I found that Boroditsky’s TED talk made me realize quite a lot about the differences between languages and how they affect the way we view the world. Boroditsky briefly talks about how in other languages like French, if something happens by accident, when talking about it you do not involve yourself in the situation. So, if I broke my arm, I would say “The arm broke” because if I said “I broke my arm” it would imply I did it on purpose. I specifically correlated a lot of what she was talking about to Japanese culture because I am currently learning to speak and write Japanese. Just from learning a language, it’s amazing how much of the culture you learn about at the same time. That is because, I believe, language is a reflection of culture, and as Boroditsky discusses, it is built around the culture it is created in to best suit that lifestyle.
An example I have regarding the Japanese language involves using the word あなた (anata), which means “you.” Japanese culture is very polite and non-direct, but it was still surprising to learn that using this word is considered rather impolite and is a last resort to use when trying to direct your speaking to someone. Usually, a person will instead say something like すみません (sumimasen), which means excuse me, to get someone’s attention. Let’s say you see someone drop something and you want to return it. You don’t want to say “Is this yours?” so instead you would say something like “すみません、これは…” (sumimasen, kore wa…) which translates to “excuse me, this is…” and then perhaps you would gesture towards the person to indicate it belongs to them.
Not only that, but the Japanese language has multiple different levels of politeness often referred to as 敬語 (keigo), with the highest level of politeness making words sound entirely new! The level of politeness to use when speaking often has to do with the person you are speaking to’s age, status, and their relationship to you.
Overall, I find that Boroditsky makes many good points that I agree with in her presentation. Just from the fact that you can learn about cultural behaviors from learning the language, to me, is proof that language does change the way we think.