In watching Lera Borditsky’s video on How the Languages We Speak Shape the Way We Think, I was pleasantly surprised at how little I knew about this concept. This is not something that I have ever thought of before, the idea that language is anything more than what we speak is new to me and I was very interested in learning more. The first watch of the video was eye-opening, albeit long and seemed to take forever. I had to watch it in intervals as my children seemed to think that singing songs at the top of their lungs during Mommy’s “screen time” was more important. Though after careful consideration, and finishing the video, it seems that now think of singing as their way of communicating with me through the language of song, I, and youtube have taught them. Interesting.
After exploring the other videos of Anderson and de Luca I was reminded how our experiences and the language involved in them can shape the way we speak. I played soccer for my University throughout my first degree and now, 10 years or so later I still use the language of the game when I’m in my classroom. I refer to my students and class as our team, when dividing students up I’ll use the term wing, either right or left and so on and so on. These are aspects of my language I didn’t realize I was using until watching these videos. The way I think about organizing my team of students in that sense was shaped through my soccer language.
The second time watching Borditsky’s video was more eye-opening however. It’s like when you watch a movie or read a book the second or third time around. You pick up on things that didn’t seem to be there before. It allows you to be more in tune with what is being said or shown to you. I realized that she is not saying that language wholly determines our thoughts or experiences, but that it shapes our thought, it colours it, influences it, and organizes it. I read that when you take away a person’s sense of language altogether, that person’s structure of thought will be very different. Imagine never learning a language. How would that affect you? It’s different if you lose sight, or hearing, or even physical ability because you can still communicate with voice and language. You can express what something feels like or may look like. But to lose the one thing that can truly connect us with ourselves and one another would be an awful feeling.
I also was moved to think about how our professions shape the way we think and the way we behave. If you walked into a bar near Wall Street in NYC, chances are the people in there may all be speaking the same language, but are definitely thinking different than you or I as Educational Professionals. Furthermore, how they behave, in my opinion is a direct reflection of the language they use in their profession. You’re not going to see a Wall Street trader reciting news from the tabloids, which is possibly something you would see in a coffee shop up in SOHO.
“If different languages influence our minds in different ways, this is not because of what our language allows us to think but rather because of what it habitually obliges us to think about.”
Guy Deutscher, linguist and author of Through the Language Glass and The Unfolding of Language.
As the video began to come to end I truly began to understand that language is not something we are just taught. It is something that is passed down from generation to generation and along with it is the culture, experiences, texts, sounds, and symbols. Language is ever-evolving, ever-changing, and adapting and we, as the ones who carry language, are responsible for its continuance.
As I teach my own children about language, my thoughts have changed to ensure that I am providing them with the opportunity to learn how language shapes our thoughts and to nourish that as they grow older and gain their own understandings.
Borditsky, L. (May 2017) Does language really shape the way we think, SAR lecture.
Hi Sasha!
I can relate to how you felt as you first watched Lera Borditsky’s video on How the Languages We Speak Shape the Way We Think. It is funny the way our children’s voices and language weave into our lives and our reading and viewing. I love the way you included your children singing into your understanding. My own child kept calling me on my cell which is linked to my laptop. I too found it interesting how little I thought or knew about our language shaping thinking. It does take a second or a third viewing, much like a book to really understand and pick up on some of the nuances of her video.
It is interesting that you use your experience as a soccer player in your classroom language. I do wonder if any of your students are unfamiliar with soccer and/or team sports and how you explain to them the left-winger and team language. Have you ever had to? To have a shared cultural experience and language helps to understand how another is thinking. Maybe the shared experience of being teachers, mothers, nature lovers, and classmates in an earlier ETEC course is the reason that I can understand your post so well.
I loved the way you say language is “passed down from generation to generation along with culture and experiences, texts, sounds, and symbols” This was made evident by the other 2 videos which complemented Borditsky’s and with such passion Even though language evolves, it is still rooted in the past and as you so beautifully put it “we, as the ones who carry language, are responsible for its continuance.”
Thank you for sharing!
Hi Rebecca! Such a great question about soccer – I actually teach soccer to all my students in the first month of school. It’s something I’ve always done as a part of “sharing our identity” lessons that I do to introduce ourselves and create our classroom community. So a part of my identity is soccer and I teach that to my students. I also think that having shared experiences is so crucial to understanding and relating to language so I have to agree with you on that!