Annotations:

[02:32] I found myself comparing my knowledge of English grammar to Korean grammar as well. From my personal knowledge and from what I have gathered about Asian language through peers, I’ve always found that it takes on a quite scientific form. Like you mentioned, the verb always stays the same and additional words are added. There are no exceptions. Whereas in Western languages, there seem to be a lot more exceptions to grammatical rules and spelling.

[17:06] It’s almost overwhelming to think about all the different ways text and language can be represented (e.g. from left to right, east to west). I wonder- are there any resources for educators to aid in an easier transition for students learning English?

[29:13] All these options show us that words are just a part of understanding for an individual and that there is learning encoded outside of text. Text only begins to aid in communicating ideas and messages in a written form, but there is much that cannot be encoded in text.

[39:20] While I respect the language of other cultures, I wonder if this inability to count numbers is really due to a difference in culture rather than a lack of education in certain parts of the world?

[50:05] He brings up the idea of ideas being lost in translation at the UN. This is seen not only at the UN but even in every day life, such as subtitles for TV shows or movies. Many of my English-learning students try to learn English by reading subtitles, but this could in fact be inhibiting some potential learning due to the ideas lost in translation.

In addition to my annotations, my biggest takeaway from Borditsky’s (2017) lecture is that language is a living thing. It is always changing through generations, and there is really no right or wrong language- just different ones. With the advancements in technology, the language we use and texts used to communicate has also changed. Overall, I found this lecture eye-opening and a great start to looking at how language shapes the way we think.