world, people pay attention to different things when speaking them - from here stems the idea that language shapes thought.

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COLLABORATORS
Script: Ludovico Saint Amour di Chanaz and Jonas Koblin
Artist: Pascal Gaggelli
Voice: Matt Abbott
Coloring: Nalin
Editing: Peera Lertsukittipongsa
Production: Selina Bador
Sound Design: Miguel Ojeda

SOUNDTRACKS
On Eggshells - Richard Canavan
Animated World - Crescent Music

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SOURCES

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY
Visit our website to access suggested class activity on this topic.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
00:38 Perception of language
01:22 Perception of time
01:57 Effect on memory
02:45 Cultural echoes
03:16 Self-reflections
03:52 Linguistic relativism
04:28 Benjamin Lee Whorf
04:57 What do you think?
05:16 Sponsor: Wiseone
06:30 Patrons credits
06:40 Ending

#sproutsschools #language #psychology #sociology

[CoranceLChandler]

The nuances of how languages work never cease to fascinate me.

[braincuriosities]

I speak 5 languages and feel a bit different when I speak each of them!
I'm more confident in italian, more depressed in french, more nervous in spanish, more arrogant in greek and more serious in english xD

[MysteryDoorStudio]

In Portuguese there are two "be" verbs: "ser" and "estar." "Ser" is for permanent traits and generalizations. While "estar" is for temporary states, emotions, and locations. To be honest, it surprised me when I started learning English that it wasn't the same way

[honk_mcgoose]

Im bilingual french/english and i do have different personnalities based on the language.
However it's not related to the language itself, the personnalities varies based on how i learned the language.
In french i am very much like my parents, but in english i am way more open and less emotional because i mostly learned it from the internet.

[Tanay]

i speak 5 languages Hindi, Marathi, Gujurati, English and French, there is a difference in mood while speaking any of them...but I like speaking English and Gujarati because that's what i am more comfortable compared to other languages

[abubakr_gulomov]

I speak 4 languages and I was actually perplexed when i realised that my behavior and the way i talk changes automatically when i switch to another language, and I thought "No, That might be an accident!"... But I found out that this was actually true from this video! Thanks a lot to the Sprouts team forcovering this topic. Amazing job, guys!

[claudiamanta]

5:11 Definitely. English is for engineering, German for philosophy, French for literature, Italian for opera/ theatre, Spanish for natural sciences, Latin for law, Middle Egyptian for spirituality, and Ancient Greek…to make students cry 😄

[standoughope]

This channel should be mandatory viewing in public schools around 5th grade.

[ardhraaneesh]

I am an indian who speak Malayalam, hindi and english ..and this magic behind languages have so long fascinated me . Malayalam my mother tongue feels so warm and vulnerable but English though it provides a lot better choice of words just not feels so right when talking my heart out .

[alexanderessen]

Thank you for this very clear and helpful explanation. As a therapist my goal is to facilitate a change of mind through language: the way we talk about our selves, the world and others. Especially with trauma its about the change from victim to survivor mentality. So for me therapy is learning an old language new. As Lacan puts it: at first it's the language aquiring us, only through conscious use later the other way round is possible.

[Luisko]

Totally right! ❤
I am friendlier in Esperanto, more intellectual in Spanish, calmer in English, more simplistic in Toki Pona, more impatient in Italian and more attentive in sign language. 😁

[kwisuxk]

This is so interesting… I speak Finnish, English and Tagalog, and I have definitely realized that my personality or traits kind of change. Like in Finnish, I might be more brutal, straight forward, and honest, but when I speak English I’m far more polite and sociable. In Tagalog I start to really pay attention to who I am talking to and using the correct amount of respect when speaking to an elder. Sometimes these traits seep into the way I talk in the language that it’s not as common in. Like in Finland, an elderly person might be extremely taken aback when I speak extra politely or with the utmost respect.

[RodrigoRojasMoraleda]

The Spanish phrase 'el jarrón se rompió' can be somewhat misleading. This construction is deliberately employed to emphasize the event itself rather than the agent responsible. However, the availability of this linguistic structure in Spanish does not mean it is universally applied in all contexts. More often, Spanish sentences are structured to distinctly identify the subject who is performing an action.

[shahdasalah]

Its harder when the languages are from different language trees, I am learning my 3rd language now, my first is semitic, second is indo-european and now a turkic language, I turn into different personality with each of them.

[Allen-L-Canada]

I speak English and Chinese, I often find that some concepts can be only expressed in one of the 2 languages, and sometimes one language's words can express better than another. And some words I can't find good translations, and can only be expressed in original language.

[KonikaTheWhiteChihuahua]

As a Russian-English speaker, I do feel not only my tone change but also my persona!

Whenever I speak in Russian (my first language), I act more agro-chaotic, sassy, and playfully harsh. Yet avoid swearing in it as much as possible due to the environment I was raised in putting great meaning into swearing and tabooing it.

Whenever I speak in English (my second language), I’m just as vibrant but in a more innocent sense, I use kinder language, and don’t have to play up/force on myself as much positivity. I often throw swears around in English, it’s not to offend anyone but to show that I’m not being serious.

I told this to many people, but I just sense that English swearing is more like child’s play compared to Russian swearing, which can sometimes make me flinch.

So in conclusion, if I’m chatting to you in English, know that I’m being less performative with you… and if a swear does slip out it’s not a big deal! If I’m chatting with you in Russian on the other hand… I am going into some form of character. And if I do use vulgar language, that means that’s something real messed up is going on or you messed up really bad.

[davidcrenshaw]

Quite an interesting video. I never thought about how language may shape behavior, or mental acuity.

[iusearchbtw]

I'm currently speaking 3 languages including native one ofcourse
In my native Indonesian language, i feel like i should behave my mouth a bit more towards people
In English language, i feel like i need to speak more mannerly and advance grammar
And in Japanese language, i feel like i feel so calm and patient cuz there's so much rules baked into the language

[johnmckown]

I read a sci-fi book over 50 years ago based on this. It is "The Languages of Pao" by Jack Vance.

[victornoagbodji]

I love the examples in the Thai language 😊